Whoso shall read this writing let him
not trouble himself greatly about this world, for the end of all men
is to die, and nothing remains to man but a good name.' [137]
Azazel--'of doubtful meaning'--is the biblical name of the Demon of the
Desert (Lev. xvi.). 'Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot
for Jehovah, and the other for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the lot for Jehovah fell, and offer him for a sin-offering:
But the goat, on which the lot for Azazel fell, shall be presented
alive before Jehovah, to make an atonement with him, to let him go to
Azazel in the wilderness.... And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon
the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,
putting them upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the desert. And the goat shall bear upon him all
their iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the
goat in the desert.' Of the moral elements here involved much will
have to be said hereafter. This demon ultimately turned to a devil;
and persisting through both forms is the familiar principle that it
is 'well enough to have friends on both sides' so plainly at work in
the levitical custom; but it is particularly interesting to observe
that the same animal should be used as offerings to the antagonistic
deities. In Egyptian Mythology we find that the goat had precisely
this two-fold consecration. It was sacred to Chem, the Egyptian Pan,
god of orchards and of all fruitful lands; and it became also sacred
to Mendes, the 'Destroyer,' or 'Avenging Power' of Ra. It will thus
be seen that the same principle which from the sun detached the
fructifying from the desert-making power, and made Typhon and Osiris
hostile brothers, prevailed to send the same animal to Azazel in the
Desert and Jehovah of the milk and honey land. Originally the goat was
supreme. The Samaritan Pentateuch, according to Aben Ezra (Preface to
Esther), opens, 'In the beginning Ashima created the heaven and the
earth.' In the Hebrew culture-myth of Cain and Abel, also brothers,
there may be represented, as Goldziher supposes, the victory of the
agriculturist over the nomad or shepherd; but there is also traceable
in it the supremacy of the Goat, Mendez or Azima. 'Abel brought the
firstling of the goats.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account