Azazel and Prometheus, Two Cosmic Scapegoats

In my post The Development of Hell in 1 Enoch, I made mention of how similar the account of the fallen angel Azazel in The Book of Watchers was with the story of Prometheus in Greek Mythology. These similarities  seem to be a prime illustration of the influence of Hellenistic religion on Judaism which I discussed in Hell, Hellenization, Did Hades have Anything to Do With It? Before I move on in my series on Hell, I want to take a little side trip to discuss these two cosmic scapegoats.

I use the term of scapegoat a bit tongue in cheek, because of the fact that the only reference to Azazel in the Hebrew Bible is mentioned in Leviticus in association with the Day of Atonement:

“After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for Azazel, he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the Lord and sacrifice it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot for Azazel is to be presented alive before the Lord to make purification with it by sending it into the wilderness for Azazel.” Leviticus 16:8-10 HCSB

Many translations translate Azazel as the scapegoat and there is no real indication from a straightforward reading that any type of demon or spirit of any kind is involved in the ritual. There are a number of theologians who will still insist that there is some sort of deity involved in the ceremony, still others rightly insist that there is nothing in the text to suggest this¹

Flash forward to the version of Azazel that we find in 1 Enoch. In addition to joining in with the other Watchers who seduced and procreated with human  women, Azazel took it upon himself to further corrupt mankind by revealing to mankind Divine secrets that God had apparently not wanted man to have. We pick up the story in the 8th Chapter of 1 Enoch:

Moreover Azazyel taught men to make swords, knives, shields, breastplates, the fabrication of mirrors, and the workmanship of bracelets and ornaments, the use of paint, the beautifying of the eyebrows, the use of stones of every valuable and select kind, and all sorts of dyes, so that the world became altered.Impiety increased; fornication multiplied; and they transgressed and corrupted all their ways. 1 Enoch 8:1-2

In the next chapter, Michael and the other Archangels get to discussing Azazels troublemaking:

You have seen what Azazyel has done, how he has taught every species of iniquity upon earth, and has disclosed to the world all the secret things which are done in the heavens. 1 Enoch 9:5

So then God take action:

Again the Lord said to Raphael, Bind Azazyel hand and foot; cast him into darkness; and opening the desert which is in Dudael, cast him in there. Throw upon him hurled  and pointed stones, covering him with darkness; There shall he remain for ever; cover his face, that he may not see the light.And in the great day of judgment let him be cast into the fire…All the earth has been corrupted by the effects of the teaching of Azazyel. To him therefore ascribe the whole crime. 1 Enoch 10:6-9, 12

Azazel Tormented Night and Day Forever

Now let’s look at the story of Prometheus, who we are first introduced to in Hesiods Theogony (800 B.C.E). Prometheus was one of the Titans, who in prior to the creation of mankind engaged in the battle of the Titans. The result of this battle involved the banishment to Tartarus by Zeus, similar to the fall of the Watchers in 1 Enoch. In Theogony, there is a conflict between Zeus and Prometheus. After Zeus hides fire from mankind, Prometheus steals the fire in a fennel-stalk and gives the gift of fire to mankind. Angered, Zeus has Prometheus chained to a rock where his liver is pecked out by a great eagle each day, only to be regenerated by night, and so go through the ordeal again the next day.

Prometheus Bound

However, it was not only fire that Prometheus gave to the mortals. In a later work attributed to Aeschylus called Prometheus Bound (415 B.C.E.), Prometheus is attributed with giving medicine, enlightenment and interpretation of dreams:

“Beneath the earth,man’s hidden blessing, copper, iron, silver, and gold – will anyone claim to have discovered them before I did? No one, I am very sure, who wants to speak truly and to the purpose. One brief wordwill tell the whole story: all arts that mortals have come from Prometheus.”²

The similarities between the stories of Prometheus and Azazel seem to to me too akin to one another to be mere coincidence. And considering the much earlier dates of Theogony and Prometheus Bound, the likelihood that the author of 1 Enoch borrowing from the Greeks for his portrayal of Azazel seems very plausible. And if we can accept that Azazel was simply a Jewish version of Prometheus, we then have to wonder how many of the other elements of 1 Enoch might have been borrowed from Greek Mythology.

1. Judit M. Blair De-demonising the Old Testament: An Investigation of Azazel, Lilith, Deber p23-24 [↩]
2. “Prometheus Bound” Aeschylus I. Ed. David Greene and Richard Lattimore. New York: Modern Library, 1943. 220-221. [↩]