goat-demons. śĕʿîrīm (see Isa 13:21; 34:14). The demonic aspect of
goat worship was known to the rabbis (Lev.
Rab. 22:8; Sipra Aḥare 9:8,
citing Isa 13:21; see also Maimonides, Guide
3:46; Sforno). The possibility must be considered that the demon ʿazāʾzēl (ʿēz = goat) was a satyr (cf. Ibn Ezra on 16:8) and that the šēdîm ‘demons’ (Deut 32:17) also refers
to satyrs (note that Tg. Onq. renders
here šêdîn). Satyrs are said to
inhabit open fields, ruins, and desolate places (Isa 13:21; 34:14). As has been
pointed out (vol. 1.1072), the “open field” (v. 5) and midbār ‘wilderness’ (16:21) are also synonymous with the underworld
(cf. Akk. ṣēru), and the goat is
identified with the Ugaritic god of the underworld, Mot (= māwet, Heb. “death”; see vol. 1.1021). At Ebla, a goat rite is
attested for the purification of the mausoleum NE-naš in connection with royal
ceremonies (Zatelli 1998). Gerstenberger (1996: 237), who claims that all of
the priestly literature is postexilic, has to admit that the statement alleging
Israelite worship of satyrs is anachronistic. Janowski (1995: 1382) suggests
that our verse is a “post-exilic polemic against foreign gods,” support for
which is 2 Chr 11:15, which avers that Jeroboam established śĕʿîrîm and calves for his shrines.
However, it is more likely that the Chronicler utilized our verse to label
North Israel as worshiping satyrs (Japhet 1993: 668). Levine (1989) acutely
recognizes that 17:7 forbids the worship of satyr-demons, which were mandated by the official religion in
chap. 16 (i.e., Azazel). This blatant contradiction can be explained by
positing that Lev 17 belongs to a new source. Namely, it is part of a polemic
against P (see the Introduction I I), and it may account for the contiguity of
these two chapters. (Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
[AYB 3A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 1462)
