Andrei A. Orlov

The Inheritance of Azazel

An excerpt from A. Orlov “‘The Likeness of Heaven’:

Kavod of Azazel in the Apocalypse of Abraham,” in: With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic and Mysticism (eds. D. Arbel and A. Orlov; Berlin; N.Y.: de Gryeter, 2010)

...... The traditions about the two eschatological lots or portions of humanity found in the second part of the Apocalypse of Abraham have captivated the imagination of the Slavonic apocalypse scholars for a long time. In these fascinating descriptions, students of the Abrahamic peudepigraphon have often tried to discern possible connections with the dualistic developments found in some Qumran materials, where the imagery of the two eschatological lots played a significant role. Indeed, in the Dead Sea Scrolls one can find a broad appropriation of the imagery of the two portions of humanity which are often depicted there in striking opposition to each other in the final decisive battle. It has been frequently noted that the peculiar symbolism of the eschatolological parties often takes the form of dualistic symmetrical counterparts, as these groups are repeatedly described in the Dead Sea Scrolls, through metaphoric depictions involving the dichotomies of darkness and light, good and evil, election and rejection. This dualistic “mirroring” is also often underscored by the symbolic profiles of the main leaders of the eschatological “lots,” whose peculiar sobriquets often negatively or positively reflect, or even polemically deconstruct, the names of their respective eschatological rivals: Melchizedek and Melchireša^c, the Angel of Light and the Prince of Darkness.

The peculiar imagery of the eschatological portions of humanity is also manifested in the Apocalypse of Abraham. Graphic depictions of the two lots are widely dispersed in the second, apocalyptic, part of the pseudepigraphon. Scholars have previously noted that the peculiar conceptual elaborations that surround these portrayals of the portions appear to be reminiscent not only of the eschatological reinterpretations and terminology found in the Qumran materials,[1] but also of the peculiar imagery of sacrificial lots prominent in the Yom Kippur ritual,[2] the ordinance described in detail in the biblical and rabbinic accounts.[3]  Thus it has been previously observed that the word “lot” (Slav. часть) found in the Slavonic text appears to be connected to the Hebrew lrwg, a term prominent in some cultic descriptions found in biblical and rabbinic accounts,[4] as well as in the eschatological developments attested in the Qumran materials.[5]

Similar to the Qumran materials where the lots are linked to the fallen angelic figures or translated heroes (like Belial or Melchizedek), in the Apocalypse of Abraham the portions of humanity are now tied to the main characters of the story – the fallen angel Azazel[6] and the translated patriarch Abraham.[7]

It is also noteworthy that in the Apocalypse of Abraham, similar to the Qumran materials,[8] the positive lot is designated sometimes as the lot of the Deity - “my [God’s] lot”:

And the Eternal Mighty One said to me, “Abraham, Abraham!” And I said, “Here am I!” And he said, “Look from on high at the stars which are beneath you and count them for me and tell me their number!” And I said, “Would I be able? For I am [but] a man.” And he said to me, “As the number of the stars and their host, so shall I make your seed into a company of nations, set apart for me in my lot with Azazel.”[9]

While the similarities of the Apocalypse of Abraham with the Qumran materials were often noted and highlighted in previous scholarly studies, the differences in the descriptions of the eschatological lots and their respective leaders have often been neglected. Yet, it is quite possible that the dualistic imagery of the eschatological portions might receive an even more radical form in the Slavonic apocalypse than in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Indeed, it seems that the Slavonic pseudepigraphon attempts to transfer to the antagonist and to his lot some of the notions and attributes which in the Qumran materials remain reserved solely for the domain of the positive portion of humanity. One such notion includes the concept of “inheritance,” the term that plays an important role both in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Slavonic apocalypse.

Thus, the passage found in chapter 14 of the pseudepigraphon unveils the following enigmatic tradition about the very special “inheritance” given to the fallen angel Azazel:

Since your inheritance (достояние твое) are those who are with you, with men born with the stars and clouds. And their portion is you (ихъже часть еси ты).[10]

The striking feature of this account is that in Apoc. Ab. 14:6 the concept of the eschatological “lot” or “portion” (Slav. часть)[11] of Azazel appears to be used interchangeably with the notion of “inheritance” (Slav. достояние).

This terminological connection is intriguing since the two notions, “inheritance” and “lot,” are also used interchangeably in the Qumran passages that deal with the “lot” imagery. Thus, for example, 11Q13 speaks about “inheritance” referring to the portion of Melchizedek that will be victorious in the eschatological ordeal:

…and from the inheritance of Melchizedek, fo[r…] … and they are the inherita[nce of Melchize]dek, who will make them return. And the d[ay of aton]ement is the e[nd of] the tenth [ju]bilee in which atonement shall be made for all the sons of [light and] for the men [of] the lot of Mel[chi]zedek.[12]

In 1QS 3:13 - 4:26, in the fragment also known as the Instruction on the Two Spirits the imagery of inheritance is tied to the concept of the lot of the righteous:

 … they walk in wisdom or in folly. In agreement with man’s inheritance in the truth, he shall be righteous and so abhor injustice; and according to his share in the lot of injustice, he shall act wickedly in it, and so abhor the truth.[13]

In 1QS 11:7-8 and CD 13:11-12 this concept of inheritance is once again connected with participation in the lot of light, also labeled in 1QS as “the lot of the holy ones”: [14]

To those whom God has selected he has given them as everlasting possession; and he has given them an inheritance in the lot of the holy ones. (1QS 11:7-8)[15]

And everyone who joins his congregation, he should examine, concerning his actions, his intelligence, his strength, his courage and his wealth; and they shall inscribe him in his place according to his inheritance in the lot of light. (CD-A 13:11-12).[16]

In these last two texts the concept of “inheritance” appears to be understood as the act of participation in the eschatological lot rendered through the formulae “inheritance in the lot” (Heb.  lrwgb  wtlxn).[17] The same idea seems to be at work in the aforementioned passage from Apoc. Ab. 14:6 where “inheritance” is understood as participation in the lot of Azazel.

Yet despite the similarities, one striking difference between these texts is discernable: while in the Qumran materials the “inheritance” appears to be connected with the divine lot, in Apoc. Ab. it is unambiguously tied to the lot of Azazel.

This transference of the notion of “inheritance”- the concept which plays such an important role in the Qumran ideology under the umbrella of the lot of Azazel in the Apoc. Ab .-  is striking. It brings the dualistic ideology of the Jewish pseudepigraphon on an entirely new conceptual level in comparison with the dualistic developments found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This new conceptual advancement appears also to have a strong influence on the profile of the main antagonist of the text, the fallen angel Azazel who, in comparison with the eschatological opponents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, now becomes not just one of the characters in the gallery of many eschatological opponents but the adversary par excellence.  In this respect Lester Grabbe suggests that the Apocalypse of Abraham seems to be referring to the “basic arch-demon complex under the name of Azazel.”[18] In his opinion, in the Slavonic apocalypse “Azazel is no longer just a leader among the fallen angels but the leader of the demons. Figures originally separate have now fallen together while the various names have become only different aliases of the one devil.”[19]