Most modern scholars believe that Azazel is a supernatural entity19 of ancient origin connected to demons, believed to live in the desert, and the ritual is an adaptation of purification rites of the ancient Near-East.20 Duhm felt that Azazel is the leader of the שעירים,21 a desert-goblin. Cheyne considered Azazel the leader of the fallen angels to which Enoch refers. The name of this angel has been deliberately changed from עזזאל “out of reverence, to conceal the true derivation of the fallen angel’s