Sacrificing to a demon isn’t idolatry

You’d probably do the same.

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don’t know anything about the Bible. Let’s see where this takes us!

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Leviticus 17

Goat-demons? I have to look that up.

[Looks it up.]

And now I’m blown away by this chapter.

The Jewish Encyclopedia says:

The se’irim (“hairy beings”), to which the Israelites sacrificed in the open fields… are satyr-like demons [“having certain characteristics of a horse or goat”] … and are identical with the jinn of the Arabian woods and deserts. To the same class belongs Azazel, the goat-like demon of the wilderness … probably the chief of the se’irim.”

So that explains Azazel of yesterday’s commentary; the scapegoat is both set “free” from the LORD but is also sacrificed to Azazel.

The Encyclopedia also says, “The wilderness as the home of demons was regarded as the place whence such diseases as leprosy issued.”