When a Goat isn't a Goat!
There is a Hebrew word use for "goat" which is an aiz (עז). But for a hairy male goat, often the Hebrew word sa'ir (שעיר) or even a combination, sa'ir-aiz. The plural is sa'irim (שעירים)
In Leviticus 17:7, after the chapter about the Yom Kippur service, where one goat is sent to Azazel, and the other to Yahweh as a guilt offering, we get the rules about sacrificing on your own, where you live.
Apparently, God didn't like that and wanted the priesthood to be involved. After all, the priesthood cult had a monopoly on sacrifices and it wouldn't do fo just anyone to give an offering to the Lord, would it?
But God has a different reason for this, which is not only odd, but cannot be verified anywhere prior to this verse in the Torah.
"[The Israelites] shall no longer slaughter their sacrifices to the sa'irim after whom they are prostituting (zonim) [themselves]. This is an eternal law (chok) for them and their generations."
First of all, it says that they are doing such things, in the present tense. And yet, this is the first time that we have heard of such things. Second, many of the prophets use "prostitute" as an expression of worshiping the wrong God. Yahweeh is your lord (ba'al), which can also be rendered as "husband", and to stray to another lord is often spoken of as if it were adultery or prostitution. (See Hosea, chapter 1, for example).
Now, it is clear, in the context, that that are not slaughtering sacrifices to hairy male goats. And we find in other texts that this term can also be rendered as a supernatural Being. In some translations, "satyr" is used, such as the KJV version of Isaiah 13:21 which also has sa'ir.
So like the word Elohim, which can have a half-dozen different meanings, sa'ir can also have multiple meanings, depending on the use.
In Leviticus 17:7, the KJV chose not to use the word "satyr" as it did in Isaiah, but "devils". And many other translations use "demons" or "goat demons", since a "demon" is a stronger term than "satyr", as being a force of evil.
Although one person's God is another person's demon!
Compare this to Deuteronomy 32:17, where it says "and they made sacrifices to shaydim, not to [the] Eloah of the Elohim..." (another bizarre verse for monotheists to mull over!).
This is another term that has been translated as "demon", but seems to have more in common with "shaddai", or a protecting/fertility Deity. Granted, in the plural, like Elohim, it refers to competing fertility deities, newcomers that Yahweh was annoyed with.
And it is from this verse, which is often translated as "demons", that people connect to Leviticus 17:7 to turn sa'ir into a demon, which, in actuality, while not goats, they are certainly not evil. They are just supernatural entities that were in competition with Yahweh.
I suggest that this verse indicates a much later period when the Jews were certainly serving other Gods, which was upsetting the Yahwists, and is telling us, in the present tense, that not only is it happening, but Yahweh has decided that the priesthood monopoly for sacrifices is now and forever in effect.
Lucky them!
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