In Leviticus 16, the ritual of the scapegoat 'for Azazel' involves symbolic transfer of impurities to a wilderness entity, marking Azazel as a liminal figure associated with chaos and impurity.

The Hebrew Bible’s Yom Kippur ritual casts Azazel as an entity receiving a scapegoat bearing Israelite sins, sent into the desert wilderness, a space linked to chaos and death. Unlike YHWH, Azazel does not receive a sacrifice but serves as a ritual focal point for impurity expulsion, indicating a theological demotion from deity to a liminal, apotropaic figure.