John C. Reeves
John C. Reeves
Blumenthal Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religious Studies

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Course Materials » RELS 2104: Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament » Bereshit Rabbati on Shemhazai & Azael

Bereshit Rabbati on Shemhazai & Azael

MIDRASH OF SHEMHAZAI AND AZAEL

Translation from Midrash Bereshit Rabbati (ed. Hanokh Albeck; Jerusalem: Mekitze Nirdamim, 1940), 29.14-31.8.  See also Yalqut Shimoni §44, extracted and reprinted in Jellinek, BHM 4:127-28, and Eisenstein, Otzar midrashim 2:549-50; R. Martini, Pugio Fidei adversus Mauros et Judaeos (Lipsiae: Sumptibus haeredum F. Lanckisi, 1687), 937-39; Oxford Bodleian Ms. Heb. d 11, fol. 21v (no. 2797) = Moses Gaster, The Chronicles of Jerahmeel (reprinted, New York: Ktav, 1971), 52-54 (English translation only).  A synoptic edition of these four versions is available in J. T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumrân Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 322-26.  Note also Reeves, Jewish Lore, 143 nn. 165-66.

R. Joseph said: The angels noticed that the Holy One, blessed be He, was perturbed because He had created human beings. Immediately two of the angels, whose names were Shemhazai and ‘Azael, stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said to Him: ‘Master of the Universe! Did we not say to You at the time You created Your world, “do not create human beings,” as Scripture attests: ‘what is man that You are mindful of him, etc.’ (Ps 8:5)? The Holy One, blessed be He, answered them: ‘And the world? What will happen to it?’ They said to Him: ‘We will prove sufficient for it.’ He said to them: ‘It is revealed and known to Me that if you were to be in their world, the evil impulse would gain control of you just as it has gained control of human beings, (and) you would be worse than them.’ They said to Him: ‘Grant us the power to live with the created beings, and You will see how we sanctify Your name.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: ‘I have already granted you such power.’

Immediately they descended (to earth), and the evil impulse gained control of them. When they beheld the beauty of mortal women, they went astray after them, and were unable to suppress their lust, as Scripture attests: ‘and the sons of God saw, etc.’ (Gen 6:2). Shemhazai beheld a maiden whose name was ’Asterah. He fixed his gaze upon her (and) said to her: ‘Obey me!’ She answered him: ‘I will not obey you until you teach me the Inexpressible Name, the one which when you pronounce it you ascend to Heaven.’ He immediately taught her, she pronounced it, and she ascended to Heaven. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: ‘Since she has kept herself pure from sin, I will make her an example so that she might be remembered in the world.’ Immediately he fixed her (in the heavens) among the seven stars of the Pleiades. When Shemhazai and ‘Azael saw this, they arose, married women, and engendered children.

Rabbi said: Has it occurred to you that corporeal beings would (not) have been able to come into contact with the angels? Behold, it is written that ‘his servants are flaming fire’ (Ps 104:4)! However, this teaches that when the angels fell from their holy stations in heaven, the evil impulse gained control of them as it does of human beings, and their size was made consonant with that of humans, and they were garbed with a mass of dirt, as Scripture says: ‘My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dirt, etc.’ (Job 7:5). R. Zadok said: The ‘Anaqim were born from them, those who were insolent and arrogant and who deliberately engaged in robbery, violent behavior, and the shedding of innocent blood, as Scripture attests: ‘and there we beheld the Nefilim, etc.’ (Num 13:33), and it says: ‘the Nefilim were in the land’ (Gen 6:4).

It is taught that Shemhazai fathered two sons whose names were Hayya and Hiyya. They in turn took wives and engendered Sihon and ‘Og. R. Joseph said: At the time that the decision for the coming of the Deluge into the world was reached, the Holy One, blessed be He, dispatched Metatron as a messenger to Shemhazai. He reported to him: ‘The Holy One, blessed be He, is planning to destroy the world.’ Shemhazai arose and loudly wept and lamented, and grieved for the world and for his sons, ‘for each of them would eat one thousand camels, one thousand horses, and one thousand of every kind of cattle (daily). How now will they survive?’

It is taught that one night (when) Hayya and Hiyya, the sons of Shemhazai, were asleep, they both dreamed dreams. One of them beheld in his dream a large stone spread out over the earth like a table, and the whole of it was chiseled and inscribed with many rows (of characters). Then an angel descended from heaven with a type of knife in his hand, and scraped and effaced all of those rows (of characters), leaving only one row containing four words. And the other saw in his dream a large and flourishing garden, and that garden was planted with every type of tree and all sorts of delightful (plants), and then angels came bearing hatchets and cut down the trees, leaving only one tree which had three branches. When they awoke from their slumber, they arose in terror and came to their father and recounted the dreams to him. He said to them: ‘My sons, the Holy One, blessed be He, is planning to bring a Deluge into the world to destroy it, and nothing will be left in it except for one man and his three sons.’ They immediately (began) crying and weeping, saying: ‘Then what will become of us? How will our name be remembered?’ He said to them: ‘Do not be anxious or perturbed, for your names will not disappear from the created order. Every time that (men) drag or lift stones and logs {for} their needs, they will always shout ‘heave!’ and ‘ho!’ Immediately their anxieties were calmed.

They have said about him; i.e., Shemhazai, that he repented and suspended himself upside-down between heaven and earth because he had no excuse for his behavior before the Holy One, blessed be He, and to this very day he remains suspended between heaven and earth in repentance. ‘Azael however did not repent, and he was appointed chief over all types of coloring agents and cosmetics for women which entice men to sexual immorality, and he still persists in his corruptive activity. Therefore Israel brings offerings and casts one lot for the Lord, so that He might accept atonement for all the sins of Israel, and one lot for ‘Aza(z)el, so that he might bear the burden of the sins of Israel.

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