The Eternal Mighty One said: "Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am."
"Look down at the stars beneath your feet. Count them for me. Make known to me their number."
Abraham looked down from the seventh heaven at the entire field of stars spread below him and answered with the honesty of a man who knew his place: "How can I? I am but a man of dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).
God replied: "As the number of the stars and their power, so will I make your seed a nation and a people, set apart for me in my heritage, alongside Azazel."
The promise of (Genesis 15:5), amplified beyond anything Abraham had imagined. But that last phrase was troubling. God's heritage, shared with Azazel? The created world, under the conditions of human transgression, was not entirely God's own. The forces of ungodliness had a claim on it. The chosen people would redeem the world by their existence, but until then, the earth remained contested ground.
Abraham pressed the question: "O Eternal, Mighty One! Let your servant speak before you, and do not let your anger kindle against your chosen one. Before you led me up here, Azazel attacked me. How is it, then, that while he is not now before you, you have associated yourself with him?"
Why did God share His creation with a fallen angel? The question hung in the air above the seven firmaments, unanswered for now, waiting for the visions still to come.