A woodcarving of Belial and some of his followers from
Jacobus de Teramo's book
Buche Belial (1473).
Belial is a term occurring in the Hebrew Bible which later became personified as a demon in Jewish and Christian texts.
[1]
Hebrew Bible
The term
belial (בליעל
bĕli-yaal) is a Hebrew adjective meaning "worthless" from two common words
beli- (בְּלִי "without-") and
ya'al ( יָעַל "value") It occurs twenty-seven times in the
Masoretic Text in verses such as the following:
Of these 27 occurences the idiom "sons of Belial" (בְּנֵֽי־בְלִיַּעַל
beni beliyaal) appears 15 times to indicate worthless people, including;
idolators (Deuteronomy 13:13), the men of
Gibeah (Judges 19:22, 20:13), and the sons of
Eli (1 Samuel 2:12,
Nabal and
Shimei) and so on. In the
King James Version these occurences are rendered with "Belial" capitalised:
- "the sons of Eli were sons of Belial " (KJV)
In modern versions these are usually read as a phrase:
- "the sons of Eli were worthless men " (NRSV, NIV)
In the Hebrew text the phrase is either "sons of Belial," or simply "sons of worthlessness."
[3][4] However "sons of" phrases are a common semitic idiom such as "sons of destruction" "sons of lawlessness"
[5]
The
etymology of the word is traditionally understood as "lacking worth".
[6]
Some scholars translate it from Hebrew as "worthless" (Beli yo'il),
while others translate it as "yokeless" (Beli ol), "may have no rising"
(Belial) or "never to rise" (Beli ya'al). Only a few etymologists have
assumed it to be an invented name from the start.
[7]
(Be′li·al) [from Heb., meaning "Good for Naught"; a compound of beli′,
"not, lacking," and ya·‛al′, "be of benefit; be beneficial"]. The
quality or state of being useless, base, good for naught. The Hebrew
term
beli·ya′‛al is applied to ideas, words, and counsel,
[8] to calamitous circumstances,
[9] and most frequently, to good-for-nothing men of the lowest sort—for example, men who would induce worship of other gods;
[10] those of Benjamin who committed the sex crime at Gibeah;
[11] the wicked sons of Eli;
[12] insolent Nabal;
[13] opposers of God’s anointed, David;
[14] Rehoboam’s unsteady associates;
[15] Jezebel's conspirators against Naboth;
[16] and men in general who stir up contention.
[17]
Indicating that the enemy power would no longer interfere with the
carrying out of true worship by his people in their land, Jehovah
declared through his prophet: "No more will any good-for-nothing person
pass again through you. In his entirety he will certainly be cut off."
[18]
Second Temple period
The term
belial appears frequently in Jewish texts of the
Second Temple period (texts classified by Christians as the Old Testament
pseudepigrapha and
apocrypha.
[6] Also a large number of references to Belial are evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran from 1948.
Dead Sea Scrolls
In
The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness,
[19] one of the
Dead Sea scrolls, Belial is the leader of the Sons of Darkness:
But for corruption thou hast made Belial, an angel
of hostility. All his dominions are in darkness, and his purpose is to
bring about wickedness and guilt. All the spirits that are associated
with him are but angels of destruction.
In the
Rules of the Community God is found making a very
prolific statement, "I shall not comfort the oppressed until their path
is perfect. I shall not retain Belial within my heart."
The
War Scroll and
the Thanksgiving hymns both delve
into the idea that Belial is accursed by God and his people, and shows
how the existence of Belial in this world can be attributed to the
mysteries of God since we can not know why he permits the dealings of
Belial to persist.
In the
Dead Sea Scrolls Belial is further contrasted with God.
These are the Angel of Light and the Angel of Darkness. The Manual of
Discipline identifies the Angel of Light as God himself. The Angel of
Darkness is identified in the same scroll as Belial.
Also in
The Dead Sea Scrolls is a recounting of a dream of
Amram, the father of Moses, who finds two 'watchers' contesting over
him. One is Belial who is described as the King of Evil and Prince of
Darkness. Belial is also mentioned in the Fragments of a Zadokite Work
(which is also known as The
Damascus Document (CD)), which states that during the
eschatological age, "Belial shall be let loose against Israel, as God spoke through Isaiah the prophet."
[20] The Fragments also speak of "three nets of Belial" which are said to be fornication, wealth, and pollution of the sanctuary.
[21] In this work, Belial is sometimes presented as an agent of divine punishment and sometimes as a rebel, as
Mastema
is. It was Belial who inspired the Egyptian sorcerers, Jochaneh and his
brother, to oppose Moses and Aaron. The Fragments also say that anyone
who is ruled by the spirits of Belial and speaks of rebellion should be
condemned as a necromancer and wizard.
Jubilees
In the
Book of Jubilees,
uncircumcised Gentiles are called "sons of Belial".
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Belial is also mentioned in the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The author of the work seems to be a
dualist
because he presents Belial as God's opponent, not as a servant, but
does not mention how or why this came to be. Simeon 5:3 says that
fornication separates man from God and brings him near to Belial. Levi
tells his children to choose between the Law of God and the works of
Belial
[22] It also states that when the soul is constantly disturbed, the Lord departs from it and Belial rules over it. Naphtali
[23] contrasts the Law and will of God with the purposes of Belial. Also, in 20:2, Joseph prophesies that when
Israel leaves
Egypt,
they will be with God in light while Belial will remain in darkness
with the Egyptians. Finally, the Testament describes that when the
Messiah comes, the angels will punish the spirits of deceit and Belial
[24] and that the Messiah will bind Belial and give to his children the power to trample the evil spirits.
[25]
Ascension of Isaiah
In
The Ascension of Isaiah Belial is the angel of
lawlessness and "the ruler of this world."
And Manasseh turned aside his heart to serve
Beliar; for the angel of lawlessness, who is the ruler of this world, is
Beliar, whose name is Matanbuchus.
—(Ascension of Isaiah 2:4)
Christianity
In the
New Testament the word occurs once , where
Paul asks:
- "What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?".(2 Corinthians 6:15)
The spelling found in most manuscripts of 2 Corinthians is actually
Beliar (Βελιάρ) not
Belial (Βελίαλ). This is the reading preferred by textual scholars
[26] and the change of -l to -r is attributed to a common change in Aramaic pronunciation.
[27][28]
The Jewish Greek
Septuagint,
later the Old Testament of the early Christian church, generally
renders the "sons of Belial" verses in the Hebrew Bible either as
"lawless men", by idioms "sons of the pest", rather than a personal name
"sons of Belial.":
- andres paranomoi" ("lawless men" ἄνδρες παράνομοι) (Deuteronomy 13:13)
- huioi loimoi ("sons of the plague" υἱοὶ λοιμοὶ) (1 Samuel 2:12)
The Septuagint also avoids belial in the singular so
Shimei (2 Samuel 16:7) when he cursed
David, "Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial" is rendered "you lawless man" (
paranomos), and
Hannah to Eli "Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial" is rendered "don't count your maidservant as a daughter of the pest"
[29] The Latin
Vulgate[30][31] and Syriac
Peshitta
Old Testaments in some cases follow the Greek, in other literalize as
Hebrew. The single New Testament use is preserved "Belial" in Latin and
Syriac.
Rabbinical literature
The
Talmud
and rabbinical interpretation generally follow a non-supernatural view,
an allegorical personification of evil, as with rabbinical
interpretations of evil. The phrase "sons of Belial" from the
Torah continued to retain currency.
[32]
Belial in Literature
BELIAL came last, than whom a Spirit more lewd
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love
Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood
Or Altar smoak'd; yet who more oft then hee
In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest
Turns Atheist, as did ELY'S Sons, who fill'd
With lust and violence the house of God.
In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns
And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse
Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs,
And injury and outrage: And when Night
Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons
Of BELIAL, flown with insolence and wine.
Witness the Streets of SODOM, and that night
In GIBEAH, when hospitable Dores
Yielded thir Matrons to prevent worse rape.
Or, my scorfulous French novel
- On gray paper with blunt type !
Simply glance at it, you grovel
- Hand and foot in BELIAL's gripe:
If I double down its pages
- At the woeful sixteenth print,
When he gathers his greengages,
- Ope a sieve and slip it in't?
Occult
The 17th-Century German
grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon mentions Belial, as does
Aleister Crowley's
Goetia (1904) and
Anton LaVey's
The Satanic Bible (1969).
Belial in popular culture
Popular culture contains many references such as in the silent 1929 film, Nosferatu,
Philip K. Dick's novel
The Divine Invasion, Graham Masterton's novel Master of Lies
and so on.
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