Belial

BELIAL. This term is plainly Hebrew¹; it signifies a wicked worthless Man, one who is resolved, to endure no subjection, a Rebel, a disobedient Fellow. Thus the Inhabitants of Gibrah, who abused the Levite’s Wife, have the name of Belial Judg. xix. 22. 1 Sam. xi. 12.given them. Hophni and Phineas, the High -Priest Eli’s Sons, are likewise called Sons of Belial, upon the score of the several crimes they had committed, and the unbecoming manner with which they behaved themselves in the Temple of the Lord.

Sometimes the name of Belial is taken to denote the Devil. For example, St. Paul 2 Cor. vi. 15.says, What concord hath Christ with Belial? From whence we may conclude, that in his time the Jews, under the name of Belial, commonly understood the Devil to be meant, in the places where this term is to be met with in the Old Testament.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages