Belial (Beliar)

Belial (Beliar)

Belial (Beliar) . This word, rendered by Av [Note: Authorized Version.] and Rv [Note: Revised Version.] as a proper noun in the majority of the Ot passages, is in reality a compound, meaning ‘worthlessness,’ whence ‘wickedness,’ ‘destruction,’ and as such is construed with another noun. In the sense of’ wickedness,’ it occurs in   1 Samuel 1:16 ‘daughter of wickedness,’ i.e. ‘a wicked woman’ (cf.   Deuteronomy 13:13;   Deuteronomy 15:9 ,   Judges 9:22;   Judges 20:13 , 1Sa 2:12;   1 Samuel 10:27;   1 Samuel 25:17; 1Sa 25:25 ,   2 Samuel 16:7;   2 Samuel 20:1; 2Sa 23:6 ,   1 Kings 21:10;   1 Kings 21:13 ,   2 Chronicles 13:7 ,   Proverbs 6:12;   Proverbs 16:27;   Proverbs 19:28 , for similar usage). As ‘destruction,’ it is found in   Psalms 17:5 (cf.   2 Samuel 22:5 )   Psalms 41:8 and   Nahum 1:11;   Nahum 1:15 (note in   Nahum 1:15 independent use, ‘man’ understood; Rv [Note: Revised Version.] ‘wicked one’; others, ‘destroyer’). Having such a meaning, it is used by St. Paul as a name for Satan (personification of unclean heathenism,   2 Corinthians 6:15 ), the Greek text spelling it ‘Beliar’ (Av [Note: Authorized Version.] and Rv [Note: Revised Version.] ‘Belial’), a variation due to the harsh pronunciation of ‘l ’ in Syriac.

N. Koenig.