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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 1Sa_1:16 ‘daughter of wickedness,’ i.e. ‘a wicked woman’ (cf. Deu_13:13; Deu_15:9, Jdg_9:22; Jdg_20:13, 1Sa_2:12; 1Sa_10:27; 1Sa_25:17; 1Sa_25:25, 2Sa_16:7; 2Sa_20:1; 2Sa_23:6, 1Ki_21:10; 1Ki_21:13, 2Ch_13:7, Pro_6:12; Pro_16:27; Pro_19:28, for similar usage). As ‘destruction,’ it is found in Psa_17:5 (cf. 2Sa_22:5) Psa_41:8 and Nah_1:11; Nah_1:15 (note in Nah_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, 2Co_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.