Judges 19:22

sons of Belial Marg. sons of worthlessness, as in Judges 20:13; Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 25:17; 1 Samuel 25:25 etc., taking Belial (belîy-ya-al) as compounded of belî = notand ya-al=? profit, though a noun ya-aldoes not occur; worthlessnessis not strong enough: the expression denotes low-minded, unprincipled characters, vile scoundrels(Moore), and this is how the LXX understands it. But a different interpretation is given in some ancient versions; Theodotion here and the LXX. cod. A in Judges 20:13 take the second word as a proper name, sons of Beliam; so occasionally the Vulgate, filii Belial, followed by the AV., RV. In the N.T. Belial has become a synonym for Satan, 2 Corinthians 6:15, and in this sense the word is used in apocalyptic literature, e.g. Jubilees, Test. xii. Patriarchs, Sibylline Oracles. Although Belial is not interpreted as a proper name till a late period, yet originally perhaps it had this significance. Cheyne (Encycl. Bibl. col. 526 f.) seeks the origin of the name in popular mythology, and adopts the derivation belî-ya-aleh= -(that from which) one comes not up again," i.e Sheol, or the demon of the abyss; cf. the Babylonian name for the underworld irṣît la tari= -land without return." This explanation is certainly appropriate in Psalms 18:4 = 2 Samuel 22:5 floods of Belial, and, with an extension of meaning, in Psalms 41:8; Psalms 101:3 lit. a thing of B., Nahum 1:11 RVm.; we have then to suppose that the abyss, or the demon of the abyss, came to represent a power or quality of gross wickedness. Cheyne's view is ingenious and we must allow that the usual explanation rests upon a doubtful etymology.

beset the house … know him The same words in Genesis 19:4-5. It looks as if the present narrative had been deliberately conformed here and there to the description of the immorality of the Sodomites. This is certainly the case in Judges 19:24, where the phrases are identical with those in Genesis 19:8. Some scholars think that the present verse originally read Bring forth the woman … that we may know her, chiefly on the ground that in Judges 20:5 the Levite does not allude to the particular crime mentioned in the text as it stands, but declares that the men of Gibeah wanted to slayhim. The inconsistency may be more apparent than real. After what happened to the woman, the Levite might well assert that the intention was to kill him, while he would hardly repeat the expression used here.