Note 1228 — Chapter XXV
Reading edition
Cheyne (Expository Times, 1897, pp. 423, 424) ingeniously regards Belili as the source of the Hebrew word Beliyaal or Belial, which, by a species of popular etymology, is written by the ancient Hebrew scholars as though compounded of two Hebrew words signifying 'without return.' The popular etymology is valuable as confirming the proposition to place Belili in the pantheon of the lower world. From its original meaning, the word became a poetical term in Hebrew for 'worthless,' 'useless,' and the like, e.g., in the well-known phrase "Sons of Belial."