BELIAL, The Wicked Ruler

Chapter 1 1 B ELIAL AND THE S PIRIT OF I DOLATRY

If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out front among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; Deuteronomy 13:12-17 This is the first mention of Belial in the Word of God. The Lord identifies the men that would attempt to lead His people away from Him to serve other gods as "children of Belial". Children of Belial indicates the individuals that were under the control of Belial. They were being used by Belial to draw the people of God away from Him to serve other gods. It is interesting to note that the word idol is the Hebrew word eliyl which means "good for nothing, vain or vanity, of no value, thing of nought." This can be summed up in one word— WORTHLESS. Belial, which means worthlessness, tries to lead men astray to follow something that is worthless. Idols are worthless; they have no value, and they cannot satisfy. There is a principle of

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