Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (22) Sons of Belial.—It is only by a deeply-rooted misconception that Belial is written with a capital. The word is not the name (as is supposed) of an evil spirit, but an ordinary noun, “sons of worthlessness,” i.e., “worthless fellows.” (See Deuteronomy 13:14; Psalm 18:5.) Later (comp. 2Corinthians 6:15) it became a kind of proper name. Josephus dishonestly suppresses all the darkest features of the story (Antt. v. 11, § 7).Beset the house.—There is a close resemblance to the equally hideous narrative of Genesis 19:8. Beat at the door.—The word implies continuous knocking and gradual increase of noise (Song of Solomon 5:2). We cannot wonder that the intense horror excited by this scene of infamy lasted for centuries afterwards. “They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah” (Hosea 9:9). “O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah” (Hosea 10:9). “And when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Exposed a matron to avoid worse rape.”—Milton.Jdg 19:22-23. As they were making their hearts merry — That is, refreshing themselves with the provisions set before them. Behold, certain sons of Belial — Children of the devil, wicked and licentious men. Bring forth the man, &c. — They wanted the Levite brought forth, that they might satisfy their unnatural lusts. This man is come into my house — And therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality. As several circumstances of this horrid wickedness resemble those of the affair recorded Genesis 19., we refer the reader to the notes on that chapter. 22-24. certain sons of Belial beset the house—The narrative of the horrid outrage that was committed; of the proposal of the old man; the unfeeling, careless, and in many respects, inexplicable conduct of the Levite towards his wife, disclose a state of morality that would have appeared incredible, did it not rest on the testimony of the sacred historian. Both men ought to have protected the women in the house, even though at the expense of their lives, or thrown themselves on God's providence. It should be noted, however, that the guilt of such a foul outrage is not fastened on the general population of Gibeah. behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial; very wicked, lawless, ungovernable, worthless, and unprofitable creatures, men under the influence of Satan, and their own lusts: beset the house round about: that none might escape out of it, especially the Levite, his wife and servant: and beat at the door; to get entrance, either by those within opening to them, or by breaking it open: and spake to the master of the house, the old man; who, upon this noise and clamour made, came to the door, to inquire what was the meaning of all this: to whom they replied, saying: bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him; not what manner of person he was, of what country and profession, whither he was going, and what business he had here; but that they might have carnal knowledge of him in an unnatural way, or commit that sin with him which is commonly called sodomy; and the men of Sodom expressed their lust by the same word, Genesis 19:5. (g) In an attempt to break it. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 22. sons of Belial] Marg. sons of worthlessness, as in Jdg 20:13, Deuteronomy 13:13, 1 Samuel 25:17; 1 Samuel 25:25 etc., taking Belial (belîy-ya‘al) as compounded of belî = not and ya‘al =? profit, though a noun ya‘al does not occur; worthlessness is 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 Jdg 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 Psalm 18:4 = 2 Samuel 22:5 floods of Belial, and, with an extension of meaning, in Psalm 41:8; Psalm 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 Jdg 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 Jdg 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 slay him. 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. Verse 22. - Making their hearts merry - as in vers. 6, 9, and in Judges 16:25; Ruth 3:7. But there is nothing in the expression implying any excess in drinking. Bring forth the man. The abandoned character of the men appears in this, that not only did they offer no hospitality to the stranger themselves, but were ready to violate the sanctity of the hospitality of the old man's house by their brutal violence. There must have been a fearful absence of all law and order and government when such deeds could be done without any interference on the part of magistrate or elder or ruler of any kind. The singular resemblance of the whole narrative to that in Genesis 19. suggests that the Israelites by their contact with the accursed Canaanites had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely this shows the wisdom of the command to destroy utterly the workers of abomination. Sons of Belial. See Judges 20:13, where the same Hebrew phrase is rendered children of Belial. Belial in this common phrase is not a proper name, but a noun meaning worthlessness. Sons or men of Belial means worthless fellows. Judges 19:22Whilst they were enjoying themselves, some worthless men of the city surrounded the house, knocking continuously at the door (התדּפּק, a form indicative of gradual increase), and demanding of the master of the house that he would bring out the man who had entered his house, that they might know him,-the very same demand that the Sodomites had made of Lot (Genesis 19:6.). The construct state בני־בליּעל אנשׁי is used instead of בּני־בל אנשׁים (Deuteronomy 13:14, etc.), because בליעל בני is regarded as one idea: people of worthless fellows. Other cases of the same kind are given by Ewald, Lehrb. 289, c. Links Judges 19:22 InterlinearJudges 19:22 Parallel Texts Judges 19:22 NIV Judges 19:22 NLT Judges 19:22 ESV Judges 19:22 NASB Judges 19:22 KJV Judges 19:22 Bible Apps Judges 19:22 Parallel Judges 19:22 Biblia Paralela Judges 19:22 Chinese Bible Judges 19:22 French Bible Judges 19:22 German Bible Bible Hub |
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