The Demon Belial

In modern North American culture we typically don't think much about the meaning of names. They are usually just strings of sounds that are either pleasing to our ears or not. However, every name has a meaning which can often be understood as a title or description. To know the meaning of the names of people and places in mythological and religious stories can often unlock a deeper understanding of the text. In the case of gods who have been demonized by conquering religions, we can sometimes even come to an understanding of how the god was originally viewed. The entity Belial is one such example that I would like to discuss. Belial is typically portrayed as a prince of Hell and second in command only to Lucifer or Satan.

In Hebrew, the word is Bel-ya'al. The translators of the King James version of the bible often translated it as "wickedness" simply from it's context and totally unrelated to its literal meaning. However, in some cases where Christian translators are trying to give a plausible etymology of the word, they translate it as "without value" or simply "worthlessness". They derive this from the Hebrew words "Beli" meaning "without" and "ya'al" meaning "profit." This is certainly an etymology that suits a Christian agenda. Founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey choose to portray Belial as meaning "Without Master" which is pretty close to one of the possible meanings I've uncovered through my contemplations.

"Beli" or "bely" (I, J and Y all represent the Hebrew letter Yod) means "without" and AL or EL (A and E both represent Aleph) means "God." Therefore, a possible meaning of Belial is "Without God." Considering that I work within a Luciferian paradigm, this translation of Belial is quite meaningful to me. However, this etymology leaves an extra aleph unaccounted for. While this doesn't totally invalidate this possible meaning, I would prefer not to leave any loose ends...

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