Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

112 J. A. Emerton / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 109-112
of literal swallowing. It appears rather to mean “to destroy” or something similar.
If blyʿl comes from the root used in that sense, it may be an abstract noun
denoting “destructiveness” or the like. The sons of Belial are then those whose
characters are destructive, harmful, evil.
Finally, it must be asked whether such a meaning fits 2 Sam. xxii 5-6 =
Ps. xviii 5-6:
5 For the breakers [so 2 Samuel] of death (mišberê-māwet) surrounded me; the
destroying torrents (naḥălê beliyyaʿal) came upon me;
6 the cords of Sheol (ḥeblê šeʾôl) came round me;
the snares of death (môqešê māwet) confronted me.
The whole context refers to Sheol, v. 5 referring to the overwhelming waters,
and v. 6 to the cords of a trap and to snares. In so-called synonymous parallelism,
the lines of verse have similar meanings, but parallel words do not necessarily
have exactly the same meaning. In such a context as this, it would make
sense to write of the torrents of destructiveness, i.e. destroying torrents, even if
beliyyaʿal were not a synonym of death or Sheol. If we knew that beliyyaʿal was
a synonym of Sheol, that meaning would fit the context, but it is not the only
conceivable meaning, and the verse is not proof that the word means Sheol.
In conclusion, beliyyaʿal does not mean “hell”. While the view that it is a
word for Sheol is not impossible, it is more probable that it means “destructiveness”
or the like. If that is so, it is likely that Driver is right in supposing that the
present vocalization of the word is secondary.2