Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/709

659 659

Messiah (Levi xviii. ), " and cast into the fire forever " (Judah xxv.) "and the souls captured by him will then be wrested from his power." In the Ascensio Isaia?, Belial is identified with Sajiael (Malkira [Dan. v.]; possibly Malakra = the Evil Augel [i. 9]), and called "the angel of lawlessness" "the ruler

—

of this world, whose name is Matanbuchus " (a corrupt form of " Angro-mainyush" or Aiirman ?) (ii. In Sibyllines, iv. 2 (which part is of Christian ori4). gin) Belial descends

from heaven as Antichrist and

appears as Hero, the slayer of his mother. In the Sibyllines, iii. 63 (compare ii. 166) Belial is the seducer who, as the pseudo Messiah, will appear among the Samaritans, leading many into error by his miraculous powers, but who " will be burned up by heavenly fire carried along by the sea to the land [an earthquake ?] to destroy his followers," "at the time when a woman [Cleopatra] will rule over the world." In regard to the meaning and etymology of the word " Belial " there has always been a wide difference of opinion. The Septuagint, in translating it "lawlessness" avifirifia (Deut. xv. 9), avofiia (II Sam. xxii. 5), or napavo/ioc (Deut. xiii.

and elsewhere)

14



Judges

xix. 22

—follows a rabbinical tradition which

interpreted it as " beli 'ol " the one who has thrown off the yoke of heaven (Sifre, Deut. 93; Sanh. Ill J; Midr. Sam. vi. Yalk. to II. Sam. xxiii. 6; so also Jerome on Judges xix. 22, "absque jugo." Belial was accordingly considered the opponent of the rule of God that is, Satan, or the antagonist of God (see Anticitrist). Aquilas (LXX. I Kings xxi. sedition, in the same 13) translates it airoaraala manner that the " nahash bariah, " or dragon ( The various Satan), is described as the apostate. modern etymologies, taking the word as a combination of "beli yo'il " (without worth) (Gesenius).orof "beli ya'al " (never to rise) that is, never to do well (Ibn Ezra, Lagarde, Hupfeld, Ftirst)— are alike re;



,

=

=

—

jected by Moore as extremely dubious (commentary Theodotion to Judges xx. 13, to Judges, p. 419). Ibn Ezra (Deut. xv. 9), and so Luther and the A. V. occasionally take Belial as a proper noun. It was

Bathgen (commentary

to

Ps.

xviii.

5)

who

first

the land from which there is no translated return, "and then Cheyne (in "Expositor," 1895, pp. 435-439, and in the "Encyc. Bibl." s.v. "Belial"). They proved it to be the exact equivalent of the Belial, "

Assyrian " matu la tarat " (the land without return). Tiamat, the dragon of the abyss, having been idenuses tified with Satan, thus gave rise to the various of the word, and the legends of Belial Antichrist. Baudissin, in Hauck-Herzog's "Realencyklopadie,"

mythstill takes a skeptical attitude as to the withical character of Belial in the Old Testament, the out, however, explaining the peculiar history of word.
 * . r.

1855, a

KHpn



T.

m of Belied, in

K Cheyne, The Development^ the Mean9 ;«'""'„ ° The Expositor, 1895

'-J^

99-101,

.86, Encyc. Bibl. s.v.; Bousset, Antichrut, 1895, pp li.-lxxn. and pp. 6-8, Charles, The Ascension of Isaiah, Behal. s.v. EealencyhlopUdw, Riehm and Hauck-Herzog's K. 3.

SR.

BELIAS (BELIASH, twb), voy from Morocco

in 1608.

He

SAMUEL

delivered to



En-

Mau-

Nassau, governor-general of the Netherlands, of Morocco, credentials from Muley Zaidan, sherif rice of

Spanish-Hebrew dictionary under the


 * !f6 '131

Santa con

la

Bibliography

1V1N

("

Diccionario de la

title

Lengua

Declaracion en Lengua Sephardi

").

Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xvi. 61.



M. K.

6.

BELITTJS), SON OF ALEGRE Prominent French Jew lived in Toulouse at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His name figures in mauy deeds of conveyance with the title "Domi-

BELID

(or





nus," which implies a. superior rank. On several occasions his wife, termed Domina Montaniera, had to give her consent to the sale. Belid must have been the possessor of immense property. In July, 1202, he and his brother Abraham became the holders of lands belonging to the Templars while on April 2, 1203, and again in 1207, the Knights of St. John sold them properties belonging to the seigniory of Pierre and Ponce du Piu. Belid's estates were several times confiscated by Raymond VII. but he always managed to recover them. Bibliography Saige, Les Juifs de Languedoc, pp. 53, 58,





83, 141, 143, 159, 167-169, 178-184.

g.

I.

BELIEF.

Br.

See Faith.

BELILHOS

(or

BELILLOS), DANIEL:

Preacher and teacher at Amsterdam. He had a thorough knowledge of Biblical and rabbinical literature, was a facile Hebrew poet, taught the third class of the Talmud Torah, and officiated as preacher of the charitable societies Maskil el -Dal and Temime Derek. Besides the oration at the obsequies of his father-in-law, Isaac da Fonseca Aboab, Belilhos, on Nisanl4, 5453 (1693) delivered a memorial sermon in honor of the latter. It is still extant Belilhos' publications comprise: in manuscript. na Esnoga de Talmud "Sermoens Pregados Torah," Amsterdam, Moseh Dias, 1693; and a more .

.

.

voluminous poetical work in Hebrew, describing Adam in Paradise, " Toledot Adam " (The History of Adam), which also is extant in manuscript. Bibliography: Kayserling, Bibl. Espau.-Port.-Jud. idem. In Monatsschrift,

xli.

p. 26;

312 et seq.

M. K.

L. G.

BELILHOS, JACOB

Relative of Daniel Berabbi at Venice about 1680. He wrote " BinyanNe'arim" (Edification of Youth) in refutation of Samuel Aboab it was, however, never published. lilhos







Bibliography



Nepi-Gbirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisiacl. p. 203.

M. K.

L. G.

BELILLA, DAVID



One of the leading Jews

Cranganore, sixteen miles north of Cochin, southern India, about the middle of the sixteenth cenin

Compare Satan.

Bibliography

Belilla

testifying Belias to be "ministrum Regise nostras sublimis, qui negotiis ejus diligenter incumbit, resque ejus curat." It was possibly a descendant of his, G. Belias, who published at Constantinople, in

,

in

Belgrade

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Together with Samuel Castiel, Ephraim and Joseph Levi, ho built a synagogue in Cranganore during the year 1568. According to an tury.

Salah,

chronicle giving the history of the Malabar Jews, and now preserved in the University Library at Cambridge, England, his grandfather had come from Jerusalem though this statement is perhaps not to be taken literally, as the white

anonymous Hebrew