[¹] That is, worthlessness.
7. sons of Belial] margin sons of worthlessness. The general sense “worthless persons” or rather “vile scoundrels” (for gross wickedness is implied) is clear, but the precise meaning of Belial has not yet been determined. The etymology of the word is quite obscure, see Encyclopedia Biblia I. 525 f.
young] Literally a child. If this word is to be literally understood, the statement made is inconsistent with xii. 13, where it is said that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign. It is possible, however, that the word is used metaphorically to describe one who was young (as indeed his conduct showed) in experience of government; so Solomon (1 Kings iii. 7) calls himself a little child, by which he meant simply to express his consciousness of the smallness of his own ability when compared with the greatness of the task which lay before him, compare 1 Chronicles xxix. 1. A similar difficulty arises in regard to the age of Solomon, see Encyclopedia Britannica s.v. Solomon.
tenderhearted] i.e., according to Hebrew phraseology, weak in understanding, the heart being considered to be the seat of the mind. Or we may translate the Hebrew phrase as in Deuteronomy xx. 8, fainthearted.
⁹Have ye not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the peoples of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods.
9. driven out] see note on xi. 14.
after the manner of the peoples of other lands] i.e. who, unlike Israel, had no special class from which alone their priests were taken. Possibly, following the LXX., we should read from the people of the land (i.e. anyone who chose to apply, whether a Levite or not), compare 1 Kings xii. 31, xiii. 33.
to consecrate himself] Literally to fill his hand. Moses is directed (Exodus xxix. 1 ff.) to ordain Aaron and his sons priests by three ceremonies: (1) by anointing them, (2) by filling their hands, i.e. by presenting them with victims upon which they laid their hands, (3) by hallowing them, i.e. by sprinkling some of the blood of the victim upon them.
a young bullock and seven rams] Aaronic priests were consecrated with a young bullock and two rams (Exodus xxix. 1).
¹⁰But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work: