1 Samuel 2:12

Sons of Belial. Literally, “sons without worth.” Moses thus describes those who urged their fellows to serve other gods (Deut. 13:13). In the early days of the judges, the Levite traveling from Bethlehem stopped for the night at Gibeah and was set upon by “sons of Belial” (Judges 19:22). In the NT “Belial” is used as an epithet for Satan (2 Cor. 6:15). Even as Joseph was placed in the lap of royal degeneracy, so Samuel grew up surrounded by a degenerate priesthood, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Phil. 2:15).

Surrendered to evil passions, Hophni and Phinehas had no proper conception of the God they were supposed to serve. They enjoyed no communion with Him, felt no sympathy with His purposes, and had no sense of their obligation to Him. They merely employed their positions of hereditary right for their own selfish and corrupt ends. They robbed the people for the gratification of their own appetites. They robbed God not only of His portion of the sacrifices but also of the reverence and love of His worshipers. By their vile lusts they lowered the service of the Lord in the eyes of the people to the level of the sensual orgies of the neighboring idol groves. But God permits a soul to be placed in the midst of such surroundings to prove to the universe that an evil environment need not determine a soul’s destiny. Knowing Judas’ covetous spirit, no one today would think of making him treasurer, yet Jesus did so (DA 294, 295). He purposed that Judas should be so impressed with things of much greater worth that he would surrender himself wholeheartedly to his Saviour. Jesus loved Judas and would have liked to make him one of the chief apostles (see DA 295).