Who is Belial? Who are the sons of Belial?
1 Samuel 30:22 "Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart."
Notice that with David were wicked men and men of Belial, and notice what their contention were about: "... we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered" i.e. money.
Job 15:34 "For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery."
Hypocrites loved money and they can be bribed according to this verse. This also goes to show that hypocrites are like the wicked men and men of Belial with David i.e. their god is Belial.
2 Samuel 23:6 "¶ But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:"
This verse compares the sons of Belial to thorns which grow on a plant. Compare this to:
John 15:1-2 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Jesus is the true vine and born again believers are as fruitful branches that come out of that vine. There is also another vine:
Deuteronomy 32:31-32 "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:"
This verse compares "their rock" to "our Rock" and it further elaborates "... their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah".
Jesus is the "Rock" (1 Corinthians 10:4) and the "true vine" (John 15:1). There is an opposite of Jesus, and his name is Belial, as Paul further elaborates in this verse:
2 Corinthians 6:15 "And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"
Jesus is a "head" (Ephesians 5:23) and the head of the body of Christ as much as Belial is also a "head", but he is the head of the body of infidels, which we have identified as:
sons of Belial;
hypocrites;
branches bearing thorns, which grapes are gall and which clusters are bitter.
Infidels are called "sons of Belial", which means that they have a father. BTW, in Isaiah 9:6, Jesus was called "The everlasting Father". What is an infidel? Paul further elaborates in:
2 Corinthians 6:16 "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Infidels worship idols. Hypocrites they are, they may not be outright idol worshipers, but there is a golden calf (an "unclean thing" 2 Corinthians 6:17) hidden somewhere in their hearts, and they are subject to this golden calf. They will do the will of their father (Belial) even while they look like goodly Christians on the outside.
John 8:33-39 "¶ They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?... They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham."
This passage tells us that there are people who call themselves “children of Abraham” but inwardly they worship another god. Be careful of a group of Christians (dispensationalists) and their leaven whereby they seek to exalt unbelieving Jews in making a distinction between them and the church by saying that just because they are "Abraham's seed", they are different from us.
Notice Jesus corrected them in verse 39 "... If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham". In this, Jesus was also saying that they are NOT the children of God, but rather, the sons of Belial. Jesus continues:
John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Jesus calls them children of the devil, and he reveals in the same verse that "the lust of your father ye will do". So, while these unbelieving Jews thought that they were serving God as Abraham's seed, they were in fact serving the Devil i.e. the Devil, not God, is their real father.