| I Samuel 10:27
| But the children of Belial said: Shall this fellow be able to save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents; but he dissembled as though he heard not.
| Belial; seditious men, perhaps of the tribe of Ephraim, (Judges xii.) or of Juda, to whom the regal power seemed to belong, Genesis xlix. (Salien) --- Presents, in testimony of their submission. See Judges 3:15., and 3 Kings 4:21. The eastern kings still expect that ambassadors should bring noble presents, otherwise they deem themselves insulted. (P. Martyr.) --- Subjects dare not appear before their king, in Thrace, without some such offering. (Xenophon, Anab. vii., etc.) (Calmet) --- Not. He knew that the throne is established by mercy, Proverbs 20:28. Hence he chose to pardon these discontented people after he had obtained the victory, and was even solicited to make an example of them. (Salien, the year of the world 2962) --- Severity might have alienated the minds of many, as he was hardly yet confirmed in his dignity, and the war against Ammon was threatening. (Menochius)
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