Genesis 4:21

And his brother's name was Jubal,.... This was another son of Lamech by Adah, and his name differs only in one letter from his brother's; he was the father of all such that handle the harp and organ:

And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. Jubal the father of all such as handle the harp and organ . Jubal means "sound" or "music".

Or, the lovely instrument; but what kind of instrument this was, even the Jews do not understand. The meaning is, he was the inventor of music and musical instruments.

Genesis 4:21 And his brother’ s name [was] Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.Ver. 21. As handle the harp and organ.] He invented Musicam, mentis medicinam maestae . The word here rendered organ is in the Chaldee Paraphrast, a pipe. It imports loveliness and delight: for men do naturally love and delight in music. Ezekiel’ s hearers seemed to be much taken with his pulpit music, but proved at length like the Jassians in Strabo, who, delighted with the music of an excellent harper, ran all away as soon as the market bell rang, save only one deaf old man. These antediluvians likely were set all upon the merry mode, and not unlike the inhabitants of Tombutum in Africa, who are said to spend their whole time in piping and dancing.

(19-22) Lamech took unto him two wives.—Whether polygamy began with Lamech is uncertain, but it is in keeping with the insolent character of the man. The names of his wives bear testimony to the existence, even at this early date, of considerable refinement; for I can scarcely believe that we need go to the Assyrian dialect for the meaning of two words for which Hebrew suffices. They are explained in Assyrian as being edhatu, “darkness,” and tzillatu, “the shades of night.” In Hebrew Adah means ornament, especially that which is for the decoration of the person; while Zillah means shadow, which agrees very closely with the Assyrian explanation. Both have distinguished children. Jabal, Adah’s eldest son, took to a nomadic life, whence his name, which means wanderer, and was looked up to by the nomad tribes as their founder. The difference between their mode of life and that of Abel was that they perpetually changed their habitation, while he remained in the neighbourhood of Adam’s dwelling. The younger, “Jubal,” that is, the music-player, “was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.” Of these instruments, the kinnôr, always translated “harp” in our version, was certainly a stringed instrument, a guitar or lyre. The other, in Hebrew ‘ugab, is mentioned only in Job 21:12; Job 30:31; Psalms 150:4. It was a small wind instrument, a reed or pipe. The son of Zillah attained to higher distinction. He is the first “sharpener (or hammerer) of every instrument of copper and iron.” Copper is constantly found cropping up in a comparatively pure state upon the surface of the ground, and was the first metal made use of by man. It is comparatively soft, and is easily beaten to an edge; but it was long before men learned the art of mixing with it an alloy of tin, and so producing the far harder substance, bronze. The alloy to which we give the name of brass was absolutely unknown to the ancients. The discovery of iron marks a far greater advance in metallurgy, as the ore has to be smelted, and the implement produced is more precious. The Greeks in the time of Homer seem to have known it only as a rarity imported from the north; and Rawlinson (Anc. Monarchies, i. 167) mentions that in Mesopotamia, while silver was the metal current in traffic, iron was so rare as to be regarded as something very precious. The name of this hero is “Tubal-cain.” In Ezekiel 27:13, Tubal brings copper to the mart of Tyre, and in Persian the word means copper. Cain is a distinct name from that of Adam’s firstborn, and means, in most Semitic languages, smith; thus Tubal-cain probably signifies coppersmith.The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.—The same as Naomi (Rth 1:2), and meaning beauty, loveliness. As women are not mentioned in the genealogies, and as no history follows of this personage, her name must be given as an indication that a great advance had been made, not only in the arts, but also in the elegancies of life.

Verse 21. Jubal - the father] i.e. The inventor of musical instruments, such as the כנור kinnor, which we translate harp, and the עוגב ugab, which we render organ; it is very likely that both words are generic, the former including under it all stringed instruments, and the latter, all wind instruments.

21. Jubal] The originator of musical instruments. Music is thus regarded as the most ancient art. For the name, compare the word “Jubilee”; yτbκl is “the ram’s horn.” harp and pipe] i.e. the simplest of stringed and wind instruments used by shepherds. LXX ψαλτήριονκαὶκιθάραν: Lat. cithara et organo.

21. Harp and organ — Here used as general names of stringed and wind instruments of music.