Jabal

See Jaban

Ja´bal (a stream), a descendant of Cain, son of Lamech and Adah, who is described in Gen 4:20, as ’the father of such as dwell in tents, and have cattle.’ This obviously means that Jabal was the first who adopted that nomad life which is still followed by numerous Arabian and Tartar tribes in Asia. Abel had long before been a keeper of sheep; but Jabal invented such portable habitations (formed, doubtless, of skins) as enabled a pastoral people to remove their dwellings with them from one place to another, when they led their flocks to new pastures.

Son of Lamech and Adah, and a descendant of Cain. He is supposed to have been the first to adopt the nomadic mode of life, still practiced in Arabia and Tartary, and to have invented portable tents, perhaps of skins, Gen 4:20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.\par

Ja’bal. (stream). The son of Lamech and Adah, Gen 4:20, and brother of Jubal. He is described as the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.

("flowing stream".) Son of Lamech and Adah (Gen 4:20), "father (teacher and forerunner) of such as dwell in tents and have cattle." Abel fed sheep and goats, Jabal also larger animals, "cattle." Abel had a fixed dwelling, the land around which afforded sufficient sustenance for his flock. Jabal introduced the nomad life, in tents probably formed of skins, migrating in quest of pasture for his "cattle" from place to place (Gen 4:2; Gen 4:20). Savages live by hunting; emerging from barbarism they become nomadic, then agricultural. But Scripture represents man as placed by God in a simple civilization, raised above barbarism and the need of living by the chase, though not a highly developed culture. Adam "dressed and kept" the garden of Eden, and his sons must have learned from him some of his knowledge.

[Ja’bal]

Son of Lamech and Adah: he is described as ’the father of such as dwell in tents.’ Gen 4:20.

JABAL.—Son of Lamech by Adah, and originator of the nomadic form of life, Gen 4:20 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ).

jā´bal (יבל, yābhāl, meaning uncertain): In Gen 4:20, a son of Lamech by Adah. He is called ’the father of those who dwell in tents and (with) herds.’ So Gunkel, Gen³, 52, who says that the corresponding word in Arabic means “the herdsman who tends the camels.” Skinner, Gen, 120, says that both Jabal and Jubal suggest יבל, yōbhēl, which in Phoenician and Hebrew “means primarily ’ram,’ then ’ram’s horn’ as a musical instrument, and finally ’joyous music’ (in the designation of the year of Jubilee).” See also Skinner, Gen, 103, on the supposed connection in meaning with Abel.