Jabal or Yabal ( he, יָבָל – ''Yabal'') is an individual mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He ...

) was the son of Lamech and Adah, and the brother of Jubal, half-brother of Tubal-cain and Naamah. He is described as the "ancestor of all who live in tents and raise livestock."

Theories

Francis Nigel Lee interprets Genesis 4:20 to mean that Jabal was both the "father of all cattle ranchers" ''and'' the "father of all tent-dwellers", and as such as the "pioneer of all livestock and agricultural technology" as well as the "pioneer of all architecture." Lee notes that Jabal was probably also a weaver, and thus "the pioneer of the clothing industry." Francis Nigel Lee, ''The Central Significance of Culture'' (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976), 29.

Gordon Wenham Gordon J. Wenham (; born 1943) is a Reformed British Old Testament scholar and writer. He has authored several books about the Bible. Tremper Longman has called him "one of the finest evangelical commentators today." Early life and education ...

, on the other hand, understands the verse to indicate Jabal was the first "dweller with herds." That is, he was the "father of the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

lifestyle." He notes that whereas

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepherd ...

"merely lived off his flocks," Jabal could "trade with his beasts of burden," and that this "represents cultural advance."

Theories

Family tree

References

External links