A’bel, (Heb. He'bel, הֶבֶל, a breath, 1, q. transitory; as Gesenius [Heb. Lex.] thinks, from the shortness of his life or, as Kitto [Daily Bible Illust.] suggests, perhaps i. q. vanity, from the maternal cares experienced during the infancy of Cain; Sept. and N.T. ῎Αβελ; Josephus, ῎Αβελος), the second son of Adam and Eve, slain by his elder brother, Cain (Genesis 4:1-16), B.C. cir. 4045. SEE ADAM.
I. History. — Cain and Abel, having been instructed, perhaps by their father, Adam, in the duty of worship to their Creator, each offered the first-fruits of his labors: Cain, as a husbandman, the fruits of the field; Abel, as a shepherd, fatlings of his flock (see Fritzsche, De Sacrificiis Caini et Habelis, Lips. 1751). God was pleased to accept the offering of Abel, in preference to that of his brother (Hebrews 11:4), in consequence of which Cain, giving himself up to envy, formed the desire of killing Abel; which he at length effected, having invited him to go into the field (Genesis 4:8-9; comp. 1 John 3:12). SEE CAIN. The Jews had a tradition that Abel was murdered in the plain of Damascus; and accordingly his tomb is still shown on a high hill near the village of Sinie or Seneiah, about twelve miles northwest of Damascus, on the road to Baalbek (Jerome, in Ezechiel 37). The summit of the hill is still called Nebi Abel; but circumstances lead to the probable supposition that this was the site, or in the vicinity of the site, of the ancient Abela or Abila (Pococke, East, 2:168 sq.: Schubert, Reis. 3, 286 sq.). SEE ABILA. The legend, therefore, was most likely suggested by the ancient name of the place (see Stanley, Palest. p. 405). SEE ABEL. (For literature, see Wolf, Curoe in N.T., 4, 749.)
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Abel, Cain and Abel
Bible reference(s): 1 John 3:12, Genesis 4:1, Hebrews 11:4, Hebrews 12:24, Matthew 23:35
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.