JABAL

JABAL (Heb. יָבָל), first son of Lamech by Adah; culturehero, "father" of tent dwellers who keep livestock (Gen. 4:20) in the seventh generation after Adam. He is descended from Cain and is brother to *Jubal. The name Jabal may possibly be derived from a Semitic word meaning "a ram," or a root "to bring."

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

W.F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968), 85 n. 119; EM, 3 (1958), 451f. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Sarna, Genesis (1989), 37.

Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.