Abeel, John Nelson, D.D., a minister of the Reformed Dutch Church, who was born in 1769, grad- uated in 1787 at Princeton, and was licensed to preach in April, 1793. In 1795 he became one of the clergy of the Collegiate Dutch Church in New York, where he continued until his death in 1812. He was an elo- quent preacher, and a man of great and deserved in- fluence.
A'bel (Heb. He'bel, bltl, a breath, i. q. transitory; as Gesenius \Heb. Lex.^\ thinks, from the shortness of his life ; or, as Kitto \_Daily Bible Illust.~] suggests, per- haps i. q. vanity, from the maternal cares experienced during the infancy of Cain ; Sept. and N. T. "A/3f A ; Josephus, ' A/3tXoc), the second son of Adam and Eve, slain by his elder brother, Cain (Gen. iv, 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 la- bors : Cain, as a husbandman, the fruits of the field ; Abel, as a shepherd, fatlings of his flock (see Fritzsche, De Sacrijiciis Caini et Habelis, Lips. 1751). God was pleased to accept the offering of Abel, in preference to that of his brother (Heb. xi, 4), in consequence of which Cain, giving himself up to envy, formed the desi-rn of killing Abel; which he at length effected, having invited him to so into the field (Gen. iv, 8, 9; comp. 1 John iii, 12). See Caix. The Jews had a tra- dition that Abel was murdered in the plain of Damas- cus ; 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 Ezech. xxxvii). 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 (Po- cocke, East, ii, 168 sq. : Schubert, Rcis. iii, 286 sq.). See Abila. The legend, therefore, was most likely
ABEL
suggested by the ancient name of the place (see Stan- ley, Palest, p. 405). See Abel-. (For literature, see Wolf, Curce in N. T., iv, 749.)
II. Traditional Views. — Ancient writers abound in observations on the mystical character of Abel; and he is spoken of as the representative of the pastoral tribes, while Cain is regarded as the author of the no- madic life and character. St. Chrysostom calls him the Lamb of Christ, since he suffered the most grievous injuries solely on account of his innocency (Ad Staffir. ii, 5) ; and he directs particular attention to the mode in which Scripture speaks of his offerings, consisting of the best of his flock, " and of the fat thereof," while it seems to intimate that Cain presented the fruit which might be most easily procured (Horn, in Gen. xviii, 5). St. Augustin, speaking of regeneration, al- ludes to Abel as representing the new or spiritual man in contradistinction to the natural or corrupt man, and says, " Cain founded a city on earth ; but Abel, as a stranger and pilgrim, looked forward to the city of the saints which is in heaven" (De Civitate Dei, XV, 1). Abel, he says in another place, was the first-fruits of the Church, and was sacrificed in testimony of the fu- ture Mediator. And on Psa. cxviii (Serm. xxx, § 9) ' he says: "This city" (that is, "the city of God") " has its beginning from Abel, as the wicked city from Cain." Irenanis says that God, in the case of Abel, subjected the just to the unjust, that the righteousness of the former might be manifested by what he suffered (Contra llmres. iii, 23). Heretics existed in ancient times who represented Cain and Abel as embodying two spiritual powers, of which the mightier was that of Cain, and to which they accordingly rendered divine homage. In the early Church, Abel was considered the first of the martyrs, and many persons were accus- tomed to pronounce his name with a particular rever- ence. An obscure sect arose under the title of Abelites (q. v.), the professed object of which was to inculcate certain fanatical notions respecting marriage ; but it was speedily lost amidst a host of more popular par- ties. For other mythological speculations respecting Abel, see ^\\ttmz.nn's-My1h<>logus, i, 55 sq. ; for Rab- binical traditions, see Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth. i, 462 sq., 832 sq. ; for other Oriental notices, see Ko- ran, v, 35 sq. ; Hottinger, Hist. Orient, p. 24 sq. ; comp. Fabric. Pstudepigr. i, 113; other Christian views may be seen in Irenaeus, v, 67 ; Cedrenus, Hist. p. 8 (Kitto).
The general tenor of these Eastern traditionary fic- tions is that both Cain and Abel had twin sisters, and that Adam determined to give Cain's sister to Abel, and Abel's sister to Cain in marriage. This arrange, ment, however, did not please Cain, who desired his own sister as a wife, she being the more beautiful. Adam referred the matter to the divine arbitration, di- recting each brother to offer a sacrifice, and abide the result. Abel presented a choice animal from his flock, and Cain a few poor ears of grain from his field. Fire fell from heaven and consumed Abel's offering with- out smoke, while it left Cain's untouched. Still more incensed at this disappointment, Cain resolved to take his brother's life, who, perceiving his design, endeavor- ed to dissuade him from so wicked an act. Cain, how- ever, cherished his malice, but was at a loss how to execute it, until the devil gave him a hint by a vision of a man killing a bird with a stone. Accordingly, one night he crushed the head of his brother, while sleeping, with a large stone. He was now at a loss how to conceal his crime. He enclosed the corpse in a skin, and carried it about for forty days, till the stench became intolerable. Happening to sec a crow, which had killed another crow, cover the carcass in a hole in the ground, he acted on the suggestion, and buried his brother's body in the earth. He passed the rest of his days in constant terror, having heard a voire inflicting this curse upon him for his fratricide. (See D'Hcrbelot, Bibliotheque Orientate, s.v. Cabil.)