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Abd-ul-MesihAbel-Cheramim THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 48ters in
Damascus during the Maronite massacreperpetrated by the Druses and
Mussulmans. FuadPasha dismissed these charges, and completely
rehabilitated the Jews in public opinion.Besides the improvement in
the general conditionof the Jews, this monarch's appreciation of
his Jewish subjects is signalized by the appointment of Dr.Spitzer,
a Jew, as his private physician, and theallowance, in 1856, of a
monthly pension to the family of Carmona. This family, descended
from thecelebrated Chelibi Behar, who had been assassinated and
whose fortune had been confiscated underthe preceding government,
had, through the intervention of the Board of Deputies of British
Jews ofLondon, obtained a firm an to that effect. SeveralJews were
decorated during Abd-ul-Mejid's reign.BIBLIOGRAPHY : Franco,
Histoire des Israelites de VEmpireOttoman, pp. 143-101. A. D.A B D
- U L - M E S I H . S ee ASIIER BEN LEVI.ABEDNEGO (Aramaic, Abed
Nego; 133 12]},Dan. i. 7, ii. 49, iii. Viet seq.; once N1J.3 V. -
29): Thename given to A zariah, one of Daniel's three companions at
the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Thename is evidently a corruption of
Abed Nebo(133 13JJ), " Servant of [the Babylonian god] Nebo," aname
found (written in both the cuneiform and theAramaic characters) in
an inscription of the seventhcentury B.C. (Rawlinson, "Inscriptions
of WesternAsia," iii. 46, col. i. 81 et seq.), and in certain
earlySyriac documents (see Payne-Smith, " Thesaurus ").It is
probable that the substitution of Nego (so alsoall the old
versions) for Nebo was intentional, thepurpose being to disfigure,
or to get rid of, the nameof the heathen deity (see Kohler in "
Zeitschrift furAssyriologie," iv. 49). Similarly, the name
Barnabasappears to be a slightly disguised form of Barnebo(133 13),
" Son of Nebo " (see BARNABAS). . T .
ABEL 63,-]) .Biblical Data : The youngerbrother of Cain and the
second son of Adam and Eve.He was the first shepherd, while Cain
was a tiller ofthe soil. The writer of Gen. iv. tells us tha t
whenthe brothers came as a matter of course to presenttheir
offerings to God, the sacrifice of Abelthe firstlings of
hisflockwaspreferred to that of Cain, whogave of the fruits of the
earth. The acceptance ofAbel's offering aroused the jealousy of
Cain, who,in spite of the warnings of God, wreaked his vengeance
upon the favorite by murdering him.J. F. McC.In Hellenis t ic and
Rabbinical L i terature :Abel was regarded as thefirst nnocent
victim of thepower of evil, represented by Cain;
thefirstmartyr-saint, with the title the Jus t. In Enoch, xxii. 7
thesoul of Abel is the chief of the martyr-souls in Sheol,crying to
God for vengeance until the seed of Cainshall be destroyed from the
earth. In the visionof the bulls and lambs (Enoch, lxxxv. 3-6)
Abel,whose death is deeply mourned by Eve, is the redbull pursued
by Cain, the black bull. In the Testament of Abraham (recension A,
chap, xiii., and recension B, chap, xi.) Abel is described as the
judgeof the souls:"an awful man sitting upon the throne to judge
all creatures,and examining the righteous and the sinners. He being
thefirst to die as martyr, God brought him hither [to the placeof
judgment in the nether world] to give judgment, whileEnoch, the
heavenly scribe, stands at his side writing down thesin and the
righteousness of each. For God said: I shall notjudge you, but each
man shall be judged by man. Being descendants of the first man,
they shall be judged by his son untilthe great and glorious
appearance of the Lord, when they willbe judged by the twelve
tribes [judges] of Israel [compareMatt. xix. 28], and then the last
judgment by the Lord Himselfshall be perfect and unchangeable."
Josephus ("Ant." i. 2, 1) calls Abel " a lover ofrighteousness,
excellent in virtue, and a believer inGod's omnipresence; Cain
altogether wicked, greedy,and wholly intent upon 'getting '
[?3p]."According to the Ethiopic Book of Adam andEve (ii. 1-15) and
the Syrian Cave of Treasures,both works of half-Jewish, half-pagan
(Egyptian)character (see Gelzer, "Juliu s Africanus," ii. 272
etseq.), the body of Abel the Just, after many daysof mourning, was
placed in the Cave of Treasures.Before this cave, Adam and Eve and
their descendants offered their prayers; and " by the blood ofAbel
the Just" Seth and his descendants adjuredtheir children not to
mingle with the seed of theunrighteous.It is, therefore, an awful
curse hurled againstthe Pharisees when Jesus is represented as
saying:"Upon you may all the righteous blood shed uponthe earth
come, from the blood of the righteousAbel [compare Epistle to the
Hebrews, xi. 4, andI John, iii. 12] unto the blood of Zechariah,
son ofBerechiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuaryand the altar"
(Matt, xxiii. 85). From Josephus("B. J." iv. 5, 4) it appears that
this murder tookplace thirty-four years after the death of
Jesus.Abel, according to Midrash, protested againstCain's denial of
a divine judgment and of a futureretribution, and declared for the
existence of a divinejudgment and a judge, a future world with
rewardfor the righteous and punishment for the wicked." With
thefirstproduce of thefield he Lord blessedall the saints from Abel
until now," says Issachar(Test. Patriarchs, p. 5). According to
Pirke de-R.Eliezer (chap, xxi.), Abel's dog watched by hiscorpse to
keep off the beasts of prey; and while Adamand Eve were sitting
there, weeping and mourning, araven came and buried a bird in the
sand. Thereupon Adam said, " Let us do the same "; and lie dugup
the earth and buried his son.Regarding the mourning over Abel,
compare theBook of Jubilees, iv. 7, with the strange interpretation
of Abel as "Mourning " (as if the name werewritten ~>2H).
Compare Philo, " De Migratione Abraham," xiii., and Josephus,
"Ant." i. 2, 1. K.God's favorable attitude toward Abel's
sacrifice(Gen. iv. 4) is shown in the fact that it was consumed by
fire from heaven. This is a haggadic ideaknown to Theodotion,
accepted by the Christians,and found in the works of many Church
Fathers,such as Cyril of Alexandria, Jerome, Ephraem Syrus,and
Aphraates. In midrashic literature, however,it is found only in
later works (Midrash Zutta, p. 35,ed. Buber, Berlin, 1899).Woman
was at the bottom of the strife between
the firs t brothers. Each of the sons of Adam hada twin-sister
whom he was to marry. As Abel'stwin-sister was the more beautiful,
Cain wished tohave her for his wife, and sought to get rid of
Abel(Pirke R. Eliezer, xx i.; Gen. R. xxii. 7, according
toGinzberg's emendation; Epiphanius, "De Hceresi,"xl. 5,
"Schatzhohlo,"ed. Bezold, p. 34; compare, too,"The Book of the
Bee," ed. Budge, pp. 26, 27).Abel, stronger than Cain, overcame him
in astruggle between them, but mercifully spared hislife. Cain,
however, took Abel unawares and, overpowering him, killed him with
a stone (Gen. R. xxii.18)some say with a cane, or even that he
chokedhim with his fingers (compare Ginzbcrg, cited below, pp. 229,
230, 298, 299).The place where Abel was killed remained desolate
forever, never producing vegetation (MidrashCanticles, ed.
Shechter; "Jew. Quart. Rev.," 1894-95,vii. 160. Jerome, "Commentary
on Ezekiel," xxvii.
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49 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Abd-ul-MeslhAbel-Cheramim18,
supported by Jewish tradition, held it to be Damascus (Heb.
PB>D": DT blood; pg> drink). According to another version,
the earth refused to takeup.-Abel's blood (Apocalypsis Mosis,
xl.).Since man had no knowledge of burial, Abel'scorpse remained
unburied for some time. At God'scommand, two turtle-doves flew
down; one died;the other dug a hollow place and moved the deadone
into it. Thereupon Adam and Eve did likewiseto Abel's body (Tan.,
Bereshit, 10; Pirke R. Eliezer,xxi., see also Gen.JR. I.e.; compare
"Denkschrift d.Wiener Akademie," xx. 52, and Ginzborg, I.e.
295).BIBLIOGRAPHY : Ginzberg, in Monatssehrift, 1899,
226-230,294-298. L. G.In Mohammedan L egend : The story of Cainand
Abel is thus told in the Koran (sura v. 30 etseq.): "Recite to them
the story of the two sons ofAdam: Truly, when they offered an
offering and itwas accepted from one of them, and was not accepted
from the other, that one [Cain] said, T willsurely kill thee .' He
[Abel] said, 'God only acceptsfrom those who fear.. If thou dost
stretch forth tome thine hand to kill me, I will not stretch
forthmine hand to kill thee; verily, I fear God, the Lordof the
worlds; verily, I wish that thou mayest drawupon thee my sin and
thy sin, and be of the fellowsof the fire; for that is the reward
of the unjust.'But his soul allowed him to slay his brother, and
heslew him, aud in the morning lie was of those whoperish. And God
sent a crow to scratch in theearth and show him how he might hide
his brother'sshame; he said, 'Alas for me! Am I too helplessto
become like this crow and hide my brother'sshame ? ' And in the
morning he was of those tha tdid repent" (compare Pirke R. El.
xxi).No further mention is made of Abel; and theabsence of his name
here causes the commentatorBaidawi and the historian Tabari to say
that thetwo mentioned here were not sons of Adam, but" children of
Adam " or merely descendants. TheArabic historians (Ya'kubi,
Tabari, Ibn al-Athir,etc.) call Abel "Habil"; and, following Jewish
tradition, they say that to each one of the brothers asister or
sisters were born. Adam wished that eachshould marry the sister of
the other; but Cain's sister was the handsomer of the two and had
beenborn in paradise; while Abel and his sister had beenbegotten
outside of the garden. Adam suggestedthat the question should be
settled by each onebringing an offering. Abel brought of the best
ofhis flock, but Cain of the worst of the products ofthe ground.
Fire fell from heaven, and consumedonly the offering of Abel. The
sister of Abel iscalled Kelimia; that of Cain, Lubda (compare
Le-buda and Kelimat in the Syriac " Schatzhohlo," ed.Bezold,
trans., p. 8; and in the "Book of the Bee,"ed. Budge, trans., p .
25; in the Ethiopic Midrash thenames are AklemiaandLubuwa; see
Malan, "Bookof Adam and Eve ," pp. 93, 104). According to
an-another tradition, Adam's height shrank considerably through
grief at the death of Abel.BIBLIOGRAPHY: Weil.Bihlische Lcgenden
der Musulmilnncr,p. 30; Grimbaum, Neuc BeitrCtge zur Semitischen
Sagen-kunde, pp. 67 et seq. G.
Critical View : The Biblical account of Abelcomes from one
writer (J) only, and is so brief andfragmentary that much is left
to speculation whenwe try to get the original form of the story.
Thename itself can not bo satisfactorily explained, asit is only
clear that the narrative comes from avery old tradition. The
Assyrian word for son ishablu, and the derivation from a Babylonian
sourceI4
seems to be quite probable (Stade's "Zeitschrift,"1884, p. 250).
The story is intended to set forth:First, the superiority of the
pastoral 'over the agricultural occupation. This prejudice
naturally inhered in the nomadic life. The fact confirms theantiq
uity of the original story. Secondly, it emphasizes the peculiar
value of the choicest animalsacrifices as developed later in the
ritual system.Thirdly, it shows how deep-seated was the jealousyand
rivalry between people of different occupations,who in ancient
times formed separate communitiesand were continually at war.
Fourthly, there alsolurks in the story a consciousness tha t
certain peopleare more pleasing to God than others, and that
thedifference is, in part at least, connected with modesof worship
and sacrifice. Neither Abel nor Cain isreferred to in later Old
Testament books. The NewTestament has several references. J. F.
McC.
ABEL (" Meadow "): Prefixed to six names ofplaces, cognate with
the Assyrian abalu (to be full,fruitful), and its probable
derivatives ablutuin (fulness) and ublu (vermin); Delitzsch,
"AssyrischesI-Iandw." p. 7. J. D. P.ABEL-BETH-MAACHAH (R. V.,
Maacah):A place-name occurring six times in the Old Testament. The
question whether Abel was one placeand Beth-maachah another, or
whether Abel-beth-maachah must be regarded as a single locality,
isopen to doubt. The name occurs in various forms:(II Sam. xx. 15,
A. V.) " in Abel of Beth-maachah ";(I Kings, xv. 20, A. V.) "
Abel-beth-maachah." Inll Sam. xx. 14, however, we find (A. V.) "to
Abeland to Beth-maachah," with which should be compared the Greek
versions in II Sam. xx. 14 and IIKings, xv. 29. Owing to this
apparent separationof the two names, it is possible tha t Abel and
Beth-maachah may have been different places, especiallyas the name
Abel occurs alone, undoubtedly used for
the same town, in II Sam. xx. 18 (A. Y: and R. V.," Abel").
These slight discrepancies are perhapsto be explained by the
supposition that Abel wasthe chief, possibly the only, town of
Maachah orBeth-maachah, a small Syrian state. It is important to
note tha t the parallel passage to I Kings, xv.20that is, II Chron.
xvi. 4gives the place-name asABEL-MALM, " Abel of the waters " (so
also both versions) , which would agree well with the
modernChristian village Abil, or Abil-el-Kamh ("of thewheat"owing
to the fertile soil). This settlement is situated in a well-watered
district on thechief highway between BANIAS and the coast, on
alofty hill near the NAIIR-BAREIGHIT. This place isprobably
identical with (A)-bi-il, mentioned in amutilated passage in the
inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III., among other cities conquered
by thatking (II Kings, xv. 29). J . D. P.The confusion of the
ancient name Abel, meaning"Meadow ," with the Abel of later date,
meaning"Mourning," gave rise to the legend recorded inthe Book of
Enoch, xiii. Enoch sat down at thewater of Dan to the south of
Mount Hermon, andthere read the petition of the fallen angels until
hefell asleep. " And when I awoke I came to themaud saw them
sitting together weeping at Abel-maim [Ethiopic, "Ublesjael"],
which is betweenLebanon and Sorion [Ethiopic, "Sen eser"]."
K.ABEL-CHERAMIM (so in R. V.; but " plain ofthe vineyards " in A.
V.): Mentioned only in Judges,xi. 33 (a Deuteronomistic document),
as the placewhere Jephthah paused in his pursuit and slaughterof
the Ammonites. According to Eusebius and Jerome ("Onomastica
Sacra," ed. Lagarde, 2d ed.,
