ABEDNEGO servant of Negv, i.e., Nebo ; Sept. 'Apar;a-y05); the Chaldee name im posed by the king of Babylon's officer upon Azariah, one of the three companions of Daniel. With his two friends, Shadrach and Meshach, he was miraculously delivered from the burning fur nace, into which they were cast for refusing to worship the golden statue which Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up in the plain of Dura (Dan. iii.)—J. K.
Cain, his elder brother (Gen. iv. 1-16). [CAIN.] To the name Abel a twofold interpretation has been given. Its primary signification is weak ness or vanity, as the word from which it is derived, indicates. By another rendering it signifies grief or lamentation, both meanings being justified by the Scripture narrative. CAIN (a possession) was so named to indicate both the joy of his mother and his right to the inheritance of the first-born: Abel received a name indicative of his weakness and poverty when compared with the supposed glory of his brother's destiny, and prophetically of the pain and sorrow which were to be inflicted on him and his parents.
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 nomadic 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 Stagir. 5); and he directs particular attention to the mode in which Scripture speaks of his offerings, consist ing 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 (Hom. in Gen. xviii. 5). St. Augustine, speaking of regeneration, alludes 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. i.) Abel, he says
in another place, was the first-fruits of the Church, and was sacrificed in testimony of the future Mediator. And on Ps. cxviii. (Berm. xxx. sec. 9) he says: this city' (that is, the city of God') has its beginning from Abel, as the wicked city from Cain.' Irenmus 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 Hares. 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 reverence. An obscure sect arose, under the title of Abelites, the professed object of which was to inculcate certain fanatical notions respecting mar riage; but it was speedily lost amid a host of more popular parties. —H. S.
ABEL (5;t.t; Sept. 'ApiX), a name of several places in Israel, with additions in the case of the more important, to distinguish them from one an other. [The opinion that this word means meadow or grassy plain (Gesen. Thes. in voc.) rests on no solid grounds. Hengstenberg contends that it means always mourning (Auth. des Pent. ii. 319). In I Sam. vi. 18, the reading is doubtful, but pro bably stands there for int4. Even, however, if the reading 9Mt4 be retained there, it will not follow that it does not signify mourning; for the piace may have received this name from being the scene of some calamity ; perhaps, as Lengerke suggests (Kenaan, 358), that mentioned in the next verse on account of which it is expressly stated that the people ),:.or `lamented' or mourned. Where such uncertainty prevails, it is better to leave the word untranslated.]