Genesis 4:20 Commentary and Bible Study

Then we are introduced to Jabal, whose name means ‘flowing’ or ‘river’. Cultural advance does not take place only in the godly line, but God’s common grace ensures that the descendants of Cain are also responsible for introducing to the world many novel and useful skills and methods, by which even the ungodly obeyed God’s mandate to have dominion over the earth. Jabal brought in elaborate, Bedouin style tents and the keeping of cattle. Abel had been a keeper of sheep, but now cattle also began to be domesticated, and this form of animal husbandry was associated with a nomadic way of life, as the cattle were led to pasture. The term ‘father of’ should be understood figuratively to mean that he passed on the knowledge of this way of life to those who came after him. These may have been his literal descendants, but not in every case.Music is Jubal’s name means ‘joyful sound’, ‘music’, ‘jubilee’. ‘He as the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.’ Invented instruments, and culture and music – there is nothing intrinsically bad about them, but you see the family that is the busiest and quickest to produce entertainment, culture, and pleasure, and enjoyment, and sophistication and things like that, is the godless family.