Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and raise livestock.
20. Jabal ; he was the father of such as dwell in tents . Moses now relates that, with the evils which proceeded from the family of Cain, some good had been blended. For the invention of arts, and of other things which serve to the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation.
We have here some particulars concerning Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. Observe, I. His marrying two wives. It was one of the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed that original law of marriage that two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one man had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. From the beginning it was not so.
Commenting on Genesis 4:19-22
And his brother's name was Jubal,.... This was another son of Lamech by Adah, and his name differs only in one letter from his brother's: he was the father of all such that handle the harp and organ: he was the inventor of instrumental music, both of stringed instruments, such as were touched by the fingers, or struck with a quill, as the "harp"; and...