I. Name
Abel is a novelistic figure in Gen. 4. His name is etymologically related to hebel ‘breath; nullity; vapor’ (Vanities). He has been related to the personal name é-bil // ʾà-bil in texts from Ebla. Within the paradigm that the antediluvian patriarchs were demigods or at least heroes, Gordon seems to suggest that Abel was a deity in Ebla (1988:154). In a later Jewish Hellenistic speculation Abel is seen as a judging angel.
II. Identity
The texts referred to by Gordon point to a person called *Ebil and not to…