Ability (Hastings' Dictionary)

Both in OT and NT ability occurs in two senses, which must be distinguished. 1. It signihes mnlerial capacity, resources, wealth, as Ezr 2* 'They gave after their a. (Heb. 'ace. as his hand may reach') into the treasury'; Lv 27 ' According to the a. of him that vowed shall the priest value him.' Cf. LXX of Lv 25^- ■" with Ac ll'" below ; and Out of my lean and low ability I'W lend you somelhin^. —Shakespeare, T. N. UL 4.

This is the meaning also of An 11^ 'Then the disciples, every man according to his a., deter- mined to send relief unto the brethren,' though the original is a verb, naBui evTopurb ns, raeanin" 'ace. as each prospered.' 2. It signilies personal capacity, strength of body or of mind. Thus Dn I'' ' Such as had a. (ps) in them to stand in the king's palace' ; Mt 25" ' He gave talents . . to every man according to his several a. {dum/us).' Ho Wis 13'", Sir 3'^ AVm. In modern Eng. a.

is almost confined to mental capacity, though one hears it locally used of physical strength. In the sense of wealth the latest example found is in Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. J. Hastings. ABIMAEL (Sx^'jtj, perhaps = • father is God,' but the forte of the 0 is uncertain) was one of the Joktaniils or (S. ) Arabians (see art. Joktan), Gn 10^ (J), I Ch l^". Nothing further is known of this tribe, but it is markworthy that another name of the same j)eculiar formation, viz.

TnyoDK, has been found on the S. Arabian inscriptions ; see D. H. Midler in ZVMG 1883, p. 18. G. B. Gray.