Bel attended schools in Losonc (now Lučenec), Kálnó (today Kalinovo) and Alsósztregova (today Dolná Strehová), and then grammar schools in Besztercebánya (today Banská Bystrica), Pressburg (Pozsony, today's Bratislava), and briefly in Veszprém and in the Calvinist college of Pápa. Between 1704–1706, he studied theology, philosophy, and medicine at the University of Halle and he was appointed rector at the school of Klosterbergen near Magdeburg after that. Later, returning to the Kingdom of Hungary, became an assistant rector and became afterwards the rector at the Lutheran grammar school in Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica), where he was also simultaneously a pastor. As a Rákóczi-sympathisant, he was almost executed by General Sigbert Heister. Between 1714 and 1719, he was the rector of the Lutheran grammar school and then also a pastor of the German Lutheran church in Pressburg. He published his articles in the Latin language newspaper "Nova Posoniensia", the first regular periodical in Hungary. In 1735 Bel drew up a proposal for the creation of a scientific academy, to be based in Pressburg.