The Enigma of Jabez
(Bible Study - October 2002)
A very discerning brother once said: “When doing the daily reading don’t be tempted to skip over all the names in the book of Chronicles, because you never know what you might miss”! Evidence of his wisdom is found in the fact that hidden amongst the genealogy of I Chronicles is a ‘gem’ just waiting to be picked up.
“And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” (I Chron. 4:9-10).
It takes self-discipline to concentrate on the names, trying to recognize familiar characters and family groupings, but it is profoundly rewarding. Allowing our minds to wander and our eyes to glaze over at this crucial point would inevitably mean failure to recognize the sudden break in the text and thus to deny ourselves the introduction to Jabez, one of scripture’s most enigmatic characters.
As he comes on the scene without description or recorded patronymic, one presumes that the absence of any explanatory introduction suggests that Jabez was well known to those for whom Chronicles was originally intended. All we know of the man is found in these two verses that are considered to be fragmentary supplements intended to augment information given about Judah in the first two chapters of the book. The mention of a town called ‘Jabez’ (I Chron. 2:55) gives rise to the suggestion that maybe Jabez was the founder of this northern town that became home to the scribes descended from the Kenites, who had amalgamated with the tribe of Judah.
A
child of sorrow
The birth of Jabez occasioned such sorrow that his mother named him
‘sorrowful’ (Hebrew Oteb, grievous thing, grief, sadness) as in:
“And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear…” (Isa. 14:3). It is interesting to
note that many of the modern translations favor the meaning of Jabez to be:
‘he will cause pain.’ It is difficult to understand why this should be,
unless the translators were influenced by the example of Rachel, who after a
hard, painful labor called her child Benoni: ‘son of my sorrow’ (Gen.
35:18). Surely if the mother of Jabez had intended to label the child with
an appellation redolent of the pain of child-birth she would have chosen a
word like chul-chil: to be pained, writhe: “They shall be in pain
(chul-chil) as a woman that travaileth…” (Isa.13:8). From the
foregoing, perhaps it can be concluded that the KJV marginal note was
correct in suggesting that Jabez translates as ‘sorrowful.’
Besides a difficult birth scenario there are other stressors to consider; maybe Jabez was born at a time of intense trouble and stress for the family. Perhaps there were financial problems; maybe the father was sick or deceased. It is even possible that the child himself was born with some birth defect.
Whatever the reason, it is a sad truism that from the time of the dreadful curse resulting from the fall in Eden, the daughters of Eve have produced children in the expectation of sorrow. The sorrow is not necessarily limited to the birthing process but includes the many vicissitudes of suffering consequent upon the introduction of sin. “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and thy conception; in ‘sorrow’ (Hebrew etseb, sorrow, grief) shalt thou bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16). The supreme example of a mother’s suffering and sorrow is to be found in the prophetic utterance of Simeon to Mary: “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also…” (Lk. 2:35). Only a mother can begin to empathize with the sensations she must have felt as she observed the wretched scene at the cross.
A
man of honor
Whatever the causal factors contributing to the naming of Jabez,
supposition is put aside regarding his character. He was more honorable
than his brethren. One wonders whether like Hamor, in the sad account of
Dinah (Gen. 34:19), Jabez could be relied upon to honor his commitments, or
perhaps he towered above idolatrous peers and was in the ilk of Samuel:
“A man of God, and he is an honorable man…” (I Sam. 9:6).
Like Samuel, Jabez was a man of prayer. Not only so, he manifested great faith and understanding in that he put himself unconditionally in the Lord’s hands: “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed” (I Chron. 4:10). Not for him a multitude of demands and appeals, he simply asked for a blessing, leaving the decision of what would be appropriate for his spiritual welfare as the Lord’s prerogative. Clearly this man differed from his contemporaries in that he called on the true God.
Alas, herein lay the seed of conflict that would inevitably lead him to become a social misfit. Human nature has an inherent suspicion and dislike of non-conformity. In an environment of indifference, allegiance to the Lord (especially accompanied by preaching, as was probably the case with Jabez) tends to generate hostility. His brethren, focusing on doing what was right in their own eyes, would soon learn to despise and reject their brother, causing him grief.
Land of renown
If our surmising about family disharmony is correct, then how natural for a
man of faith to desire to leave a place inhabited by godless men, in order
to avoid spiritual contamination and seek a distant area more conducive to
true worship. Some suggest that this is the reason Jabez asked for his
territory to be enlarged. Certainly this explanation is more worthy of a
man of faith than the acquisition of land for the accumulation of wealth.
There is, however, another explanation favored by Bro. Harry Tennant more in harmony with the situation, especially when one considers that the Lord was pleased to grant the supplication. The word ‘enlarge’ is the Hebrew rabah: to make large, or great. Jabez was petitioning for the ground upon which he stood to become great in the sense of renown. To become fertile and receptive to the word of truth, enabling it to take root and spread, thus making it a land in which the Lord would be pleased to dwell.
“Enlarge my coast” (Heb. gebul: coast, border, or enclosed place), is the same word used in Malachi for border: “They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever” (Mal. 1:4). In this indictment of the notoriously godless Edomites, the figure of metonymy is used to give emphasis to an appalling situation; the territory in which scenes of the foulest corruption had occurred, is used to describe the people themselves. Then comes a wonderful counterbalance in reference to the land and people of Israel. “The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel”(Mal.1:5). Ellicott has an interesting comment on this passage: “Some say, beyond the border but this in not in accordance with the usage of the expression, which means simply ‘hover’ or ‘ above’. The meaning seems to be: the Lord, whose protecting presence hovers over the border of Israel, is now great, in that He has restored Israel, but hath destroyed the nationality of the wicked descendants of the godless Esau.”
It can be confidently presumed that the preaching endeavors of Jabez, being blessed, produced a similar situation: the eradication of evil from the area in which he lived and God being magnified. Far from trying to take the easy way out and moving away from wickedness, Jabez desired to be used as a catalyst for turning the hearts of the people to the Lord; whereby the territory would then be ‘enlarged’ by the presence of his Spirit. Knowing that the request of Jabez was granted, the conclusion may be drawn that his brethren eventually responded favorably to his preaching. In this manner the faithful man was delivered from evil and spared ongoing grief.
High and lifted up
Here is a man of prayer and understanding from the tribe of Judah; one
who trusted in God completely and rested upon His will; a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief; more honorable than his brethren and rejected by
them. The accumulating evidence that in the person of Jabez is a reflection
of our Lord Jesus Christ is inescapable.
What is even more exciting however, is the secondary meaning of the name Jabez: ‘height’. Straightway our thoughts go to the anti-type of the serpent in the wilderness, the Lord, high and lifted up as a representative of sin. The poignant words of Psalm 69 indicate that Jesus reached unprecedented depths of sorrow, for it was destined that he must “sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” He had to pass through the miry waters of death after bearing reproach and shame, before the prophetic plea: “But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high” could be fulfilled. (Ps. 69:2,7, 29).
But the lifting up on the tree was incomparable to the heights attained after his resurrection: “This Jesus hath God raised up…Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted…” (Acts 2:32,33). The word exalted means lifted up. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter was referring to the prophetic vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, as seen by Isaiah: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1). It would seem that the addition of the meaning ‘height’ to that of ‘sorrow’ is conclusive proof that in Jabez there is a type of Christ.
It can be seen from the expositionary nature of our study that we are indebted to the brother who exhorted his young listener to pay attention to the details in the book of Chronicles so many years ago. Although it is not our custom to revere one brother above another, it nevertheless behoves us to be thankful for the insight and wisdom of those who through their experience and diligent reading of the scriptures share the wonderful gems found in the most unlikely passages.
Patricia Bartle