The ninth verse of the fourth chapter of the first Book of Chronicles
contains a reference to Jabez. The whole history is brief:
“And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren; and his mother called
his name Jabez, saying: ‘Because I bear him with sorrow.’ And Jabez
called on the God of Israel, saying: ‘Oh, that Thou wouldst bless me
indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and
that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!’ And God
granted him that which he requested.”
Nothing more is known of this Jabez or of his brethren. “The Speaker’s
Commentary” regards the fact as remarkable that Jabez should be
introduced without description or patronymic, as if a well-known
personage, and supposes that he was known to those for whom the Book of
Chronicles was written, either by tradition or by writings which have
perished.
The word Jabez signifies sorrowful.
Jabez was distinguished in some way above his brethren. By this
distinction we are not to infer the exercise of an undue partiality in
the spirit of his parents. Account for it as we may, some men appear to
be born with what may be called a larger religiousness of nature than
other men. It is easy for them to pray; it is a delight to them to peruse
all sacred writings; it is a positive pain to them to be deprived of
religious privileges.
We must leave this mystery as insoluble. It is a very pleasant mystery to
those who are gifted with religious intuition; but, on the other hand,
it is a most appalling mystery to those who seem to be what we can not
better describe than by calling them natural Atheists.
The name which Jabez bore was a memorial of his mother’s sorrow--not
a prophecy of his own. Yet Jabez was animated by that inexplicable
superstition which discovers in names and circumstances omens and
predictions which the imagination can never treat with disregard.
Jabez might intellectually know that his name did but represent what his
mother had endured, yet a subtle feeling took possession of him, as if he
himself would in some way be involved in the same sorrow. Nor was this an
irrational conclusion.
As a matter of fact, some men are born to more sorrow than others--as
certainly as by constitution some men are more religious than others.
Here, again, is a dark and painful mystery. We see the operation of this
mystery even in the same family, where one of the children may be full of
sunlight, hope and music, and another may be doomed to walk in darkness
throughout a lifetime--unable to discern between Summer and Winter,
loaded with trouble and oppressed with undefinable apprehensions.
Jabez is known to history as pre-eminently a man of prayer. Although it
has been considered that the prayer of Jabez was uttered in view of some
imminent battle or other dreaded experience, yet by common consent Jabez
has been regarded by Christian students as a typical man of prayer.
Judging the case within the narrow limits of the history given in verses
nine and ten, it would seem as if Jabez started life in an act of prayer.
The image is at once graphic and beautiful. Think of a young man standing
at the door of his house, looking abroad at the unknown and unmeasured
world, listening to the conflicting voices which troubled his native air,
and then turning his eyes to Heaven and asking divine direction before he
would take a single step from the threshold of his home.
Nothing of the nature of mere romance attaches itself to this picture.
This, indeed, is what every young man ought to do before going out to
battle or labor. It would appear, from instances which have come under
our view, that God condescends to receive from men promises of religious
life on certain providential conditions. We can not understand this now,
but it is perfectly clear, from such instances as Jacob and Jabez, that
God was willing to respond to propositions of obedience founded upon the
realization of specified blessings.
The prayer of Jabez must be judged to be good, for the sufficient reason
that it was answered--“and God granted him that which he requested.”
Is the conduct of life, then, open to regulation upon such high and
sacred lines? May a young man come before the Almighty, speak out all his
heart and receive promises of continual guidance and defense from the
Living One?
If we could realize the certainty of this holy commerce as between Earth
and Heaven, our whole life would be lifted to a noble level, our spirit
would be released from the dominion of fear, and instead of laboring
in toilsome prayer, we should be filled with the spirit of triumphant
thankfulness and praise.
What privileges are open to the young! It lies within their power to
give a whole life-time to God. Those who have advanced considerably in
life can now but give a fraction of their days, but the young soul can
give God the brightness of the morning, the glory of noonday and the
tranquility of evening.
Let the young think of this, and give themselves diligently to the study
of such instances as that of Jabez, knowing that if they remember their
Creator in the days of their youth increasing age will mean increasing
joy.