Jabez and My Dad

Jabez was an honourable man

I have always been fascinated by this fella Jabez. Why? – because, when my father died, we discovered his real middle name was Jabez and not James as he had always told us. Why was my Dad avoiding his own name? We don’t know. What we do know is that it is a family name. Some time ago, my brother and I went researching the family tree and we found a churchyard in the country village where Dad was born. In that churchyard were several generations of the Bennett family and it seems that every eldest boy in each generation of each family line had the name Jabez as his first or second name. This started my interest in the Biblical Jabez.

The man called Jabez is only mentioned once, in 1 chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV) where it says this : “Now Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.” Fascinating little cameo – known as Jabez’s Prayer. The only other mention of Jabez is earlier in 1 Chronicles 2:55 “And the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Suchathites. These were the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.” It is a place name – maybe where Jabez the man had his home?

There has been much written on Jabez Prayer and it is used extensively in teaching about prayer. There have even been whole books written on the subject. I don’t want to look at that side of Jabez. I want to look at what the Bible says about him – and that’s little enough. He was more honourable than his brothers. His mother bore him in pain. He asked God to keep him from evil so that he would cause no pain. He asked God to ‘enlarge his tent’ and keep His hand on him. God granted his request. There you are – the life story of Jabez in two or three lines of scripture.

He was more honourable than his brothers. This I feel is the crux of everything about Jabez and is why he has been preserved for us to perhaps emulate. He was an honourable man. He was a righteous man too. He honoured the Lord – he honoured his debts and his promises. His yes was yes and his no was no. A hand-shake from Jabez was a solid contract. There were not many ‘honourable men’ in the Old Testament – but certainly, Jabez appears to have been one of them. Even then it just says that he was ‘more honourable than his brothers’. Make of that what you will.

His mother bore him in pain. Interesting detail about why he was so named

He asked God to keep him from evil so that he would cause no pain. This, I feel, refers to his honour. He asked the Lord to keep him, his mind and his actions, from evil so that he would not cause anyone any pain or anguish. Honourable behaviour indeed.

He asked God to “enlarge my territory that your hand be with me” He asked God, basically, to prosper him.

God granted his request. God honoured a man who honoured Him in everything he did, by granting his request.

So what can we learn from Jabez? I think that if we honour God with our lives – our daily business and family life – then He will honour us. He will hear our prayers and answer them. James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” And again, Jesus said in John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.”

Something to think about ??