1 Chronicles 4:9-10 And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with sorrow.… Like a star set in the darkness of midnight, more conspicuous because of the surrounding gloom, is the name of a great man in the chronicles of the trifling and the insignificant. How encouraging is the assurance, "If any man love God the same is known of Him," whoever he may be, wherever he may dwell. The name of Jabez stands in most emphatic isolation upon the sacred page. He is distinguished by his faith in God from hie contemporaries, of whom it would seem that the most important record of their lives was this: "These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work" (ver. 23). They served an earthly monarch; he a heavenly. Their business was among things frail and perishing; his was with things unseen and eternal. Their arts and manufactures have long since crumbled into dust. This prayer abides to bless the Church of God until the end of time. I. A CONCISE MEMOIR — "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren," etc. The Scriptures are full of these comprehensive, brief, but weighty texts which Luther was wont to call "little Bibles." "A man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." "Apelles approved in Christ." "He was a burning and a shining light." "Of whom the world was not worthy." The genealogy in which the name of Jabez occurs is that of the royal family of Judah. The compression of Scripture truth within its limited area is one of the great miracles which belong to the structure of God's Word. It is said of Jabez that "he was more honourable than his brethren," though with a less honourable name. His mother had anticipated the hour of anguish with unusual sadness, and she called him Jabez — that is "grief." "When thou wast born," say the Easterns, "thou didst weep, and all about thee did rejoice; so live, that when thou diest thou mayest rejoice, and all about thee may weep." We may consider this epithet "honourable" as applied to Jabez, from either a secular or a spiritual point of view. In the former case it would mean that integrity and uprightness pervaded all his actions, that in the business of this world no impeachment could lie against his good name, that all his undertakings would bear the most rigid scrutiny. Nor is it a matter of small importance that those who profess to be the children of God should be recognised by the men of the world as actuated by unscrupulous integrity. The children in the marketplace very keenly scrutinise the conduct of those who avow themselves to be Christians, and they expect, and not without reason, that our code of morals should be superior to their own. But we may consider this title conferred on Jabez as. issuing from the court of heaven, and bestowed upon him because of his eminence in the service of God. II. A COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER. "And Jabez called on thor 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." He was a true prince in Israel, having power with God; and yet it is only one prayer of his which has been preserved. One prayer, doubtless one of many, for it reveals a mastery in the holy exerciser only attained by much practice. One prayer has lifted a man out of the lowest depression to the loftiest summits of enjoyment. It has expelled the dark tides of sorrow from the soul, and brought in proofs of God's love dearer than life itself. It has widened the channels of enjoyment and filled them with inexhaustible supplies of delight. 1. He seeks the best blessings. "Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed." He "covets earnestly the best gifts." God Himself is the only fountain and source of true blessedness. We should not, however, completely appreciate this prayer if we do not notice that temporal things may become blessings indeed. If we do not prefer the gift to the giver; if they are the means of drawing us nearer to Him, then "all things work together for good." It would seem to have been the desire of Jabez to see his Heavenly Father's smile through all earthly conditions and in all Divine bestowments. And it is indeed a true philosophy which determines respecting life and all its mutations that it matters not so much what we get for our earthly lot, as how we. get it. The things which men most usually covet conspire to their hurt because they have not God's blessing. 2. He prays for an enlarged territory. "That Thou wouldest enlarge my coast." It appears probable that this Jabez was a younger son, and that he was born at a time when the patrimony was well-nigh, exhausted. This would account for the maternal solicitude which had conferred on him so dolorous a name. An Israelite might indeed put up this prayer without misgiving, because every inch of territory which he gained would be rescued from heathenism, and brought within the confines of the Land of Promise. But war prefer to look at this petition as a supplication for spiritual good. Every grace-taught man must sympathise with this cry for room. Too often fettered and environed by corruptions, cares, and infirmities, we feel the need of enlarged desires, expanding affections, and uncontracted views of Divine realities. "The world of the blind," says Mr. Prescott, the historian, speaking from painful experience, "is bounded by the length of the arm." A blind world revolves in the narrow orbit of things that can be touched. The gospel introduces its subjects into the vast regions of things unseen and eternal, and bestows upon them that "other sense" called faith, and confers the capacity of communion with the Eternal. When will. the Church of Christ adopt this portion of the prayer of Jabez? "Oh that Thou wouldest enlarge my coast!" Too often we hear complaints of demands too. numerous, and solicitations that are wearisome. 3. He prays that the hand of God may be with him. The hand that directs, supports, supplies, and chastens us. There can be nothing more delightful to the child of God than the constant recognition of the fact that his Father's hand is pointing out for him the path of life. 4. He would be kept from evil. — "And that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me." Now we gain more light on the suggestive name of this man. He was called Jabez — "grief" — and it is evident that he was one of those who grieve over sin. That is the greatest trouble of all good men. Not only from the wiles of Satan and the snares of the world, but from our very selves we require the defence of the Almighty arm. III. THE COMPLETE ANSWER. God granted him that which he requested. Throughout all Europe we have seen in the Churches the votive garlands and offerings hung by the superstitious at the shrines from whose patrons their relief is supposed to have come. What a contrast between these tinselled trifles and the rich museum which the Church of God possesses of grateful recollection and adoring praise on the part of those who have prevailed at the throne of grace! He has a treasure of great worth who can rejoice in a distinct answer to prayer. (W. G. Lewis,) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. |
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