WHO WAS JABEZ?
ZVI RON
A figure named Jabez (Ya’avetz) is mentioned briefly in I Chronicles, in the middle of the genealogical list of Judah’s descendants, where it is not explicitly mentioned who his father was, or where exactly he fits into the list.1 And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying: ‘Because I bore him with pain.’ And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying: ‘Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou would work deliverance from evil, that it may not pain me!’ And God granted him that which he requested (I Chron. 4:9-10). This brief and cryptic passage sparked the rabbinic imagination, and Jabez is considered one of a select few people who entered Paradise while still alive. Jabez is a good example of how rabbinic interpretation relates to a very minor figure in Tanakh. In this article we will attempt to understand the character of Jabez, from the perspective of the simple meaning of the text (pshat) as well as the homiletical interpretation (drash).
THE PLAIN MEANING OF THE TEXT As noted by the a number of commentators, the text itself is reminiscent of the birth of Benjamin, where during a very difficult birth Rachel called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin (Gen. 35:18). ‘Ben-oni’, son of my sorrow, was changed by Jacob to ‘son of the right hand.’2 Here as well, the name Jabez in Hebrew is spelled with the same letters as ‘my pain’ (itzvi), just transposed, which Jabez asks God to undo in some fashion (that it may not pain me).3 The only other mention of Jabez is two chapters earlier as the name of a place, And the families of scribes that dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites (I Chron. 2:55). The text does not explain the connection between the place Jabez and the person Jabez, it may be that the place was named after this Jabez.4 In any event, his introduction without any
Zvi Ron received semikhah from the Israeli Rabbanut and his Ph.D. in Jewish Theology from Spertus University. He is an educator living in Neve Daniel, Israel, and the author of Sefer Katan ve-Gadol (Rossi Publications: 2006) about the large and small letters in Tanakh, and Sefer HaIkkar Haser (Mossad Harav Kook: 2017) about the variant spellings of words in Tanakh. He is the Editor of The Jewish Bible Quarterly. WHO WAS JABEZ ? 51 identification seems to indicate that he was someone that the reader was expected to be acquainted with.5 The theme of this short narrative seems to be that although his name indicates sorrow, Jabez in fact was more honorable than his brethren, which in the next verse is attributed to his prayer to God being answered. Thus the message here is that “more than a person’s name, it is a person’s attitude towards God that counts.”6 This narrative might have been particularly meaningful for the audience at the time that Chronicles was written. “Jabez epitomizes the situation of the postexilic community. They were born out of pain, and cry out to God for peace and rest. The assurance of this story is that God will hear the prayer of faith and graciously respond.”7
AGGADIC INTERPRETATION As is customary with figures mentioned only briefly in Tanakh, the Rabbis associated Jabez with another biblical figure, in this instance, Otniel son of Kenaz, the first of the Judges (Judges 3:9-11). “A tanna taught: Otniel is Jabez…He was known as Otniel, as God answered [ana’o El] his prayer. He was also known as Jabez [yabetz] because he advised and spread [ya’atz veribetz] Torah among the Jewish people” (TB Temurah 16a). The textual hint for this Torah scholarship is the reference to the families of scribes that dwelt at Jabez (I Chron. 2:55). This association with teaching Torah becomes the prominent aggadic characteristic of Jabez, and is understood to be the meaning behind the prayer of Jabez. “Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, is with regard to Torah. And enlarge my border, is with regard to students. And that Thy hand might be with me, that my studies not be forgotten from my heart. And that Thou would work deliverance from evil [mera’ati], that I will find friends [re’im] like me. That it may not pain me, that the evil inclination should not grow strong and prevent me from studying Torah” (TB Temurah 16a). Elements of this interpretation of the blessing were incorporated into the Targum of Chronicles.8 This characterization of Jabez as a Torah scholar appears in other Midrashic sources as well. For example, Tanhuma (Teztzaveh 9) states that “he was one of the wise men who arranged public assemblies to publicly teach the reasoning of the Torah (ta’amei Torah).”9 In Avot d’Rabbi Natan 35:4 we find that “Jabez was a good and righteous man, a man of truth and Vol. 49, No. 1, 2021 52 ZVI RON piety, and he would sit and teach Torah.” One opinion in TB Yoma 80a states that “Measures of punishments…were instituted by the court of Jabez.” He is particularly associated with teaching the descendants of Jethro, the Kenites. This is because of the association of the Kenites with the place named Jabez in I Chronicles 2:55, And the families of scribes that dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the Rekabites. Thus we find in Sifri (Re’eh 62:2), “they went to Jabez to learn Torah.” Similarly, in Sifri Zuta (Numbers 10:29) he is portrayed as inviting the Kenites to learn with him in the house of study, even though they were initially intimidated to enter due to being converts.10
ENTERED THE GARDEN OF EDEN ALIVE The very end of the first chapter of the minor tractate Derech Eretz Zuta there is an unusual passage, a list of the “nine who entered the Garden of Eden alive.” This passage doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the work, which deals with correct moral and ethical behavior and the qualities of scholars. A shorter list of seven who entered paradise in their lifetime appears in the minor tractate Kallah Rabbati 3:26, which also deals in the main with ethical and proper behavior. A longer list of eleven such people is found in 2 Alphabet of Ben Sira 28b, an anonymous work from the Middle Ages.11 All these lists include Jabez. In Kallah Rabbati this is understood as a response to the prayer of Jabez. When Jabez prayed that Thou would work deliverance from evil, it refers to rescue from death. There is only one Midrashic source which gives an explanation for this special treatment of Jabez, beyond the simple approach that his prayer to God was answered. Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu Rabbah (5:14) asks why Jabez “merited a life without pain and without an evil inclination in this world, what God will grant the righteous in the World to Come?” The answer given is “Because he would travel throughout the Land of Israel and would teach Torah publicly for the sake of God” (l’shem Shamayyim). This would seem to indicate that his prayer for a life free from pain and sorrow was granted because of his dedication to teaching Torah publicly with no aspect of self interest or gain. The lesson of Jabez is that a life committed to a lofty spiritual purpose is fundamentally considered a life free from sorrow.
THE CHANGING LESSONS OF JABEZ
JEWISH BIBLE QUARTERLY WHO WAS JABEZ ? 53 Though a very minor character in Tanakh, Jabez sparked interest because his payer for a good life was answered by God. The original message of the text, based on its plain meaning, is that through prayer a person can avoid the difficult life that may have been his destiny. When the prayer of Jabez was interpreted by the Rabbis as referring to Torah study, and Jabez was understood to be a scholar, the original message of the text was turned into a teaching that Torah scholarship is what causes a person to live a life free from pain and sorrow, and ultimately gives a person a kind of immortality as part of the chain of Torah tradition. This last idea is symbolized by Jabez appearing in all lists of those who enter Paradise alive. In this manner Jabez was transformed from a very minor and obscure figure into a special and saintly person, symbolizing dedication to Torah study.12
NOTES 1. This is not particularly unusual in Chronicles, see Metzudat David to I Chronicles 4:8. Ralbag understands that Jabez was a son of Helah (I Chron. 4:7), the Vilna Gaon understands that Jabez is the son of Aharhel (I Chron. 4:8, the last individual mentioned before Jabez). Radak suggests that Jabez may have been an alternate name of someone mentioned previously. 2. For example, the commentary attributed to Rashi and Malbim. 3. See Moshe Garsiel, Biblical Names: A Literary Study of Midrashic Names Derivations and Puns (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1991), p. 90, 224. Metzudat David understands that the transposition of letters was intended by the mother of Jabez to reverse the pain of birth to happiness in his life (I Chron. 4:9). 4. See C.H. Knights, “Kenites = Rechabites?: 1 Chronicles II 55 Reconsidered.” Vetus Testamentum, vol. 43, no. 1 (1993), p. 13. 5. Yehuda Kiel, Da’at Mikra, Divrei haYamim 1 (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1986), p. 83. 6. Pancratius Cornelis Beentjes, Tradition and Transformation in the Book of Chronicles (Leiden: Brill, 2008), p. 144. For other perspectives on the role of the Jabez narrative, and for a comprehensive analysis of it, see the Ph.D. thesis of Neriah Klein, “The Genealogies of the Sons of Judah in Chronicles (1 Chr. 2:3–4:23): A Literary Analysis”, Bar-Ilan University, December 2018, chapter 15. 7. John Mark Hicks, The College Press NIV Commentary: 1 & 2 Chronicles (Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing, 2001), p. 89. 8. See Leeor Gottlieb, Targum Chronicles and Its Place Among the Late Targums (Leiden: Brill, 2020), pp. 257-261. 9. There it is also noted that Jabez was the 36th generation after Adam. On the significance of this number, and the idea of the thirty six righteous men that ensure the existence of the world, see Dan Ben-Amos, ed., Folktales of the Jews, volume 1 (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2006), pp. 423-425. 10. On the connection between Jethro, the Kenites and Jabez, see Beatrice Lawrence, Jethro and the Jews: Jewish Biblical Interpretation and the Question of Identity (Leiden: Brill, 2017), p. 83.
Vol. 49, No. 1, 2021 54 ZVI RON 11. Regarding these and other similar lists, see Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, volume 1 (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2003), p. 73, n. 67. Regarding the possible errors in the name of Jabez in the lists, thus referring to him at the son or grandson of R. Judah the redactor of the Mishna, see Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, volume 1 (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2003), p. 862, n. 30. 12. Jabez also inspired a series of books of Christian inspiration by Bruce Wilkinson, The Prayer of Jabez and sequels.
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