1 Chronicles 4:9,10
And Jabez was more honourable 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.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): “Jabez called on the God of Israel,” when he was undertaking some great and dangerous service. Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed,”—I trust not to my own or people’s valour, but only to thy blessing and help…That thine hand might be with me, to protect and strengthen me against my adversaries.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): In its primary sense, it evidently related to temporal blessings. God had promised His people an inheritance in Canaan, but they were not able of themselves to drive out the inhabitants. Jabez therefore, sensible of his insufficiency, prayed to God for help. He begged for the blessing of God upon his endeavours: he desired to be preserved from the dangers to which his military exploits would expose him, and to have an enlarged inheritance in the promised land. But there is reason to think it had also a spiritual meaning.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): “Oh, that Thou would bless me, indeed.” Think it over, and you will see that there is a depth of meaning in the expression. We may set this in contrast with human blessings—“Oh, that Thou would bless me, indeed.” Other blessings are mere tittles in comparison with Thy blessing. For Thy blessing is the title “to an inheritance incorruptible” and unfading, to “a kingdom which cannot be moved.” Well might David pray in another place, “with Thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever,” 2 Samuel 7:29.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): This, therefore, evidently argues that there was another sort of blessings, which were latent and hid, even a substantial, spiritual, invisible kind of blessings for evermore. That which Jacob obtained is called the “blessing,” in Genesis 27, eminently such, or it was the “blessing indeed,” which was in Jabez’s eye under all these veils; ‘the blessing, even life for evermore,’ as the Psalmist speaks by way of exposition, Psalm 133:3.
CHARLES SIMEON: Like the patriarch Jacob, Jabez “wrestled with God, and prevailed.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Perhaps Jabez had an eye to the promise God made to Abraham, “In blessing, I will bless thee,” Genesis 22:17. “Let that blessing of Abraham come upon me.” Spiritual blessings are the best blessings, and those are blessed indeed who are blessed with them.
THOMAS GOODWIN: And, indeed, when Isaac afterwards with such vehemency doubles Jacob’s blessing, “I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed,” Genesis 27:33, this imports a blessing indeed to have been contained and involved in that blessing; and Isaac also showed that the same blessing that was promised to Abraham, which was spiritual, was made over by inheritance to Jacob. The words of Abraham’s blessing have the same emphatical duplication that we find in Jacob’s, “In blessing, I will bless thee,” Genesis 22:17. Further, the last words in that blessing of Jacob’s, “Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee,” Genesis 27:29, manifestly refer to the blessing made to Abraham, being part of the words that are used in Abraham’s blessing, “I will make thee a blessing, and I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee,” Genesis 12:2,3.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Jabez being so remarkably spoken of, and his prayer so recorded, and the Lord’s gracious answer in granting it so striking, demands a more particular attention. His prayer is evidently a proof of his great piety.
MATTHEW HENRY: What was the nature of his prayer?
CHARLES SIMEON: The manner in which it was offered was believing. The title, by which he addressed the Deity, argued his faith in God. It expressed a confidence in God as the hearer of prayer.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): His prayer was at once both enlightened and pious. He had piety towards God, and therefore he trusted in Him; he knew that He was the fountain of all good, and therefore he sought all necessaries both for body and soul from Him…Both the matter and manner of his prayer were excellent.
CHARLES SIMEON: It was humble. He felt his entire dependence upon the power and grace of God. This is intimated not merely in the petitions offered, but in the very manner in which they were offered. Such humility is absolutely necessary to render prayer acceptable. The more we abase ourselves, the more will God exalt us. Let this be remembered in all our addresses at the throne of grace. It was importunate. He enforced his request with a very earnest plea.
ADAM CLARKE: His heart was deeply impressed with its wants, and therefore he was earnest and fervent: “O that thou wouldest bless me indeed.” He dreads both sin and suffering, and therefore prays against both: “O that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” Sin and misery are in every step of the journey of life; keep me from sin, that I grieve thee not; and keep me from sin, that I render not myself miserable! We can never offend God without injuring ourselves; he that sins must suffer.
CHARLES SIMEON: Nor, in reference to sin, could any plea be more proper for him.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Nothing is more grieving to a good man than the evil of sin, so contrary to the nature and will of God, being committed against a God of infinite love, grace, and mercy, whereby the name, ways, and truths of Christ are dishonoured, and the Spirit of God grieved, and saints are bereaved of much comfort; and therefore they desire to be kept from it, knowing they cannot keep themselves, but the Lord can and will, at least from the tyranny of it, and destruction by it.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast”—my heart—“When thou shalt have enlarged mine heart,” saith David, “then will I run the way of thy commandments,” Psalm 119:32.
ADAM CLARKE: Jabez is conscious that without the continual support of God he must fail; and therefore he prays to be upheld by His power: “That thy hand might be with me!”
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Every blessing, temporal and spiritual, comes from God, and should be sought in the way of prayer. They who wait upon God, will renew their strength, and be kept from the power of the evil one, the evil heart, and the evil world. Unless God strengthen us, we become a prey to the weakest of our enemies. God granted his prayer: so ready is God to give to him that asketh, and to supply the largest desires of our souls.
C. H. SPURGEON: O Lord, we would have the blessings of our fellow creatures, the blessings that come from their hearts—but, “Oh, that Thou would bless me, indeed,” for Thou can bless with authority. Their blessings may be but words, but Thy words are effectual. They may often wish what they cannot do, and desire to give what they have not at their own disposal, but Thy will is Omnipotent. Thou didst create the world with but a word. O that such Omnipotence would now show me Thy blessing!
ANDREW FULLER (1754-1815): Let us pray with Jabez to be blessed indeed!
