Post by Lee on Sept 21, 2014 20:43:14 GMT
((CENTRAL ARTICLE))
The importance of the warning provided by the history of Achan is emphasised by a second pen portrait contained in the genealogies. Jabez the Honourable is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:9, 10 and nowhere else in the Bible. He provides a welcome contrast to Achan the Troubler, though there is no immediately obvious connection between them. However, it seems that the two men were actually related. The information about Jabez appears in a section of the genealogy of Carmi, Achan’s father (4:1, cp. Joshua 7:1), and his mother may even have been Achan’s sister, or at least another close relative. It is easy to imagine the shame which would be felt by those who were closely related to Achan, whose immediate family and possessions were all destroyed after his theft was discovered (Joshua 7:25).
How appropriate therefore that it is recorded of Jabez that he “was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow” (1 Chronicles 4:9). It is possible that Jabez was born in the immediate aftermath of Achan’s trouble, and his mother’s heavy heart was commemorated in the name she gave her son—Sorrow. In process of time Jabez grew up. He was different from his kinsman Achan, devoting himself to God and not to his own desires. His outstanding prayer is recorded for posterity:
“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” (1 Chronicles 4:10).
. Vol. 135: The Christadelphian: Volume 135. 2001 (electronic ed.) (404). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
The importance of the warning provided by the history of Achan is emphasised by a second pen portrait contained in the genealogies. Jabez the Honourable is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:9, 10 and nowhere else in the Bible. He provides a welcome contrast to Achan the Troubler, though there is no immediately obvious connection between them. However, it seems that the two men were actually related. The information about Jabez appears in a section of the genealogy of Carmi, Achan’s father (4:1, cp. Joshua 7:1), and his mother may even have been Achan’s sister, or at least another close relative. It is easy to imagine the shame which would be felt by those who were closely related to Achan, whose immediate family and possessions were all destroyed after his theft was discovered (Joshua 7:25).
How appropriate therefore that it is recorded of Jabez that he “was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow” (1 Chronicles 4:9). It is possible that Jabez was born in the immediate aftermath of Achan’s trouble, and his mother’s heavy heart was commemorated in the name she gave her son—Sorrow. In process of time Jabez grew up. He was different from his kinsman Achan, devoting himself to God and not to his own desires. His outstanding prayer is recorded for posterity:
“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” (1 Chronicles 4:10).
. Vol. 135: The Christadelphian: Volume 135. 2001 (electronic ed.) (404). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.