were slain by the PhiUstines in Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi, 8), the men of Jabesh-gilead came by night and took down their corpses from the walls of Bethshan, where they had been exposed as trophies, then burned the bodies, and buried the bones luider a tree near the city, observing a strict funeral fast for seven days (ver. 13). " Jabesh-gilead was on the mountain, east of the Jordan, in full view of Bethshan, and these brave men could creep up to the tell along wady Jahld without be- ing seen, while the deafening roar of the brook -would render it impossible for them to be heard" (Thomson, Latul and Book, ii, 174). David does not forget to bless them for this act of piety towards his old master, and his more than brother (2 Sam. ii, 15), though he afterwards had the remains translated to the ancestral sepulchre in the tribe of Benjamin (2 Sam. xxi, 14). Jabesh still existed as a town in the time of Eusebius, who places it on a hill six miles from Pella, towards Gerasa {Onomast. s. v. 'Api(Tw3 and 'ln/3f tf). Mr. Buckingham thinks it may be found in a place called Jehaz or Jejaz, marked by ruins upon a hiU in a spot not far from which, ac- cording to the above indications, Jabesh must have been situated {Travels, ii, 130, 134). It was more probably situated on the present wady Jabes, which Burckhardt (Trar.in Syria, p. 289) describes as entering the Jordan not far below Beisan. According to Schwarz (Palest. p. 234), there is a village of the same name still existing on this wady ten miles east of Jordan ; but Dr. Robin- son, during his last visit to this region, sought in vain for any village or ruins by that name (which, he says, is applied exclusively to the wady), but thinks the site of Jabesh-gilead maybe marked by that of the ruins called by the Arabs ed-Deir (the convent), high up the wady, on the south side, on a hill, and containing columns as he was informed (new ed. of Researches, iii, 319). It is about six miles from the nuns of Pella, near the line of the ancient road to Gerasa (Van de Velde, Travels, ii, 349-52 ; Porter, Handbook for Syria and Palest, p. 317 ; Stanley, Sinai and Pal. p. 290).
Ja'bez (Heb. Yabets', ■j-'3"^, according to 1 Chron. iv, 9, affliction, so. to his mother, apparently by trans- position from the root Sl^i' ; Sept. 'lyafSiie and r«/3i}(; or r«/3>jc)> the name of a man and also of a place.
1. A descendant of Judah (B.C. post 1012), but of what particular family is not apparent, although we have tins remarkable accomit of him inserted among a series of bare pedigrees : " And Jabez was more honora- ble than his brethren : and his mother called his name Jabez, saying. Because I bare him with sorrow (3iJi', o'tseb). And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying. Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me C^aiJS', otsbi') ! And God granted him that which he requested" (1 Chron. iv, 9, 10). It is very doubtful whether any connection exists between this genealogy and that in ii, 50-55. Several names appear in both — Hur, Eiihratah, Bethlehem, Zareathites (in A.Y. iv, 2 inaccurately " Zorathites"), Joab, Caleb; and there is much similarity between others, as Kechab and Kechah, Eshton and Eshtaulites; but any positive connection seems undemonstrable. The Targum identifies Jabez and Othniel. For the traditionary notices of this per- son and his character, see Clarke's Comment, ad loc.
2. A place described as being inhabited by several families of the scribes descended from the Kenites, and allied to the Eechabites (1 Chron. ii, 55). It occurs in a notice of the progeny of Salma, who was of Judah, and closely connected with Bethlehem (ver. 51), possi- bly the father of Boaz; and also — though how is not clear — with Joab. The Targum states some curious particulars, which, however, do not much elucidate the difficulty, and which are probably a mixture of trust- worthy tradition and of mere invention based on philo- logieal grounds. Rechab is there identified with Re- chabiah, the son of Eliezer, Moses's younger son (1
JABEZ
723
JABLONSKI
Chron. xxvi, 25), and Jabez with Othliiel the Kenczite, who bore the name of Jabez " because he founded by his counsel (^n^J^") a school (X^'^2"iri) of disciples called Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites." See also the quotations from Talmud, Temurah, in Buxtorfs Lex. col. 'JGG, where a similar derivation is given. As the place appears to have been situated within the ter- ritory of Judah, it may have been settled by the numer- ous posterity of the above person by the same name (comp. " the men of Eechah," 1 Chron. iv, \'l). The as- sociated names would seem to indicate a locality near, if not identical with Kirjath-jearim (comp. in the same region Kirjath-sepher, or book-town, implying the liter- ary avocation of its inhabitants), where some of the same families appear to have dwelt (I Chron. ii, 53), e. g. the Ithrites = Kenites, the Shumathites = Simeathites.
Jabez, Isaac ben-Salomo ben-Isaac bex-Jo- SEi'ii, a .Jewish commentator of some note, flom-ished in the 15th century. Of his personal history we are uninformed, but his works, of great celebrity in the 15th cHiiniry, still continue to be considered valuable ciuitriliiitidiis to exegetical literature; and Frankfurter, in his '• Kabbinic Bible," inserted the following, which are, however, rather compilations from different exposi- tors than the original productions of Jabez : (1) ribnr nin^,or Commentari/ on the Psalms:— (2) iTliTi ilTlb, or Comnientaiij on Proverbs: — (3) "^TJ PX"!"^, or Com- mentary on Proverbs:— (A) D'^'w'ip TTHp, or Commen- tary on the Song of Songs:— {h) p^lS n^Z^i, or Com- mentary on Ruth: — (6) D"'?2n npIS, or Commentary on Lamentations: — (7) S1^ "^"iS^y, or Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes .-—(8) dlb'^ n^.US, or Com- mentary on the Book of Esther :—{V) di'^lT'^ rDl3, or Commentary on Daniel:— (10) d^Din "i'iri"2, or Com- mentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. Besides these, Jabez wrote 'jTIil pS^, or homiletical Commentary on the Haphtarotb, or Sabbatic Lessons from the prophets (Belvidere, near Constantinople, 1593, folio) : — nbo nn3-n, or Commentary on the Pentateuch. See Wolf, Biblioth. Ifebr(ea,i,GQi; iii,617sq.; iv,886; TuTSt.Bib- lioth. Jud. ii, 2 ; Steinschneider, Cutalogus Libr. in Bib- lioth. Bodl. col. 1125; C. D. Ginsburg, in Kitto, s. v.