And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren
The Targum adds,
``and wiser in the law than his brethren;''or he might be a man of great wealth and riches, or of great strength and courage, all which make a man honourable; or he may be so called, because a praying man, as follows, a man of devotion and religion, a man of God, see ( 1 Samuel 9:6 ) , but who he was is not easy to say, probably a son or brother of Harum, or however that belonged to one of the families of Aharhel, mentioned in the preceding verse; for that he was Othniel, as say the Targumist and other Jewish writers F26, is not probable, and besides is after spoken of distinct from him, ( 1 Chronicles 4:13 )
and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with
sorrow;
either with sorrow for her husband, being dead, or by reason of very sharp pains she endured at the birth of him; he was another Benoni.