In 1 Chronicles 4:9, we are told of a man named ‘Jabez’, which means ‘He causes pain’. What is striking, however, is that in his life Jabez walked in greater glory than his brothers did, which can also be described as ‘a person of greater renown’.

 

1 Chronicles 4:9:
9 Jabez was more honourable [Note: of greater glory] than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, ‘I gave birth to him in pain.’

 

It was the mother of Jabez who named him as the one who ‘creates pain’.

 

Looking at this situation in a spiritual context, the mother can represent the ‘ecclesia’ who evaluates the circumstances based on the challenges without having the proper spiritual view of God.

 

 

In Jabez, on the other hand, we can recognize the dynamic of sonship in Christ Jesus, in which there is a greater glory that seeks to see with its gaze the promise of God (Note: the Father) in order to speak the words of enlargement or expansion and at the same time to be accompanied by the guarding hand of God (cf. 1 Chronicles 4:10).

 

1 Chronicles 4:10:
10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.

 

It is the presence of the hand of God that encompasses the spiritual dynamic of being lifted to a new spiritual level, just as Ezekiel, for example, experienced (cf. Ezekiel 3:12; Ezekiel 8:1.3a-b).

 

Ezekiel 3:12:
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing.

 

Ezekiel 8:1.3a-b:
1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. …
3a-b He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, …

 

From Jabez’s response, it is evident that he was empowered to think from the dimension of the ‘new wineskin’ which resulted in great blessing and growth by the hand of God and the leading of His Spirit.

 

 

Jabez was aware of the presence of the glory of God, so that despite the negative decree of his mother or even the sphere of communication of the ‘familiar spirits’ in the form of the ‘ancestral spirits’, he looked for the realm of the promise of the ‘Heavenly Father’ to break through the ‘communication of the ancestral spirits’ within his maternal generational line with the glory – presence of God resting on him.

 

The enemy’s frequent attempt to prevent us as saints from entering our God-given promise is by speaking through the communication of the so-called ancestral spirits, which corresponds to a communication of the past and the effect of the ‘accuser of the brethren’ in terms of blames and accusations (cf. Revelation 12:10).

Revelation 12:10:
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

 

The Hebrew word for ‘ancestral spirit’ is ‘’ôb’ and includes a so-called ‘parroting or murmuring of what was communicated in the past, speaking from the belly in the form of a ventriloquist who speaks as from a hollow vessel’. In addition, it also means ‘tube made of animal skin for storing water and wine’. (part excerpt from the Elberfelder Study Bible on the Hebrew word ‘’ôb’ with word key number: 181* and 182 and Strong’s Concordance with word key number H178).

 

 

Based on this word explanation, we can see that it is about a familiar communication from the past such as e.g. wrong conclusions and belief-systems by parents, relatives, teachers, etc. that the adversary uses to stop the advancement of a believer into the God-given identity.

 

The enemy does this by trying to trap every believer in the structure of an ‘old wineskin’ with the spiritual communication (Note: water and wine) located there.

 

The Hebrew name ‘Jabez’ is phonetically like the Hebrew word ‘jābēš’ that is mentioned in Ezekiel 37 and is connected to ‘hopelessness, to feel ashamed or confused, to be disappointed’. (Note: part excerpt from the Elberfelder Study Bible on the word ‘jābēš – dried up’ with language key number 3083 and Strong’s Concordance with language key number H3001).

 

By means of this explanation and by the statement of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:11 we can see that the people of Israel were dealing with resignation and were without hope, because they did not interrelate in divine unity, hence they were in a state of diversion (cf. Ezekiel 37:2.11).

 

Ezekiel 37.2.11:
2 He led me to and fro among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. …
11 Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.”

 

This diversion shows us that among God’s people at this time that if we live according to our own ideas and without bonds to divine order, such behavior results in fragmentation and confusion, which can also lead us to hopelessness, disappointment and even embarrassment (Note: lack of belonging). It is not the will of God that we get into such a state, but it is our decision that determines, whether we live in a state of scattering or true apostolic unity (Note: apostolic network or alignment).

 

The adversary’s plan is always to prevent us from walking as members of the Body of Christ in our identity already established by God (cf. Psalm 139:16 i.c.w. Jeremiah 1:5).

Psalm 139:16:
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Jeremiah 1:5:
5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew (Note: chose) you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’

 

 

This is evident in the naming of ‘Benjamin – son of my right hand’ who was previously named ‘Ben-Oni – son of my pain’ by his mother Rachel due to her challenging birth circumstance, whereby it was the determination of the father Jacob to change his identity from ‘pain’ to ‘favour’ and ‘governmental rule’ with great impact for his future (cf. Genesis 35:18).

Genesis 35:18:
18 As she (Note: Rachel) breathed her last – for she was dying – she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.

 

It was Benjamin who, as the youngest son of Jacob, was staying with his father at the time when his brother Joseph was in Egypt as a pioneer to secure God’s promise. Benjamin, symbolizing the ‘new wineskin’ because he was the youngest son of Jacob, knew how to move in the dimension of ‘Yod, the hand of God’ and to be drawn by it in the ‘brotherhood in Christ’ (cf. Romans 8:29), which is made clear by the first Hebrew letter in the fatherhood of Jacob and in the brotherhood of Joseph.

 

Romans 8:29:
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers [and sisters].

 

These two names each begin with the Hebrew letter ‘Yod’, which is associated with ‘the hand in the spirit realm’.

 

It is no coincidence that Benjamin was blessed five times by Joseph in the level of the ‘brotherhood in Christ Jesus’ (Note: Joseph; cf. Genesis 43:34; Genesis 45:22).

 

Genesis 43:34:
34 When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

 

Genesis 45:22:
22 To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.

 

=> The number ‘5’ is an effective number. It counts to the effect of grace, manifested and worked as the hand of God in a life or ministry. This is because everything the LORD does is freely provided and cannot be purchased by earthly currency. It is a gift of grace. This number is mainly like the hand symbolism and represents the performance of a vow to the LORD. It applies in part to sacrificial or devotional service.

In addition, the number ‘5’ indicates a pledge of devotion expressed through the power in someone else’s hands (Note: hand pressing) to accomplish something. Hand symbolism primarily characterizes the Tanakh and has been brought into the New Testament by the Apostle Paul in his presentation of the offices of the five-fold ministry to the New Testament church.

In the Tanakh, the tabernacle and temple already point to the hand fulfillment of the New Testament church. The tabernacle had five pillars to support the structure, and the temple had a pentagon in the entrance area (cf. Exodus 26:37; 1 Kings 6:31).

Thus, ministries of ministers, elders, and leaders are implied there (cf. Ephesians 4:11 i.c.w. Galatians 2:9; Revelation 3:12).<= (The text placed in ‘=>’ is based on an explanation from the ‘Prophet’s Dictionary’ by Paula A. Price, Ph. D.; pp. 221; 222).

 

Since Benjamin is associated with the executive government and favour of God, which is made clear by his name, which means ‘son of God’s right hand, son of good fortune’, a shift of spiritual authority and favour into a new realm can be seen here, which is based on childlike faith.

 

For it was Jesus as an infant who, together with his parents, went to Egypt for a certain period of time at the instruction of God in order to be saved from premature death (cf. Matthew 2:14-15 i.c.w. Luke 18:16).

 

Matthew 2:14-15:
14 So he [Note: Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’

 

Luke 18:16:
16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. …’

 

We are called by God the Father to take hold of the redemptive work of Christ in the Holy Spirit as the greatest gift of true freedom for us to completely cast off any negative thinking, generational sinful patterns and false attachments.

 

Let us therefore allow only the Spirit of God to shift our identity to a higher level to do His will and live in the promise He has for us.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm