וַיְהִ֣י יַעְבֵּ֔ץ נִכְבָּ֖ד מֵאֶחָ֑יו וְאִמּ֗וֹ קָרְאָ֨ה שְׁמ֤וֹ יַעְבֵּץ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר כִּ֥י יָלַ֖דְתִּי בְּעֹֽצֶב׃
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying: ‘Because I bore him with pain.’
Ramban
AND HE CALLED HIS NAME ER. Judah called his son Er, said name being derived from the expression, Stir up (‘Or’rah’) Thy might.130Psalms 80:3. His wife called the name of the second son Onan,131A word which suggests grief and mourning. Ramban makes the point that the name Judah chose for his son can easily be surmised, as it suggests strength. But why his wife should choose a name like “Onan” is not indicated. but Scripture does not relate the reason for this name. Now it is possible that she experienced difficult labor, for it is customary for women to name their children after such an experience, as did the mother of Jabez who so named him, saying: Because I bore him with pain.132I Chronicles 4:9. The name “Yavetz” contains the Hebrew letters of atzev (pain). And so did Atarah, the mother of Onam,133Ibid., 2:26. [call him by the name Onam on account of her difficult labor], the name being derived from the expression, And the people were ‘k’mithon’nim’ (as murmurers);134Numbers 11:1. Wherefore doth a living man ‘yithonen’ (complain)?135Lamentations 3:39. This is similar in expression to ben oni (the son of my sorrow)136Above, 35:18. mentioned in the case of Rachel. Judah was not particular about changing Onan’s name as his father Jacob had done.136Above, 35:18.
In Bereshith Rabbah13785:5. our Rabbis said, by way of explaining the name Er, that he was destined to be thrown off (she’hu’ar) from the world.138Since, as Scripture relates, he died on account of his sin. (Verse 7, and see Ramban there.) Now this is not to say that such was Judah’s intent. However, the Rabbis made their exposition since the names indicate the future.
In Bereshith Rabbah13785:5. our Rabbis said, by way of explaining the name Er, that he was destined to be thrown off (she’hu’ar) from the world.138Since, as Scripture relates, he died on account of his sin. (Verse 7, and see Ramban there.) Now this is not to say that such was Judah’s intent. However, the Rabbis made their exposition since the names indicate the future.
Barukh SheAmar
With awesome power (Deuteronomy 26:8) - This represents the revelation of the Divine Presence: What is the connection between the phrase “awesome power” and the suggestion that it was a “Divine Revelation?” This interpretation is based on a Midrashic play on words in which the Maggid interprets a word by on switching the order of its letters. The word “Awesome” is “Morah,” מורא. By switching the “Vav” and the “Raysh,” we get “Ma’or,” מאור, which means “light.” The “Morah Gadol,” the awesome power of God is revealed as a great light or a vision! Similarly, in Deuteronomy 4:34 we read, “Has any god ventured to go and take for himself one nation from the midst of another by prodigious acts, by signs...and awesome powers?.” (The Hebrew here is “Moraim Gedolim.”) Onkeles, the Aramaic translation of Bible, interprets this expression to mean “great visions,” from the Aramaic word for “sight.”
Radak
ויקרא את שמו נח, לאמור זה ינחמנו ממעשינו, our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 25,2) say that לא השם הוא המדרש, ולא המדרש הוא השם, that the name נח is not compatible with the allegorical explanation offered by the Midrash, neither is the Midrash compatible with the name נח. Lemech should not have related the name נח to נחמה, but should have related it to נח זה יניחנו, “this one will bring relief,” as opposed to: “this one will comfort us, i.e. the meaning of the word נחמה. On the other hand, if what he had in mind by naming his son נח, was נחמה, the comfort that he expected or hoped that his son would bring to the world, he should have named him נחמן זה ינחמנו. “this one will bring us comfort, consolation.” The Midrash is absolutely correct. However, if someone finds rest, relief after having experienced troubles, this is in itself his comfort, his consolation. The Hebrew language does not make such fine distinctions when it comes to the names reflecting linguistically accurately what the giver of the name had in mind. When Chanah named her first born son, the one for whom she had prayed in the Tabernacle at Shiloh, שמואל, giving as her reason for this name כי מה' שאלתיו, “for I have borrowed him from the Lord,” she should have called him שאול, if she had taken the words of our Midrash to heart. (Samuel I 1,20) The word שאול means something or someone borrowed. The name שמואל is close enough to make us realise what she had had in mind. In fact Chanah’s thoughts are reflected more accurately in the name שמואל than they would have been in the name שאול. The name שמואל actually contains not only the thought that he has been borrowed, or asked for, but that he had been borrowed, or asked for from G’d. Similar considerations apply to the name יעבץ, derived from עצב, anguish, sadness, (Chronicles I 4,9) His mother mentioned that she named him so because he had been born out of pain. There are more such examples to be found throughout the Bible.
According to our sages Lemech must have been a great prophet, for how else could he predict that Noach, his son, would turn out to be a boon to mankind? What did he see or know that caused him to make such a prediction? According to Tanchuma Bereshit 11, people did not know what a plough was and they had to do all their work on the soil by hand. Noach invented the plough, thus becoming a great benefactor of mankind. He trained oxen and donkeys to pull a ploughshare, thus easing the labour the farmers had to perform. This was the relief and consolation he provided for all of the human species. When Lemech referred to ממעשי ידינו, “from what we had to do with our hands,” he meant that henceforth due to his son, animals could perform some of the labour which, up until then had been performed by each farmer literally with his own hands. [In accepting this interpretation, we must assume that the name Noach was not bestowed on Noach at birth. Ed.] The word מעשה as applying to working one’s field, appears in Judges 19,16 ממעשהו מן השדה, “from his work, from the field.” Even though the word מעשה can apply to any kind of work, it is used in the main in connection with work in the field. ומעצבון ידינו, from the frustration we have been experiencing over the work of our hands 'אשר אררה ה, which the Lord had cursed. Lemech referred to 3,17 where G’d had told Adam that as a result of his having listened to his wife, the earth would be cursed and he would have to eat his bread only after experiencing עצבון. In spite of Noach having invented the plough, people after him continued to work very hard to gain their livelihood through tilling the soil. However, he had definitely made their chores easier due to his clever invention.
According to the plain meaning of the text, when Lemech had said זה ינחמנו, he had certainly not expressed a prophetic vision with these words, but he had called Noach by that name as a sort of prayer, seeing in his birth a special blessing. [perhaps the fact that he had not become a father until he was 182 years old had something to do with this. Everyone else mentioned in the chapter fathered a son at a much younger age. Ed.] When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, she called him Joseph as a good omen, saying that she named him thus so that G’d might give her another son. (Genesis 30,24). Moses recorded, at the command of G’d, all these vital statistics of the people from Adam until Noach, in order that we, who have inherited the Torah, should know that the universe has not always existed but was created by G’d, an important fact for every human being to be aware of.
According to our sages Lemech must have been a great prophet, for how else could he predict that Noach, his son, would turn out to be a boon to mankind? What did he see or know that caused him to make such a prediction? According to Tanchuma Bereshit 11, people did not know what a plough was and they had to do all their work on the soil by hand. Noach invented the plough, thus becoming a great benefactor of mankind. He trained oxen and donkeys to pull a ploughshare, thus easing the labour the farmers had to perform. This was the relief and consolation he provided for all of the human species. When Lemech referred to ממעשי ידינו, “from what we had to do with our hands,” he meant that henceforth due to his son, animals could perform some of the labour which, up until then had been performed by each farmer literally with his own hands. [In accepting this interpretation, we must assume that the name Noach was not bestowed on Noach at birth. Ed.] The word מעשה as applying to working one’s field, appears in Judges 19,16 ממעשהו מן השדה, “from his work, from the field.” Even though the word מעשה can apply to any kind of work, it is used in the main in connection with work in the field. ומעצבון ידינו, from the frustration we have been experiencing over the work of our hands 'אשר אררה ה, which the Lord had cursed. Lemech referred to 3,17 where G’d had told Adam that as a result of his having listened to his wife, the earth would be cursed and he would have to eat his bread only after experiencing עצבון. In spite of Noach having invented the plough, people after him continued to work very hard to gain their livelihood through tilling the soil. However, he had definitely made their chores easier due to his clever invention.
According to the plain meaning of the text, when Lemech had said זה ינחמנו, he had certainly not expressed a prophetic vision with these words, but he had called Noach by that name as a sort of prayer, seeing in his birth a special blessing. [perhaps the fact that he had not become a father until he was 182 years old had something to do with this. Everyone else mentioned in the chapter fathered a son at a much younger age. Ed.] When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, she called him Joseph as a good omen, saying that she named him thus so that G’d might give her another son. (Genesis 30,24). Moses recorded, at the command of G’d, all these vital statistics of the people from Adam until Noach, in order that we, who have inherited the Torah, should know that the universe has not always existed but was created by G’d, an important fact for every human being to be aware of.
Rashi
And the families of scholars, those who dwelt with Jabez Jabez’s company, over whom he ruled, as is written below (4:9): “And Jabez was more esteemed than his brothers.”