Troublesome Topic: WHAT ABOUT THE PRAYER OF JABEZ?

In I Chron. 4:10 we read the prayer of a man named Jabez. The part of the prayer that is most often emphasized is this: “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory.” The verse ends by saying that God granted his request. Does that mean that this was an example of true prayer? Is this how we should always pray? No. This is an example of asking God for favors. It is also an example of how God, in His great mercy and grace, sometimes gives us favors. The fact that God answered that request is not a reflection on the nature of his request; it is a reflection on the nature of God. Many have been impacted by the book The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson. Unfortunately, it has only served to increase our bad habit of praying about ourselves and for ourselves. We are in the habit of using prayer as nothing but asking God for favors, and when a book like The Prayer of Jabez comes along, it seems to justify such bad habits. 

WHO WAS JABEZ?

From the names mentioned in the paragraph just before this, I Chronicles 4:9-10 may imply that Jabez belonged to the family of Coz, and probably to the clans of Aharhel (see v. 8).

I have long thought that not all of the genealogies of the Bible are attempting to mention all the sons of a given person. During times when families had lots of children, if we see only a few sons mentioned, it may be that they had an exceptionally small family, or that not all their sons are mentioned. Both these options must be kept in mind.

This is especially relevant before the flood; when most people lived around 900 years, you can be sure that they had lots, and lots of children. In fact, some places in the early genealogies add the words, “and he had other sons and daughters”. This does not mean that later genealogies mention all the sons of each man, but that before the flood there were many names left out.

If some sons are not mentioned, it would be because only the most prominent ones, the ones that accomplished something special, the ones that were most important for the purpose of inheritance and for the continuance of the family name, are mentioned. It depends on the purpose of the genealogy, but for some genealogies, the important names were the only ones that needed to be mentioned.

This appears to be the case with Jabez. Regarding earthly accomplishment, Jabez was not considered important enough to mention in the normal way that genealogies were used – with a clear connection to his father. But in a spiritual sense, he did accomplish important things, and therefore, he has been inserted into the text in order to highlight what he did in the spiritual realm.

There was a place called Jabez (I Chron 2:55), probably named after the man with the name Jabez. I Chronicles 2:55 says that a clan of scribes lived in the place called Jabez. The Jewish Targum explains a belief held by the Jews that Jabez was a doctor in the law and founded a school of scribes. Even though Jabez does not appear to have been an important man in a physical or material sense, he had a town named after him, which gives certain validity to the implied connection between the prayer of Jabez in I Chron 4:10 and the existence of a clan of scribes at the town of Jabez in I Chron 2:55.

A connection to Bethlehem has also been put forth, but such a connection is based only on the fact that Bethlehem is mentioned at the beginning of verse 54 of I Chronicles 2.

SUMMARY

The Bible’s short mention of Jabez presents Jabez as a faithful God-follower. His prayer was answered positively because of who God is, not because it was an example of true prayer, for God was not obliged to answer it that way. It was a reflection on God’s character, not a reflection on the quality of Jabez’s request. We should follow this man’s example of holy living, but we should not lift his prayer up as anything beyond a request for a favor.

The next lesson in this series is GRATITUDE