Jabez I Chronicles 4

I Chronicles 4:9-10 "And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested."

The prayer of Jabez has been nestled amongst these hard to pronounce names for thousands of years but was made famous by a book that came out a few years ago. It is a good prayer and God honored Jabez and gave him what he asked for. In light of the New Testament, it seems a very personal prayer in that he did not pray for Israel and others but for himself. Then, we should all get our own house in order so that we can be useful in the bigger picture.

It is a good witness in a nation that was prone to follow after strange gods.

I could not nail down who he descended from but I get lazy sometimes reading all those names. The chapter starts with the posterity of Judah by Caleb so I expect he did descend from that great spy and warrior.

We can note a couple of verses in this chapter:

v14 "And Meonothai begat Ophrah and Seraiah begat Joab, the father of the valley of Charashim; for they were craftsmen."

So we now know where leaders went when they wanted things done that a craftsman would do.

v21 "The sons of Shelah the son of Judah were, Er the father of Lecha, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen of the house of Ashbea.

When a special garment or a special hanging for the temple was needed, they probably went to this family.

v22-23 "And Jokim and the men of Chozeba and Joash and Saraph who had the dominion in Moab and Jashubilehem. And these are ancient things. These were the potters and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work."

We can see that it was no mystery for leaders to know where to go to find the right people for the right job. I found the phrase these are ancient things interesting but I don't know the significance of it. Unless we are talking about talents that were discovered in this land and were known to exist before Israel arrived. Anyway, it is interesting.

The defeat of the Amalekites is covered in the balance of the chapter so the people would have pasture land.

Looking at the chapter as a whole, just about all the physical needs of the people are covered in the abilities of the people mentioned. I think these abilities were in the nature of those who did them and not just something they learned.

Proverbs 10:2 "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death."

Keywords: Bible Study, Old Testament, Chronicles, Jabez. Jabez prayer and talents of various people.