THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST: THE PRAYER OF JABEZ (5)

1 Chronicles 4:10

"Oh, that You would bless me indeed,

and enlarge my territory,

that Your hand would be with me,

and that You would keep me from evil,

that I may not cause pain!"

So, God granted him what he requested.

A Biblical-Theological ReflectionsThe Prayer’s Fourth and Fifth Petition – …and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!

Jabez's last request: And you would keep me from evil, lest I cause pain. The Hebrew word ra'ah may mean physical calamity or natural disaster, as well as moral evil. Jabez recognized the human tendency to moral failure, with the negative effects not only for the individual but also for others. However, both the prayer itself and the larger context of the Books of Chronicles argue that it is the moral sense that is in view. One of the points made throughout the narratives in Chronicles is that many of the kings of Israel/Judah started out well, but at some point, committed a moral evil that had disastrous effects on the people. For David, while the account of his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah is omitted, his sinful census is included (1 Chron. 21). The apostasy of Solomon is largely omitted, but the Chronicler does mention the fact that peoples who should have driven out of the land remained (2 Chron. 8:8). The foolishness of Rehoboam is declared. As one follows the narrative through 2 Chronicles, time after time, the moral failure of the king has dire consequences for Israel. Henceforth, Jabez prayed for God to keep him from moral evil, that he might not cause the associated pain on others. This that made Jabez more honorable than his brothers. His interests went further than himself, to include the success of God’s kingdom.

Jabez prayed that in receiving God's blessings that he would not fall into the temptation that happens to many successful people, and that also evil people may not try to harm him. This is clearly an idiom in the Hebrew. The expression does not seem to be used in another place, but the sense seems clear enough. Jabez makes supplication that God would keep him from the evil of trouble, all the evil designs of his enemies, that they might not hurt him, nor grieve him, nor make him a Jabez indeed, a man of sorrow. Father in heaven, deliver me from evil.

God prospered Jabez remarkably, and gave him success in his undertakings, in his studies, and in his worldly business, in his conflicts with the Canaanites.