Year 3, Day 278: 1 Chronicles 4

Genealogy – Chapter 4

 1 Chronicles 4 has a few surprises for us among the names.  First, as I was reading the names I honestly began to worry what I would write about today.  After all, how can someone come up with something spiritual in the midst of a pure genealogy?  Sure, yesterday was easy because it focused on David and the coming of the Messiah.  But today?  Tomorrow?  The three days after that?  How on earth am I going to come up with something spiritual on a tribal genealogy?

Then something hit me.  There is a counterpoint to yesterday’s lesson.  As important as the genealogy of chapter 3 is to all of God’s work, doesn’t that by nature indicate how mundane the rest of the chapters are?  If the Messiah is to come from David’s line, then aren’t the rest of the tribes just normal people – people not unlike you or me?  The answer is yes.  These chapters are just normal people.

But they are still present.  God still pays attention to them.  They are still recorded in God’s Word!  The message today is the exact counterpoint to yesterday.  God cares about the normal people, too!  In fact, I would wager that God cares just as much about the regular people as he does the kings of Judah.  The truth of God is that there is nobody unimportant enough that they are beyond the reach of God’s love.  That’s a fairly powerful statement.

However, as I continued to read I found a few stories within the genealogy.  The first one I want to talk about is the character of Jabez.  Did you know that Jabez is only ever mentioned in three verses of the Bible?  All of them are in 1 Chronicles.  His name is mentioned twice in this chapter and once in 2:55.  Three times in the whole Bible!

Yet, you have no doubt heard of the “prayer of Jabez.”  People have taken this single prayer and turned it into some kind of mantra for forcing God to bless them.  I think it’s rather horrible, personally.  As I was reading today, I thought more about why.

Here’s where the reference in 1 Chronicles 2:55 comes into play.  You see, Jabez did pray that prayer.  And God increased his land.  And the city or area where he lived began to be called Jabez.  That’s how impressive God’s blessing was upon him!  But in 1 Chronicles 2:55 we hear that Jabez is also the birthplace of the scribes.  It is within Jabez that the scribes come into prestige.

Those of us reading with a New Testament perspective, do you know who the main adversaries of Christ’s ministry was here on earth?  Of course there are the Pharisees.  And of course there are the chief priests.  But the people who are mentioned the most are the “scribes.”  These are the behind-the-scenes teachers, reporters, detectives, and investigators of Jesus.  These are the ones who are always listening and critiquing Jesus.  And where is it that they originate?  Yeah, that’s right.  Jabez.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not going to fault Jabez for generations of legalism that increases and grows until it reaches the point that it is capable of rejecting God’s Messiah.  I’m not resting that upon Jabez’ shoulders.  But I will say this.  The God I know is a God who desires humility, humbleness, and submission.  While I won’t lay the blame completely at the feet of Jabez, I neither find any surprise to realize a connection between a group of people who ultimately play a large part in rejecting God’s Messiah and a man whose reputation begins with, “Oh God, give me.”

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