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I will keep this relatively short.

When I first heard of the Prayer of Jabez, I thought it sounded interesting, but as I read it, I had a disquieting feeling in my Spirit that several important points were being missed. Part of the problem, I thought, was the this was never considered a very important part of scripture in the distant past, so it might not have been explored quite as fully as might have been prudent when translating the Word of God. Whatever the ultimate conclusions one might draw, I felt the need to go to the Hebrew text and see what it said.

As I explored, I came to some different conclusions that, to me, seem more consistent with Scripture. Much in Bruce Wilkinson's book I thought was good (and certainly with my respect for his Secrets of the Vine, I cannot say I have any core theological or philosophical difference with him - but in the Prayer of Jabez), but no matter what he meant by what he wrote, many people seemed to take the Prayer of Jabez as a sort of charm that would get them abundance, help them be kept from evil without much effort of their own, and not inflict pain or have pain inflicted on them. Some of those things, though, seem contrary to other teachings in Scripture.

Very often, our abundance starts with something on our side. Israel was told to obey, THEN God would bless them. Malachi says to bring in the full tithe, THEN God will open the floodgates of Heaven. Jesus says abide in Me, THEN you will bear much fruit. Again and again there seems to be more than asking. When we are told that we do not have because we do not ask, we are subsequently told that we ask and do not receive because we ask with wrong motives. What was Jabez actions before he asked, and what was his motive for asking?

The passage itself, I found, held many answers. He was more honorable than his bretheren. We know from Israel's history what sort of people they often became. Even in their grumbling against Moses having just seen all God's miraculous power come to bear against Egypt on their behalf, they still grumbled when the slightest thing went wrong! But Jabez, he was different enough to be worth noting that HE was the honorable one.

There's a lot tied up in that word. Taking the full meaning of honor and all it potentially implies, without violating Scripture we can assume that he was wealthy, since that's often implied by the word. We can assume that he walked uprightly before the Lord, and that he was the kind of person who would take a stand. Honor can also mean "grevious" which could mean that he was the type of person that would declare "That's wrong, and I won't let you do it" to his bretheren, thus grieving them. When the Bible stops to take the time to say Jabez was more honorable than his bretheren, it probably means that he was so much of what honor is, that it was worth mentioning - not just mentioning, but even comparing him to others.

So Jabez probably followed the Biblical pattern of walking uprightly in obedience to God, and THEN God blessed him. There are two possible interpretations of the blessing aspect of the prayer in Hebrew, that Jabez was asking to be doubly blessed, or he was telling God that because he was doubly blessed that he would do certain things. Based on the context, it might just be the former, but because it could also mean the latter, it may not be unreasonable to assume both - that he felt he was alread blessed, and he was asking for a double blessing and telling God that if God would do this, that Jabez would respond a certain way to it.

Expanding borders, enlarging coasts or multiplying holdings are all reasonable interpretations. In short, Jabez, who was probably already a rich and powerful man, asked to make him even more rich and even more powerful. Since "multiply" is also a translation of the word used, he might even have been asking for God not just to make him more wealthy and powerful, but many times more wealthy and powerful. Why? God does not usually give people wealth and power just to give them wealth and power.

Asking for God's hand to be with him to keep him from evil - what does that mean? In Hebrew, it just says "hand" and "evil." It doesn't say whose hand, but we might be able to imply that it means God's hand because that's what the ancient Hebrew scholars thought. To keep him from evil? To keep him from sin? Whose job is it to keep us from doing evil, God's or ours? Isn't that a choice we make? Is Jabez asking God to protect him by not letting him do evil? Certainly David, a "man after God's heart" did "evil." I had to think about this one.

And the translations "that I may cause no pain" or "that I may feel no pain" I also found odd. Righteous men inflict pain against the unrighteous by the simple act of opposing unrighteousness. Righteous men receive pain, and early Christians were persecuted not because they were greater sinners, but because they followed God. This one just seemed backwards.

But when I looked at the Hebrew version of Jabez words, a different idea came to mind. It seemed to me that Jabez was asking for God's hand to be with him to keep him from evil, nor did it seem that Jabez was asking for God to protect him from pain. The pain word also means "grief" or "grieving."

Please take note that this is my interpretation, which is a very, very different thing from saying this is what God was really saying. Also, my Septuagint resources are too limited, so I cannot make a full exploration and seek more ancient texts. However, based simply on the Hebrew, this is my understanding of the Prayer of Jabez...

"Doubly bless me, multiply my holdings, and by my hand will evil grieve."

It seems to me that Jabez knew he was more honorable than his bretheren, and he knew that someone had to have the power and resources to stand against the evil he saw. He knew that no one else was willing to do it, so he came to God and prayed to God - "Lord, You've already blessed me, but bless me again and make me more wealthy and more powerful so that I can stand against evil!"

If God made me a phenomenally wealthy and powerful person, would the forces of Hell look at that and think "Yes! With that wealth and power he will be tempted to self-indulgence and sin and we've got him!"? Or, would I be more like I think Jabez was, and the forces of Hell would greive, "No! Not Him! If HE has wealth and power he'll use it against us!"

I have asked God for wealth, and I have asked God for power. There are things I would like to see built to raise up the next generation and the generations that follow. I would like to see the Alethia Principle as more of a core to Christianity, and just about every other of life both sacred and "secular" (as if there's a difference to God - it's all supposed to be sacred). I would like to see the face of politics transformed, and I there is much I wish I had the power and the money to do - but I don't, so I can't. Not yet, anyway. We'll see if God finds me to be such a man, or if God is willing to make me into such a man, and if so, and after He does, then maybe God will find me fit to bless me with what will be required to do the things I believe He has placed in my heart.

I know that the Prayer of Jabez can be a "hot button" for a lot of people, given its popularity, so feel free to email me with your thoughts.