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11/28/2002 Entry: "Prayer of Jabez"

I'm grateful to Darryl for pointing me towards this article about the Prayer of Jabez. There are those who treat this prayer as a sort of magical incantation, and it has become the heart of a thriving industry. But the article's author sees the prayer as an ironic interlude, or comic aside to the genealogies which occupy much of the early chapters of 1 Chronicles:

Given this interpretation, the Jabez prayer (the Ouch! prayer) may then be taken as an indication that God can sometimes bless God's servants with prosperity. Yet the text simultaneously distances itself from any easy or absolute identification of blessing with earthly wealth and human striving for self-worth and power. Jabez is honorable, to a degree and in a way; we may even take him as a kind of hero. But if he is a hero, he is really a comic hero--he and his "blessing" of prosperity are not to be taken with final or ultimate seriousness. Were The Prayer of Jabez made into a movie, big, adorable funny men (modeled after John Candy or Jackie Gleason) might be perfect for the part. Jabez is certainly likable, but to be admired only with ironic qualification.Admittedly, this is not a terribly pious reading--but then the Bible itself is often not too pious. Solely on textual terms, it is hard to make much more of Jabez and his prayer. It is more edifying to read the Ouch! prayer as a wry leavening of scripture than as a motivational mantra or a magical success formula. Besides, the church already has a model prayer.