You never know what you are going to find when you read a genealogy. They are tempting to skip but sometimes they have real gems.
Prayer of Jabez
In fact in this chapter, a whole book was made out of the Prayer of Jabez.
Here’s the Scripture:
“Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez and said, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez called out to the God of Israel: “If only you would bless me, extend my border, let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not cause any pain.” And God granted his request.” 1 Chr 4:9-10).
The book takes that one prayer and amplifies it, how we would do well to pray the Jabez prayer. It’s a good prayer. And it’s a prayer of man who lived honorably.
The Skilled Laborers
It’s interesting too how we see the skilled laborers. They all lived together in cities to apply their craft.
“Meonothai father Ophrah, and Seraiah father Joab, the ancestor of those in the Valley of Craftsmen, for they were craftsmen” (1 Chr 4:14).
“the families of the guild of linen workers at Beth-ashbea” (1 Chr 4:21).
“These names are from ancient records. They were the potters and residents of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the service of the king” (1 Chr 4:23).
It’s not uncommon for cities to be known for certain industries. We know Vegas as the casino industry, Detroit as the car industry, and more. This takes place in the Scriptures too although with less smaller cities. Cities were often known for their skilled labor and production contribution.
The Descendants of the Pharoah’s Daughter
This certainly has an interesting story in it that we don’t know. The man Mered had a Judean wife (1 Chr 4:18) as well as he married the daughter of Pharaoh. With her he had several children. How did that happen? We don’t know much but certainly there is a very story there.
The Diminishing Tribe of Simeon and It’s Pursuit of Land
We see several places where the tribe of Judah basically absorbs the tribe of Simeon. We see here one of several reasons for that:
“Shimei had 16 sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so their whole family did not become as numerous as the Judeans” (1 Chr 4:27).
Part of the reasons for the reduction of the tribe of Simeon was just sheer lack of children compared to the other tribes. Those tribes that exploded the most were the ones who had many kids.
We also see that the tribe of Simeon was needing to move. It takes desperate circumstances for a tribe to move and we don’t know what those were, but they went “to the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks. They found rich, good pasture, and the land was broad, peaceful and quiet, for some Hamites had lived there previously” (1 Chr 4:39-40). They attacked the land of the Hamites and settled there.
Then at another time 500 men of the Simeonites joined with some others and struck down the remnant of the Amelekites. These were the Amalekites who had escaped and who as we read elsewhere were throns in the flesh for Israel (1 Chr 4:41-43).
Summary
This chapter seems like a long list of names, but in between the names is rich history. We don’t know much about the history but again, we have little snapshots of things that took place. Very likely in the writing of these the people all together knew and understood the events that were referenced. Just like if we were to reference “Hitler” we would all know what that meant and the history behind it, but 1000 years from now that might not be the case.
It’s easy to pass over the geneologies. But I encourage you to see if you can find any gems that like the Prayer of Jabez, can inspire and encourage others.
