Thank you for your question. It gets to the heart of why I wrote the story.

The only thing in the Bible about Jabez is found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. In the middle of the recitation of the tribe of Judah — in the middle of whole passages of “B was the son of A, and had 3 sons … C, D, and E”, there is suddenly a small snippet of something completely different: a very short description of Jabez, who prayed a particular prayer.

The 2 verses about Jabez are remarkable because they are so out-of-context with the rest of the chapter. It is because these verses appear to be so out-of-context that I felt free to use the creative license that I did.

First, I believe the prayer that Jabez prayed is mentioned where it is because of its historical — and not just its spiritual — significance. Several translations of 1 Chronicles 4:9 refer to Jabez as “the man who prayed …”. This implies that the prayer that he prayed was known to the Chronicler’s audience.

Second, Jabez’s father is not mentioned within the same passage. I have interpreted this to mean that his father was omitted from the chronicles of the tribe of Judah on purpose, which I handled using the injury. Ordinarily, this would have meant that his line of descendants would not be mentioned. However, I believe Jabez is mentioned due to (A) who Jabez was and who he had influenced, (B) the historical significance of Jabez’s prayer, and (C) the revelation in my story that Jabez’s father was not as deformed as first thought.

Third, Jabez’s descendants are not mentioned in 1 Chronicles. I have interpreted this to mean that he did not have any male children, or at least, none that survived childhood. Thus, in my story, Jabez does not have any male descendants that would have warranted mention in 1 Chronicles. Therefore, all interaction that Jabez has with his descendants has to take place in a line that comes from his daughter.

Fourth, there is no mention in the Bible of the name of David’s mother, allowing for the possibility that Jabez was David’s maternal great-grandfather. (You will note that I did not give her a name in the last chapters of the story.) Genealogies in most cultures follow the paternal line, rather than the maternal, and the genealogy of David as listed in Matthew is no different. So, even if we had definitive proof that Jabez was, in fact, David’s maternal great-grandfather, he still would not be listed in Matthew.

Thus, I did not change known facts. I simply supplied a plausible explanation for why the Prayer of Jabez is in the Bible besides its spiritual application, and in so doing, showed the source of influence on David’s life and the inspiration for many of David’s actions.

So, what we get down to is a story that cannot be proven one way or another, which I believe is what good fiction should be. I did my best to stay true within the boundaries of known history, and have tried to give a voice to those areas of history that are silent.

bob

bobr