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JABEZ    4'1m0f Monologue: The prayer a Jabez

(enters wearing tunic and headdress, carrying Bible proudly)

Hey, look what I found! Do you know what this is?! It's called a
Bible. We never had these in the old days. In the old days this
much writing would have been handwritten on hundreds of scrolls
and would have occupied a whole tent of its own. Even the five
books of Moses had to be carried by two men. That's because in
the old days the books were copied by hand. We didn't have
printing presses that could write real small like this. You have
no idea how lucky you are to have this. In my part of Israel, we
didn't even have a copy of these books for our own. If we hadn't
memorized the books of Moses, we wouldn't have had any
scriptures at all.

Oh, I'm sorry, it just occurred to me that you have no idea who
I am. My name is YAHbetz. (examines faces in audience) YAHbetz.
(examines faces in audience) I'm in the Bible. (examines faces
in audience) I'm in the section of the Bible that you people
call First Chronicles. (examines faces in audience) I know what
the problem is. The people who translated your Bible
mispronounced my name. Your Bible calls me JAYbez. (examines
faces in audience) I can see by the looks on your faces that
some of you still have no idea who I am. It's not like my name
is a household word. My name is only mentioned a couple of times
in your Bible. In fact, the guy who wrote a best-selling book
about my prayer is better known among your people than I am.

Let me just tell you what my prayer said. I ask the Lord to
enlarge my territory. Now to some of you who haven't read the
Books of Moses, that prayer may seem a little selfish,
especially since I didn't need the new territory for any
glittering purpose. I didn't want to build a tabernacle or
temple on the property. I didn't even want to build an alter on
it. I needed it for pasture land. Pretty low tech, huh?

So, why did I pray for the Lord to expand my territory? And why
did the Lord grant my request?

(holds Bible toward audience)

The answer is in here. (examines faces in audience) The Books of
Moses. You know, the first five books of your Bible. Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. (opens Bible, pages)
It's right in here. (pages) It's here in the second book, the
book of Exodus. (pauses, examines pages)

Oh. This Bible is written in YOUR language. I can't read your
language. (smiles) Fortunately for you, I have memorized the
Books of Moses and I can tell you what it says. It says that God
told Moses and his people that when they get to Israel, he
himself will drive out the people living there. BUT... he says
he will not drive them all out at once, because the land of
Israel is too big for them. If the Lord drove out ALL of the
inhabitants the land would become desolate and wild animals
become too numerous. In other words, the Lord was going to let
some of the inhabitants of Israel stay there until we Jews
increase our population and our flocks. He promised that when my
flocks need more pasture, he would drive out the inhabitants and
enlarge my territory for me. And that's exactly what happened.

My family and my flocks became to numerous for the land to
support us. We needed more land and the Lord gave it to us as he
promised he would.

So, you see, I wasn't being selfish or arrogant. I was just
claiming a promise that God had made to me. And he can do the
same for you.

(holds Bible toward audience)

This book is full of promises the Lord has made to his people.
He put it in writing for you. He even found a way to fit
hundreds of scrolls into a single book that you can carry around
with you.

Read the book. Claim a promise. That's why God wrote the Bible
for you.
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