Individual or Community Prayer? (1 Chron 5.20b)

They were given help against them, for they cried to their God for help in the battle, and because they trusted him he listened to their prayer, and the Hagarites and all their allies surrendered to them.

Background

First Chronicles starts with an extended genealogy—nine chapters worth! Occasionally, the author includes a brief story about some of the people in the lineages. One of these includes a reference to prayer.

The genealogy traces the lineage of Adam all the way to Jacob (chapters 1-2). The genealogy then traces the lineage of each of the twelve sons of Jacob (the descendants of whom became the twelve tribes of Israel). These are traced to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, when many of the people were taken into exile to Babylon.

After the author traces the descendants of Judah, Simeon, and Reuben (2.3-5.10), he turns to the descendants of Gad. These people lived beside the Reubenites in the land of Bashan. Named are the leaders and clans, and the areas and towns in which they lived. (These tribes lived east of the Jordan River, across from the rest of the tribes and Jerusalem.)

The first prayer appears in a brief story about the descendants of Gad. The Reubenites and the Gadites, along with half the tribe of Manasseh, had 44,760 skilled warriors. They go up against an enemy known as the Hagrites, who have probably been a constant irritant to these tribes since the time of David (see verse 10.) There are some indications that the Hagrites are descendants of Hagar through Ishmael, which would explain the tensions.¹

This passage is full of military terminology, and the author tells us that the army was victorious because they prayed to God and trusted Him. We know from the previous prayers we have studied that this means they sought God’s direction and help in prayers of petition, and, if they had requested direction from God, they followed his answers.

Meaning