Lord, Teach Us to Pray: A Study of Prayer in the Bible

By John T. Willis and Timothy M. Willis

Prayer is a major biblical topic. The Bible teaches readers the nature, purposes, intentions, and practical applications of prayer in diverse circumstances and situations. The Bible presents different expressions of prayer, major examples of prayers, presuppositions of prayer, various types of prayer, God's diverse answers to different prayers in different circumstances, and nonverbal gestures about prayer. This book attempts to deal with difficult issues such as imprecation or curse prayers, address controversial biblical passages and concepts such as Ps 51 or Rom 8:26-27, and emphasize important similar connections between different biblical texts such as 1 Sam 2:1-10; Ps 113:5-9; Luke 1:46-55; 2 Sam 7:18-29; or 1 Chr 17:16-27.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Jul 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666764239

John T. Willis

John T. Willis is the Burton Coffman Professor of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University, where he has taught since 1971. He is author of Yahweh and Moses in Conflict (2010).

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Introduction

All kinds of speakers and writers have written books and articles on prayer. The purpose of this book is to present a thorough study of prayer in the entire Bible, Hebrew Bible and Newer Testament, on a responsible intellectual level for people interested in religious matters but not on a deep scholarly level. Ronald E. Clements correctly points out, Prayer . . . is not even limited to those who belong to Israel in the Old Testament or to the church in the New. It is a truly universal spiritual prerogative and privilege.

¹

It is a huge mistake to separate prayer from thinking. D. A. Carson observes, One of the most startling truths about prayer is this: prayer can be taught and learnt. . . . If the Word of God is to reform our lives, it should also reform our prayers. All that is important about prayers can be found in the prayers of Scripture.

²

Patrick D. Miller writes, Religious faith seeks not to think one way and to pray another but to come before God in a manner that is consistent with what we believe and profess about God and God’s way and to think about God in a way that is shaped by the experience of actual encounter in prayer. Learning to pray teaches about God.

³

Clements says, We cannot pray properly unless we have developed a theology—an awareness of the nature, purpose, and nearness of the Supreme Reality who has created us, and whose character we should seek to imitate in our own lives. For the Christian no book can more effectively or richly provide this knowledge than the Bible itself.

⁴

Helen and Leonard Doohan emphasize, The Bible is the source of spirituality, and all Christian life must be penetrated by its teachings. Life which is uninfluenced by the Scriptures cannot be Christian.

⁵

J. Gary Millar says simply, Prayer is an important biblical-theological ‘thread’ running through the scriptures.

⁶

Karl Barth writes,

Prayer means going toward God, asking him to give us what we lack—strength, courage, serenity, prudence—asking him to teach us how to obey the law and accomplish the commandments, and then that God may instruct us how to continue in believing and believing yet more, and that he may renew our faith. . . . Prayer means that we address ourselves to God, who has already spoken to us in the gospel and in the law. We find ourselves face to face with him when we are tormented by the imperfection of our obedience and the discontinuity of our faith. Because of God we are in distress. God alone is able to heal us of it. In order to ask him to do so, we pray. . . . To be a Christian and to pray are one and the same thing; it is a matter that cannot be left to our caprice. It is a need, a kind of breathing necessary to life.

⁷

Following K. Barth, Dan E. Saliers says, Theological work . . . does not merely begin with prayer and is not merely accompanied by it; in its totality it is peculiar and characteristic of theology that it can be performed only in the act of prayer. The articulation of a doctrine of God is not simply motivated by prayer; it is pervaded by it.

⁸

Daniel L. Migliore explains, The necessity of prayer according to Barth is to be found not in human need, nor in divine majesty, nor in an abstract divine command, but in God’s gracious invitation and humanity’s God-given freedom to pray.

⁹

Oscar Cullmann declares, Prayer has to be learned, but the New Testament offers us help: the Holy Spirit prays in us. . . . Prayer is one of the great gifts which God gives out of love for his creatures. To scorn this gift is human arrogance.

¹⁰

This work avoids fads and popular emphases and attempts to remain true to the teaching of the biblical text. Edmund P. Clowney makes some very important points about prayer which must not be ignored.

The prayer that Jesus taught begins where prayer must begin—with the true and living God. The Bible . . . tells, not of man’s seeking a lost God, but of God’s seeking lost men. The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer, the God who calls before we answer and answers before we call (Isa.

65

:

24

). . . . Christian devotion has been tinged at times with forms of mysticism that reverse the biblical pattern. In place of the triune God of Scripture, revealed in Jesus Christ, such mysticism substitutes an impersonal Absolute. . . . Mysticism seeks to alter the mental state of the mystic. Prayer seeks communion with God.

¹¹

Along similar lines of thought, Henning Graf Reventlow observes, Men and women who pray in the OT do not address their words to an empty universe but to a living God who has revealed himself to Israel in creation and history. Even when God seems far distant from those who lament, they may hope that their lament will be answered by the revelation of his nearness. They do not pray as isolated individuals but as members of the community of their people. Public worship is the home of prayer, to which is constantly returns.

¹²

Prayer or praying is central to Christian thought and living. One should not trust in prayer or praying, but trust in God to whom one should pray. Timothy Chester writes, We do not have faith in faith itself but in the character of God.

¹³

Timothy Keller uses this illustration: When you flick the light switch, the bulbs illuminate. Does the light switch provide the power for the bulbs? No—that comes from the electricity. The switch has no power in itself, but rather it connects the bulbs to the power. In the same way, our prayers have no virtue to procure an access to the Father. Christ has done that.

¹⁴

Cullmann observes, Prayer is a quite central theme in the interpretation of the New Testament. . . . Shared prayer is indispensable to the cause of unity and in fact for a long time has been a bond which has held Christians together. . . . Praying is at the same time both the greatest gift of grace vouchsafed to us and a difficult task which has to be learned. . . . New Testament prayer is rooted in the Old Testament.

¹⁵

Wilfrid Harrington, OP, observes that prayers of the Bible are varied, but there is a common factor to them. And that is a profound sense of God’s companionship, or his nearness, his taking care of all circumstances. It is a sense of constant communion and fellowship with God as a friend and it becomes most fully realized in Jesus—the Son of God who ‘pitched his tent’ among men.

¹⁶

1

. Clements, In Spirit,

2

–

3

.

2

. Carson, Learning to Pray,

13

.

3

. Miller, They Cried,

1

.

4

. Clements, In Spirit,

10

.

5

. Doohan and Doohan, Prayer,

32

.

6

. Millar, Calling on the Name,

18

.

7

. Barth, Prayer,

11

,

15

.

8

. Saliers, Prayer and Theology; cf. Hesselink, Karl Barth on Prayer,

76

–

77

.

9

. Migliore, Freedom to Pray,

97

–

98

; cf. Migliore’s entire essay.

10

. Cullmann, Prayer,

121

–

22

.

11

. Clowney, Biblical Theology of Prayer,

126

.

12

. Reventlow, Prayer,

293

.

13

. Chester, Message of Prayer,

84

.

14

. Keller, Prayer,

104

.

15

. Cullmann, Prayer, xi, xiv.

16

. Harrington, Bible’s Ways,

177

; cf. Fisher, Prayer,

11

–

13

.

1

Biblical Terms for Prayer

The Bible uses several words and phrases for prayer. In some cases, the context indicates the meaning of the word or phrase. In other cases, the phrase itself reveals its meaning. Sometimes the same word or phrase has different meanings in different contexts. This chapter contains a brief discussion of the words and phrases used for prayer in Scripture. This should lay a proper foundation for understanding these terms as they appear in subsequent chapters.

¹⁷

1. The Verb Pray and the Noun Prayer

The Hebrew root usually translated pray in the Hebrew Bible is פלל, which usually appears in the hithpael verbal form, התפלל. Different linguistic experts have proposed that the original meaning of this root is to judge oneself, to cut oneself in worship, to fall down analogous to prostrating as prayer in worship, to seek consideration, to investigate, to make oneself a mediator.

¹⁸

It appears eighty times in the Hebrew Bible:

•7x in the Pentateuch (Gen 20:7, 17; Num 11:2; 21:7 [2x]; Deut 9:20, 26)

•11x in 1–2 Samuel (1 Sam 1:10, 12, 26, 27; 2:1, 25; 7:5; 8:6; 12:19, 23; 2 Sam 7:27)

•16x in 1–2 Kings (1 Kgs 8:28, 29, 30, 33, 35, 42, 44, 48, 54; 13:6; 2 Kgs 4:33; 6:17, 18; 19:15, 20; 20:2)

•20x in 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah (1 Chr 17:25; 2 Chr 6:19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 32, 34, 38; 7:1, 14; 30:18; 32:20, 24; 33:13; Ezra 10:1; Neh 1:4, 6; 2:4; 4:9)

•2x in Job (Job 42:8, 10)

•3x in Psalms (Pss 5:2 [Heb. 5:3]; 32:6; 72:15)

•7x in Isaiah (Isa 16:12; 37:15, 21; 38:2; 44:17; 45:14, 20)

•10x in Jeremiah (Jer 7:16; 11:14; 14:11; 29:7, 12; 32:16; 37:3; 42:2, 4, 20)

•2x in Daniel (Dan 9:4, 20)

•2x in Jonah (Jon 2:1; 4:2)

Some of these are parallel accounts, as that of Solomon’s dedication of the temple (1 Kgs 8:27–54; 2 Chr 6:18–42), and the prayers of Hezekiah in 2 Kgs 19–20 and Isa 37–38. The Greek word which usually translates this Hebrew verb in the LXX and other ancient Greek manuscripts, and which is the common meaning to pray in the Greek Newer Testament, is προσευχομαι. It occurs eighty-seven times in the Newer Testament: thirty-five times in Luke–Acts (Luke 1:10; 3:21; 5:16; 6:12, 28; 9:18, 28, 29; 11:1 [2x], 2; 18:1, 10, 11; 20:47; 22:40, 41, 44, 46; Acts 1:24; 6:6; 8:15; 9:11, 40; 10:9, 30; 11:5; 12:12; 13:3; 14:23; 16:25; 20:36; 21:5; 22:17; 28:8), nineteen times in Paul’s letters (Rom 8:26; 1 Cor 11:4, 5, 13; 14:13, 14 [2x], 15 [2x]; Eph 6:18; Phil 1:9; Col 1:3, 9; 4:3; 1 Thess 5:17, 25; 2 Thess 1:11; 3:1; 1 Tim 2:8), sixteen times in Matthew (Matt 5:44; 6:5 [2x], 6 [2x], 7, 9; 14:23; 19:13; 23:14; 24:20; 26:36, 39, 41, 42, 44), eleven times in Mark (Mark 1:35; 6:46; 11:24, 25; 12:40; 13:18, 33; 14:32, 35, 38, 39), four times in James (Jas 5:13, 14, 17, 18), once in Hebrews (Heb 13:18), and once in Jude (Jude 20). Some of these are parallel accounts in the Synoptic Gospels, as Jesus’s charge to the three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane: Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation (Matt 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 22:40 [without watch]).

¹⁹

Another Greek word for pray is δεομαι, which occurs ten times in the Newer Testament: seven times in Luke–Acts (Luke 10:2; 21:36; 22:32; Acts 4:31; 8:22, 24; 10:2), two times in Paul’s letters (2 Cor 8:4; 1 Thess 3:10), and once in Matthew (Matt 9:38).

The Hebrew noun תְּפִילָה, prayer, occurs seventy-two times in the Hebrew Bible (not including five times in Psalms superscriptions over individual psalms in the Psalter): once in 2 Samuel (2 Sam 7:27), ten times in 1–2 Kings (1 Kgs 8:28 [2x], 29, 38, 45, 49, 54; 9:3; 2 Kgs 19:4; 20:5), twelve times in 2 Chronicles (2 Chr 6:19 [2x], 20, 29, 35, 39, 40; 7:12, 15; 30:27; 33:18, 19), four times in Nehemiah (Neh 1:6, 11 [2x]; 11:17), once in Job (Job 16:17), twenty-six times in Psalms (Pss 4:1 [Heb. 4:2]; 6:9 [Heb. 6:10]; 17:1; 35:13; 39:12 [Heb. 39:13]; 42:8 [Heb. 42:9]; 54:2 [Heb. 54:3]; 55:1 [Heb. 55:2]; 61:1 [Heb. 61:2]; 65:2 [Heb. 65:3]; 66:19, 20; 69:13 [Heb. 69:14]; 72:20; 80:4 [Heb. 80:5]; 84:8 [Heb. 84:9]; 86:6; 88:2, 13 [Heb. 88:3, 14]; 102:1, 17 [Heb. 102:2, 18]; 109:4, 7; 141:2, 5; 143:1–5 superscriptions; Pss 17; 86; 90; 102; 142), three times in Proverbs (Prov 15:8, 29; 28:9), five times in Isaiah (Isa 1:15; 37:4; 38:5; 56:7 [2x]), two times in Jeremiah (Jer 7:16; 11:14), two times in Lamentations (Lam 3:8, 44), three times in Daniel (Dan 9:3, 17, 21), once in Jonah (Jon 2:7), and once in Habakkuk (Hab 3:1). Scholars think this means an invocation of God as judge.

²⁰

The Greek word for prayer in the Newer Testament is προσευχη. It occurs thirty-seven times in the Newer Testament: twelve times in Luke–Acts (Luke 6:12; 19:46; 22:45; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 6:4; 10:4, 31; 12:5; 16:13, 16), fourteen times in Paul’s letters (Rom 1:9; 12:12; 15:30; 1 Cor 7:5; Eph 1:16; 6:18; Phil 4:6; Col 4:2, 12; 1 Thess 1:2; 1 Tim 2:1; 5:5; Phlm 4, 22), three times in Matthew (Matt 17:21; 21:13, 22), two times in Mark (Mark 9:29; 11:17), once in James (Jas 5:17), two times in 1 Peter (1 Pet 3:7; 4:7), and three times in Revelation (Rev 5:8; 8:3, 4). Another Greek name for prayer in the Newer Testament is δεησις. It occurs fourteen times in the Newer Testament: four times in Luke–Acts (Luke 1:13; 2:37; 5:33; Acts 1:14), seven times in Paul’s letters (Rom 10:1; 2 Cor 1:11; 9:14; Eph 6:8 [2x]; Phil 1:4, 19; 4:6; 1 Tim 2:1; 5:5; 2 Tim 1:3), once in Hebrews (Heb 5:7), once in James (Jas 5:16), and once in 1 Peter (1 Pet 3:12).

²¹

A study of these passages indicates that prayer is directed to God (Gen 20:17; Num 11:2; 21:7; Deut 9:26; 1 Sam 1:10, 26; 7:5; 8:6; 12:19; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 8:33, 44 [= 2 Chr 6:24, 34], 48, 54; 2 Kgs 4:33; 6:18; 19:20 [= Isa 37:21]; 20:2 [= 2 Chr 32:24; Isa 38:2]; 2 Chr 33:13, 18; Neh 2:4; 4:9; Pss 5:2 [Heb. 5:3]; 32:6; 42:8 [Heb. 42:9]; 69:13 [Heb. 69:14]; Isa 37:15; Jer 29:7, 12; 32:16; 37:3; 42:2, 4, 20; Dan 9:4; Jon 2:1, 7; 4:2; Matt 6:6; Luke 6:12; Acts 8:22, 24; 10:2; Rom 10:1; 15:30; Phil 4:6; Heb. 5:7). In some cases, worshipers address God in prayer in some way (2 Kgs 6:17; 19:15 [= Isa 37:15–16]; 20:2–3 [Isa 38:2–3]; Neh 1:4–5; Jer 32:16–17; Dan 9:4; Jon 4:2; Matt 6:9 [= Luke 11:2]; 26:39 [= Luke 22:41], 42; Luke 18:11; Acts 1:24). Thus, anyone who prays to God must realize that God is near, and he/she can talk to God like he/she would talk to another human being. One must pray to the one true and living God, not to other gods or idols, to himself/ herself, or to other human beings.

Also, a study of these passages reveals that prayer is done before the Lord (1 Sam 1:12; 1 Kgs 8:28 [= 2 Chr 6:19]; 9:3; 2 Kgs 19:15; 1 Chr 17:25; Neh 1:4, 6; Pss 88:2, 13 [Heb. 88:3, 14]; 141:2; Acts 10:4).

²²

The contexts in which this expression occurs indicate it may mean that the worshipers were before the ark of the covenant, or before the tent of meeting, or before the altar of burnt offering in front of the temple. However, according to 1 Kgs 8:27–28 [= 2 Chr 6:18–19], Solomon urges Yahweh to hear the prayer he prays before him, although the temple cannot contain God, for even the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain him. Further, Nehemiah is in Persia when he offers his prayer before the Lord (Neh 1:4). Again, an angel of God announces to Cornelius, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God" (Acts 10:4). In the case of Solomon and Nehemiah, the idea seems to be that since God is everywhere (omnipresent), they were near him when they prayed to him.

²³

In the case of Cornelius, God is depicted as in heaven, and Cornelius’s prayers and alms ascend before him there.

Because Canaan is the land which Yahweh chose to give his people, Jerusalem his chosen city, and the temple with the ark his dwelling place, the Hebrew Bible teaches that the Israelites were to pray toward this land (1 Kgs 8:48 = 2 Chr 6:38), this city (1 Kgs 8:44, 48 = 2 Chr 6:34, 38), or this temple (1 Kgs 8:29, 30, 35, 42, 44, 48 = 2 Chr 6:20, 21, 26, 32, 34, 38), or in the temple (1 Kgs 8:33 = 2 Chr 6:24; 2 Chr 7:15; Isa 56:7; Matt 21:13 = Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46; Luke 1:10; 18:10; Acts 3:1; 22:17). But also, because Yahweh’s dwelling place is in heaven, they prayed to or toward heaven (2 Chr 30:27; 32:20; Jon 2:7; cf. 1 Kgs 8:22, 30, 32, 34, 36, 39, 43, 45, 49, 54 = 2 Chr 6:13, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39; Lam 3:44). Sometimes the early Christians went to a designated place of prayer (Acts 16:13, 16), perhaps a Jewish synagogue.

The purpose for petition in prayer is that God will do something for the worshiper (Rom 8:26; Phil 4:6; Jas 5:17) or give something to the worshiper (1 Sam 1:27) or in behalf of someone (Gen 20:7; Num 21:7; Deut 9:20 [see vv. 26–28]; 1 Sam 2:25; 7:5; 12:19, 23; 1 Kgs 13:6; 2 Kgs 19:4 = Isa 37:4; 2 Chr 30:18; Job 42:8, 10; Ps 72:15; Jer 7:16; 11:14; 14:11; 42:20; Matt 5:44; Luke 6:28; 22:32; Acts 8:15; Rom 10:1; 15:30; 2 Cor 1:11; 9:14; Eph 1:18; 6:18; Phil 1:4; Col 1:3, 9; 4:3; 1 Thess 1:2; 5:25; 2 Thess 1:11; 3:1; 1 Tim 2:1; 2 Tim 1:3; Phlm 4; Heb 13:18; Jas 5:14), or concerning a critical situation, i.e., that God will resolve the problem to the benefit of the worshiper (Isa 37:21) or that God will do something the worshiper desires (Matt 24:30 = Mark 13:18; Luke 22:40, 46; Phil 1:9). Moshe Greenberg reasons:

The affinity between suit and petitionary prayer is worth pausing over. Rachel named her maid’s son Dan, [God] has judged, explaining: God has passed judgment on me and indeed has heard my prayer (Gen.

30

:

6

); thus she perceived her maid’s childbearing as a verdict in her favor by God, in her suit against Leah (compare her explanation of the name she gave to her maid’s next child, Naphtali: I fought a titanic struggle with my sister, and I prevailed [v.

8

]). Such a conception of petitionary prayer seems to underlie the common Hebrew noun tepilla, prayer, and its cognate verb, hitpallel, to pray. The basic sense of estimate, judge, render a verdict attaches to the verb pillel in Jacob’s prologue to blessing Joseph’s sons: "I never reckoned [lo pillalti] on seeing your face" [Gen.

48

:

11

], and just once to the noun tepilla in Psalm

109

:

7.

 . . . The normal sense of tepilla, prayer, will then be a reflex of the verb hitpallel whose basis sense is to seek a judgment for oneself (confident that God will find for you).

²⁴

The list of passages cited above reveal that intercession is by far the prominent type of prayer under consideration when the words pray and prayer are used with for, concerning, and that. However, petition (i.e., asking God for something) is quite prominent in the contexts in which these terms occur. Patrick D. Miller argues that the precise meaning of the Hebrew verb הִתְפַלֵּל is "the placing of a case, a situation, before God for consideration, for God’s assessment" (italics added).

²⁵

2. Saying or Speaking to God

Scripture often initiates a prayer with these words: He/she said/spoke [אָמַר] to God.

²⁶

Here are only a few examples. When Abraham was trying to convince God to let Ishmael be his son and heir through Hagar, "Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live in your sight! (Gen 17:18). When Abraham commanded his oldest servant who was in charge of his house (apparently Eliezer, cf. Gen 15:1–4) to choose the right woman to marry Isaac, Eliezer said, O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham (Gen 24:12). When Eliezer met Rebekah at Nahor in Aram-naharaim, Eliezer bowed his head and worshiped the Lord, and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin’ (Gen 24:26–27). When Jacob was about to meet his brother Esau after many years of separation, Jacob said, ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good.’ . . . Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers and the children’" (Gen 32:9, 11).

²⁷

When Yahweh told Moses that he intends to strike the Israelites with pestilence and disinherit them and make Moses’s descendants a nation greater and mightier than the Israelites, Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites: "Moses said to the Lord, ‘Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land (Num 14:12–14). When Gideon proposed to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor to see whether there would be dew on the fleece, Gideon said to God, ‘In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel’ (Judg 6:36–37; cf. v. 39). Many other biblical texts introduce prayer with the word said or spoke."

The use of this verb suggests that prayer consists of a natural conversation with God. Oscar Cullmann affirms, The essence of all prayer is that it is a conversation with God as the partner.

²⁸

Miller writes, Many of the cases where someone ‘says’ something to God are spontaneous, noncultic, occurring in the immediate situation. . . . So here is a way of speaking of prayer that places it in the category of ordinary discourse, often in situations of daily existence, some more critical than others.

²⁹

3. Drawing Near to or Approaching God

The Hebrew verb קָרַב means to draw near to or to approach. While several passages speak of a person drawing near to another person or a place, some texts refer to drawing near to Yahweh in prayer. When the Philistines threatened Saul and the Israelites, Saul suggested to his soldiers that they should go down after the Philistines by night, and his soldiers agreed. But the priest Ahitub said, "Let us draw near to God here" (1 Sam 14:36). Zephaniah was deeply concerned about the sinfulness of Judah. He cried out:

Ah, soiled, defiled, oppressing city!

It has listened to no voice;

it has accepted no correction.

It has not trusted in the Lord;

it has not drawn near to its God. (Zeph

3

:

1

–

2

)

The verb draw near is often connected with bringing sacrifices and offerings to Yahweh. The author of the book of Hebrews capitalizes on this idea. David G. Peterson observes, The definitive drawing near to God is usually portrayed in Hebrews in modified cultic terms: it is through the high-priestly mediation of Christ in his death and exaltation that access to the heavenly sanctuary of God’s own presence is made possible. In 12:18–24 there is an extended contrast between the approach of the Israelites to God at Mt. Sinai and the approach of Christians to God in the heavenly Jerusalem.

³⁰

C. W. F. Smith writes:

The key word is προσερχομαι, draw near. Prayer is approaching God in and through Christ (

4

:

16

;

7

:

25

;

10

:

1

,

22

;

11

:

6

;

12

:

18

,

22

). We draw near with confidence, by a new and living way, with a true heart. We draw near, not to the terrifying mount of Moses, but to the heavenly scene dominated by Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, in company with saints and angels (

12

:

18

–

24

). Faith is essential, for to draw near means to believe God exists and that he rewards those who seek him (

11

:

6

).

³¹

4. Crying Out to God

The Hebrew Bible describes prayer as crying out to God 127 times, using verbs and nouns from five different Hebrew roots: צָעַק ,זָעַק שִׁוַּע ,רָנַן ,קָרָא. The term cry out appears sixteen times in the Pentateuch for prayer (Exod 2:23 [2x]; 3:7, 9; 8:12; 14:10, 15; 15:25; 17:4; 22:23 [2x], 27; Num 12:13; 20:16; Deut 15:9; 26:7), twenty times in Joshua to 2 Kings (Josh 24:7; Judg 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6, 7; 10:10, 12;

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1 Sam 7:8, 9; 8:18; 9:16; 12:8, 10; 15:11; 2 Sam 22:7; 1 Kgs 8:28; 17:20, 21; 2 Kgs 20:11), eleven times in 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah (1 Chr 5:20; 2 Chr 6:19; 13:14; 14:11; 18:31; 20:9; 32:20; Neh 9:4, 9, 27, 28), eleven times in Job (Job 16:18; 19:7; 24:12; 27:9; 30:20, 28; 34:28 [2x]; 35:9, 12, 13), forty-six times in the Psalms (Pss 3:4 [Heb. 3:5]; 5:2 [Heb. 5:3]; 9:12 [Heb. 9:13]; 17:1; 18:6 [Heb. 18:7][2x], 41 [Heb. 18:42][2x]; 22:2, 5, 24 [Heb. 22:3, 6, 25]; 27:7; 28:2; 30:2, 8 [Heb. 30:3, 9]; 31:22 [Heb. 31:23]; 34:6, 15, 17 [Heb. 34:7, 16, 18]; 39:12 [Heb. 39:13]; 40:1 [Heb. 40:2]; 57:2 [Heb. 57:3]; 61:1 [Heb. 61:2]; 66:17; 77:1 [Heb. 77:2]; 86:3; 88:1, 2, 13 [Heb. 88:2, 3, 14]; 89:26 [Heb. 89:27]; 99:6; 102:1 [Heb. 102:2]; 106:44; 107:6, 13, 19, 28; 119:145, 147, 169; 120:1; 130:1; 142:1, 5, 6 [Heb. 142:2, 6, 7]; 145:19), twenty times in the prophetic literature (Isa 19:20; 30:19; 58:9; Jer 7:16; 11:11, 14; 14:12; Ezek 8:18; 9:8; 11:13; Hos 7:14; 8:2; Joel 1:14; Jon 1:14; 2:2; 3:8; Mic 3:4; Hab 1:2 [2x]), and three times in Lamentations (Lam 2:18; 3:8, 56).

In several passages, cry out and pray appear in synonymous parallelism (see e.g., Pss 17:1; 39:12 [Heb. 39:13]; 61:1 [Heb. 61:2]). The expression cry out and the contexts in which this expression occurs suggest that the petitioner is experiencing great suffering or affliction, and he/she feels an urgent need for God to intervene to bring him/her relief. The afflictions for which different worshipers cry out to God are: (1) Egyptian oppression against the Israelites (Exod 2:23 [2x]; 3:7, 9; etc.); (2) Israel’s complaints against Moses and Aaron during the wilderness wanderings (Exod 15:25; 17:4); (3) the rich and powerful mistreating widows, orphans, aliens, and the poor (Exod 22:23 [2x]; Deut 15:9); (4) foreign nations tyrannizing the Israelites during the period of the judges (Judg 3:9, 15; etc.); (5) a deep feeling of remorse over one’s own sins (1 Sam 12:10) or the sins of others (1 Sam 15:11); (6) grief over the death of a friend or loved one (1 Kgs 17:20, 21); (7) great anxiety over the threat of defeat and death at the hand of military foes (1 Chr 15:20; 2 Chr 13:14; 14:11; etc.); (8) the conviction that God is causing the worshiper to suffer without just cause (Job 16:18; 19:7; etc.); (9) false accusations, threats, and persecutions at the hands of personal enemies (Pss 17:1; 102:1 [Heb. 102:2]; 142:1, 5, 6 [Heb. 142:2, 6, 7]; etc.); and (10) serious illness (Pss 30:2, 8 [Heb. 30:3, 9]; 88:1, 2, 13 [Heb. 88:2, 3, 14]; etc.).

The Newer Testament uses the expression cry out for praying in much the same way as the Hebrew Bible. This sense appears in verbs and nouns from four different Greek roots: βοαω, κραζω, κραυγαζω, and φωνεω. Cry out in the sense of praying appears eleven times in the Newer Testament. Jesus cries out to his heavenly Father when he pleads with him to spare him from death on the cross (Heb 5:7), when he says on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46 = Mark 15:34; quoted from Ps 22:1 [Heb. 22:2]); and when he declares just before his death on the cross, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46). Similarly, Stephen cries with a loud voice while he is being stoned to death by certain Jews in Jerusalem: Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60). In Jesus’s parable of the importunate widow, he promises that God will vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night (Luke 18:7). In two of Paul’s letters, he declares that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit when we cry: Abba, Father, in praying (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). James teaches that the cries of oppressed and defrauded laborers reach the ears of the Lord of hosts, and he will punish the offenders (Jas 5:4 [2x]). Revelation 6:9–10 describe the souls of the slain crying out with a loud voice to God to avenge their blood on those responsible for their deaths on earth.

The Hebrew and Greek terms for cry out indicate that praying often arises from distressful situations of various types. Such praying indicates suffering, anxiety, urgency, and helplessness on the part of the petitioner. It also reflects a desperate plea by the worshiper for God to intervene and resolve the problem or affliction. Miller writes, [The verbs ‘cry out’ are] the plea of marginal persons to a higher power when they cannot get justice or help in the ordinary structures of life or when they are done in by the oppression of others. . . . The crying out of people in trouble and suffering is one of the thematic themes of the Scriptures.

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5. Calling on (the Name of) the Lord

The expressions calling on [to] the Lord [קָרָא יהוה] and calling on the name of the Lord [קָרָא שֵׁם יהוה] appear in the sense of praying in both the Hebrew Bible and the Newer Testament.

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Calling on (to) the Lord occurs forty-nine times in the Hebrew Bible (Deut. 4:7; Judg 15:18; 16:28; 1 Sam 12:17, 18; 2 Sam 22:4, 7 [2x] = Ps 18:3, 6 [Heb. 18:4, 7]; 1 Kgs 8:43 = 2 Chr 6:33; 1 Kgs 8:52; 1 Chr 4:10; 21:26; Job 12:4; 27:10; Pss 4:1, 3 [Heb. 4:2, 4]; 14:4 = 53:4; 17:6; 20:9 [Heb. 20:10]; 31:17 [Heb. 31:17]; 50:15; 55:16 [Heb. 55:17]; 81:7 [Heb. 81:8]; 86:5, 7; 88:9 [Heb. 88:10]; 91:15; 102:2 [Heb. 102:3]; 116:2; 118:5; 138:3; 141:1 [2x]; 145:18 [2x]; Isa 43:22; 55:6; 58:9; 65:24; Jer 3:4; 29:12; 33:3; Lam 3:57; Hos 7:7; Jon 1:8) and five times in the Newer Testament (Acts 7:59 [see the Greek]; Rom 10:12, 14; 2 Tim 2:22; 1 Pet 1:17) in this way.

In most passages, this expression is simply used as a synonym for praying for (something) without stating the object of the prayer. But in some cases, the text specifies that for which the petitioner is praying. Samson calls on the Lord to give him water and save him from dying for thirst (Judg 15:18), and to give him the strength to push down the pillars of the temple of Dagon so that the building would collapse and destroy the Philistines (Judg 16:28). In both cases, Yahweh grants Samson’s plea. Samuel calls on the Lord to send thunder and rain, and Yahweh does so (1 Sam 12:17–18). David calls upon the Lord to save him from his enemies, and Yahweh responds favorably (2 Sam 22:4, 7 = Ps 18:3, 6 [Heb. 18:4, 7]). Similarly, the author of Ps 55 calls upon God to save him from his companion and familiar friend who has turned against him, confident that Yahweh will comply (see Ps 55:12–16 [Heb. 55:13–17]). Jabez calls upon the God of Israel to bless him, enlarge his border, be with him, and keep him from harm, and God grants what he asks (1 Chr 4:10). During a terrible storm on the Mediterranean Sea, the captain of the ship charges Jonah to call upon his God to save the ship and all that are upon it from perishing (Jon 1:6).

The expression call upon the name of the Lord appears twenty-one times in the Hebrew Bible (Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25; 2 Kgs 5:11; 1 Chr 16:8 = Ps 105:1 = Isa 12:4; Pss 79:6; 80:18 [Heb. 80:19]; 99:6; 116:4, 13, 17; Isa 41:25; Jer 10:25; Lam 3:55; Joel 2:32; Zeph 3:9; Zech 13:9), and six times in the Newer Testament (Acts 2:21; 9:14, 21; 22:16; Rom 10:13; 1 Cor 1:2), where the reference is to Jesus rather than to God the Father except in Acts 2:21. W. L. Liefeld reasons, Gen. 4:26 probably goes beyond the mere act of praying to lay the foundation for all true prayer: acknowledgment of the divine name (see 12:8; 21:33; Ps. 80:18b [MT 19b]; 86:12; 145:1f.; Dnl. 9:19; cf. Mt. 6:9 par. Lk. 11:2).

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The contexts in which this expression occurs with a special meaning have two unique emphases. First, it is connected with the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac setting up places of worship at various holy place in the promised land of Canaan, either by building an altar (Gen 12:8; 13:4; 26:25) or planting a tamarisk tree (Gen 21:33), evidently as a guarantee or earnest of down payment that their descendants would one day receive this land according to Yahweh’s promise. Second, calling on the name of the Lord [Yahweh] is used in the Hebrew Bible to distinguish Yahweh’s people from the nations and worshipers of the only true and living God, and thus to summon the nations to denounce their false gods and to turn to the Creator of all that is at the only Savior and Lord. When Yahweh’s people call on the name of Yahweh, this stands in bold contrast to the Phoenicians calling on the name of Baal (1 Kgs 18:24, 25, 26 [cf. vv. 27, 28]). J. Gary Millar concludes, "To call on the name of Yahweh . . . is to respond to God’s promise-making initiative by asking him to act to fulfil his promises. . . . The idea of calling on the name of Yahweh is intrinsically related to God’s commitment to rescue his people and deliver on his promises. . . . To ‘call on the name of Yahweh’ is not simply to ‘pray’ in any generic sense. To call on the name of Yahweh is to cry to God to come through on his promises, and specifically to rescue and give life to his covenant people . . . prayer begins in the Bible as a cry for God to