How Do Prophets Pray

[Niobe Hennigan]

Daniel6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Verse 10 supplies welcome evidence concerning prayer habits during the later biblical period. Windows . . . open toward Jerusalem is a literal understanding of Solomon's petition [at the dedication of the temple], 'When [foreigners] hear about your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds, they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners.' (1 Ki. 8:41-43; cf. 2 Ch. 6:34) [Baldwin quotes the KJV, but I added more context and changed it to the NET.] The fact that Jerusalem was in ruins called forth faith that it would again be restored because the God who had set His name on the city was the continuing, unchanging God, in control of history (Ps. 106:44-47; Lam. 3:31-33). Prayer towards Jerusalem is mentioned also in later Greek books: Tobit 3:11; 1 Esdras 4:58.

opened "towards Jerusalem"; not towards the king's palace, as if he prayed to him, and so eluded the decree; nor towards the east, as the Heathens did; but towards Jerusalem, which lay to the south of Babylon; and that, either because of his remembrance of that city, his affection to it, and concern for its re-edification; or having some respect to the words of Solomon, 1 Kings 8:33, &c.; and so, according to the Jewish writers, it was the custom of their people. Ben Gersom, on the above place, says, that though they did not pray within the temple, yet they prayed, turning themselves towards it, as much as possibly they could; and even when it was destroyed, as now, yet they in praying turned to the place where it had stood, as Saadiah, Aben Ezra, and Jarchi observe: and chiefly Daniel did this, because the temple was a type of Christ, through whom the persons and prayers of the saints are acceptable unto God.

Conclusion: Daniel wasn't the only one who prayed toward Jerusalem during the exile, and many Jews do so today. But it doesn't appear to have been a universal practice, just a common one. He appears to have done so not in compliance with his understanding of the law, but out of remembrance of the temple and defiance of those who competed for his allegiance to God.

Great question! I too am seeking on clarity of the text that shows/implies that God's people were choosing to pray facing toward Jerusalem.In my study, I did find that King David also followed this practice (1035 BC-961 BC estimate of King Davids lifetime). Psalm 5:7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple."

I find this a bit out of context, as there was not a temple built during that time. David's son Solomon was chosen by God to build the "official" first temple (1 Chronicles 28:6 And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father).

King David did have in his possession the Ark of the Covenant and he had also erected a Tent of Meeting as the dwelling place for the Ark and the other items the Levite priests used in the service of God. He had intended to build a lavish temple and had amassed quite a bit of wealth and materials which were slated to be used for this purpose (1 Chronicles 22:5).

As an aside, King David also followed the same prayer protocol as the prophet Daniel to pray 3 times daily in the evening, morning and afternoon (Psalm 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice).

In each of the above situations there was much that the people could have complained about. Alma and his people were not yet completely safe from the Lamanites, Alma had recently been persecuted by the people of Ammonihah, and the Jaredites were stuck on barges for almost an entire year. Yet they still focused on gratitude.

Focusing on praying for others was at first a little difficult for me to apply in my life. I had become accustomed to focusing on my needs during prayer. As I have worked to more frequently pray for others, I have felt that my prayers are more meaningful. I feel a deeper connection with God when I pray for others.

Do you want to increase your effectiveness when you pray? Seek prayers with a prophetic anointing. You will find that when God orchestrates them they sail straight as an arrow and hit the mark every single time.

This prayer was first presented by Cardinal Dearden in 1979and quoted by Pope Francis in 2015. This reflection is an excerpt from a homilywritten for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of theMass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979. Pope Francis quoted CardinalDearden in his remarks to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2015. Fr. Untener wasnamed bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1980.

It was the special privilege of the true Old Testament prophets to stand in the council of the Almighty to listen to his words. It was this access that ensured the accuracy and authority of the prophecies they spoke.

But this access also gave them the privilege of gaining the ear of God as they interceded on behalf of their people and ensured the success of their intercession. God spoke to them and they spoke to God. Both of these aspects need to be kept in mind if we are to gain a true understanding of what a prophet is.

The earliest example of a prophet interceding occurs in Genesis 20:7, which is where the first reference to a prophet in Scripture occurs. In a dream God told Abimelech, king of Gerar, to hand back Sarah, Abraham's wife, and said that Abraham's intercession would save him from certain death "because he is a prophet" (Gen 20:7, 17).

There is however an earlier reference to Abraham praying when he interceded for the wicked city of Sodom (Gen 18:22-23). Six times Abraham besought God to spare Sodom and each time God accepted his prayer. What an encouragement today to pray for our increasingly immoral society! It was a sad commentary on Sodom's widespread homosexuality that there were fewer than ten righteous men in the city and so the inevitable judgment fell, a lasting warning to the cities that are moving in that direction before our eyes today.

The close link between prophesying and interceding is also found in the writing prophets of the Old Testament. We find Amos asking God's pardon for Israel and for respite from the utter destruction caused by a divinely ordained plague of locusts (Amos 7:1-2).

In similar fashion Joel cries to God for the ending of the drought which has caused the "seed to shrivel under the clods" and the wild beasts to cry out because "the water brooks are dried up" (Joel 1:17-20). In contrast, Hosea calls down an awful judgement on the homes of Israel by requesting "wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry" (Hos 9:14).

In his long prayer forming the whole of Habakkuk 3, the prophet expresses his absolute confidence in Yahweh, no matter how many calamities might befall him or however bad things might become. One quaint old commentator advises his readers to strum away on 'Habakkuk's Fiddle' when we are facing days of trouble.

Hebrew scholars tell us that the rhythm of the last part of this prayer is very beautiful, consisting of short lines of three words each and obviously intended to be set to music. He says that he will wait patiently until the day of calamity overwhelms the nation that was invading his land (Hab 3:16b).

Ezekiel wrestles with God and hints that his reputation is at stake if he utterly wipes out the remnant of Israel (Eze 9:8-11; 11:13-16). The reputation of Yahweh is one of the strongest arguments advanced by the prophets in their interceding for God's people. It was used by Moses several times, as he argues that the surrounding nations would conclude that Yahweh had failed to bring his people into the Promised Land (Ex 32:12; Deut 9:25-29).

A variation of this argument, also used by Moses, was to remind God of his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to tell him that he dare not break them. A similar argument that Yahweh would bring disgrace to his name if he let his people down had been used by Joshua at the defeat of Ai (Josh 7:9). These arguments are just as strong today if we adapt them to our New Testament understanding of the character and promises of our Heavenly Father and the victory of his Son, our Saviour.

Of all the prophets, Elijah is chosen as the example of the powerful effect of a righteous man's intercession (James 5:16-17) and it is from this New Testament account that we learn that the disastrous three and a half years' drought in the reign of King Ahab happened in answer to Elijah's praying. Had we only the narrative in 1 Kings 17, we should not have known the part that his prayers had in bringing about the drought, as a judgement upon the idolatrous activity of the wicked Queen Jezebel.

As this three-year period came to an end the power of Elijah's praying was again demonstrated when, after total failure on the part of Baal's prophets to bring fire from heaven, God answered his servant's prayer by causing the enormous power of his lightning falling from heaven to consume not only the wood and the sacrifice but also the soil and the stones!

Having brought about this convincing demonstration of Yahweh's superiority, Elijah tells the king that rain was on its way. Yet again Elijah turned to prayer, bending down to the ground with his head between his knees, having first climbed to the top of Carmel. After six reports from his servant that there was not a cloud in the sky, when he looked the seventh time a cloud no larger than a man's hand convinced him that torrential rain was about to fall.

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