Review of “Great Prayers of the Old Testament” – Part 1

Any work which helps one the better to appreciate the purpose, power and prac­tice of prayer is to be welcomed ; and such is the book before us, bearing the above title, for the gift of which, to review, we are grateful to our friend Mr. S. Verrinder of Leeds.

This survey and analysis of the classic prayers of certain of the outstanding figures of the contemporary life of Bible times does not profess to be a work of learned leisure, for it was originally prepared as a collation of studies for a Newcastle-on-Tyne congregation, under parochial stress and strain, in that critical and fateful period when air-raid alarms, and the booming of anti-aircraft guns and the crashing of shells were the vogue. Such periods are apt to produce what proves to be but fitful and short-lived devotion, but its publication pre­serves it as a wider help in Bible reading and study ; a stimulus alike to thought and devotion, to real and sustained prayer.

The Prologue deals with The Philosophy and Power of Prayer. After citing the “remarkable answers vouchsafed to private and united prayer,” to be seen in the astonishing success granted to “so few,” in the air, in the merciful deliverance of the people of these islands from the fearful fate which threatened at the hands of a ruthless enemy ; and in the transforming of apparent disaster into the “Miracle of Dunkirk,” in fact a real and blessed turning point in the titanic struggle ; he proceeds to consider objections which have been made to the Scriptural injunction that “men ought always to pray and not to faint.”

The theological objection is to the effect that, as God is unchangeable in His purpose, it must be idle to suppose that any appeal of men can avail to alter His determination. This has led some to allege that the only effect of prayer is to be looked for in the heart of the suppliant! It avails, they assert, not to secure objective benefits, but simply to harmonise the spirit of the petitioner with God. True prayer, of course, whilst involving this, goes much further. Men would rarely be moved to prayer were the beneficial result of requests made, conceived as being confined to a subjective experience of resignation and peace!

It must be conceded at least that the experience of the result of prayer, if only subjectively, depends on the belief in its objective power : that God is able and willing to bestow that which is best for them. But, the author rightly urges, the true answer to this objection must be sought else­where; namely, that it is found in the fact that the sincere prayer of the suppliant enters into the purpose of God, in the process of the bestowal of His blessings.

“I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” ²

The philosophical objection is based on the uniformity of the operations of what are called the laws of nature, and the stipulation is that no response to prayer in many cases can be made, except by miracle, which it would be absurd to expect. The writer cogently remarks, “It might be enough to reply that the impulse of the human breast to pray is ineradicable and irresistible, and that, in taking account of nature, this universal instinct itself must be borne in mind, ever ready to assert itself, not only on the part of religious people, but others, in times of stress and strain. But he cites also that admirable volume, The Reign of Law, by the Duke of Argyle, in which he enumerates five distinct senses in which the term “law” is used by reputable writers ; but for his present purpose he speaks only of one : that law is the formulated expression of an observed and invariable sequence of certain consequents from certain antecedents. And in this sense, as Sir John Herschel once said, it “has relation to us as understanding, rather than to the universe as obeying certain rules.”

Or, as believers in a personal God would say,

“Such laws are the classification of men’s observations of God’s methods of operations in the universe. They are thus limited to the sphere that is within the range of human investigations and tell us absolutely nothing of God’s working in that region, beyond the observation of man. Now it is quite conceivable that in that upper region, God may so work upon the lower, as through the ordinary operations of nature and without any miracle in answer to prayer. It is clear, too, that the effect of an observed law of nature can be arrested by the operating of a counteracting law . . . God has so adjusted the laws of nature, that He can, through them and not in contravention of them, answer prayer . . . every devout mind must acknowledge in its profoundest sense the truth of the saying, ‘This is indeed the great miracle of Providence, that no miracles are needed to accomplish its purposes’.”

The whole question of the possibility of answers to prayer, resolves itself into that of the existence of a personal God. Force is the energy which produces the effects according to law, and if force be the volition or power of a personal omnipotent Being, where is the impossibility or even difficulty in the supposi­tion that He may exert that force, through His own appointed modes of operation, in the hearing of prayer?

“When God created the world He certainly did not shut Himself out of it : and He Who gave the universe its laws, or rather, Whose modes of operation these laws are, can surely so employ them as to answer the entreaties of His children through them.”

The answer to Elijah’s prayer for rain, when he bowed himself down upon the earth—and put his face between his knees on the summit of Mount Carmel, was through what might be called

“a purely natural occurrence, but its occurrence at that time was not a mere coinci­dence.”

Moreover, an important point is made here by the author ; one which might well be overlooked were the New Testament allusions to the event exclusively considered ; namely, that Elijah’s petition was offered in faith of a promise God had made, “I will send rain on the earth.” Thus, Elijah’s earnest entreaty is seen to be in line with the declared purpose of God, and its timely answer is seen to be through the common operations of what is called nature. ³

Mr. Thomas restores balance to the general subject of prayer. When the words of Jesus,

“Ask, and it shall be given you : seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knock­eth, it shall be opened”

—are taken as if they were the only words found on the subject in the Word, and are fanatically understood as promising whatever may be asked, they lead only to difficulty, despondency and despair. For conditions, clearly expressed elsewhere, most certainly enter into the matter. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask . . .” “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give . . .” “When ye stand praying, forgive . . . that your Father also . . . may forgive. . . .” There are many conditions to prevailing prayer, and more than one recorded instance of a sincere suppliant seeking what seemed a specific benefit, and being denied ; the reason, even, sometimes being given, but other times not. It is possible to “receive not” because we “ask amiss.” And that is preferable to the recorded instance of a request granted, by way of punishment for persistent asking amiss.

Delighting therefore in God and abiding in Christ, submissive to the will, purpose and prerogative of God Who seeks our ultimate perfection ; mindful that “The Lord is at hand ; in nothing be anxious, but in every­thing by prayer and supplication with thanks­giving let our requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God,” (at least) “shall keep” (guard, or garrison) “our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus.” ⁴

Passing over the intercession of Abraham respecting the cities of the plain, as consisting too much of argument and remonstrance really to be styled a prayer, the writer notes that the first prayer recorded in the Bible is that offered by Jacob when fearful and distressed on account of uncertainty as to the spirit in which Esau (“and four hundred men with him”) was coming to meet him! Touching it but briefly, he summarises helpfully, noting that it was one of humility, and faith in the Covenant God Who had revealed Himself ; faith in promises individual as well as general ; plead­ing his obedient compliance which led to this situation ; faith founded on the experience of past mercies which become now pleas for future blessings.

“The whole tone of this prayer is full of fervour, and while it betrays a certain sense of helplessness and fear, it indicates great strength of faith.”

For his first study proper, however, the author moves forward to the incident when this man, loved of God, wrestled with the angel by the rushing brook. In the words of Jacob (himself born in answer to prayer), “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,” he sees a pre-eminent example illustrative of the need of persistence, if prayer is to prevail. ⁶ God had revived and renewed to the fugitive patriarch that slumbering promise which he had treasured as precious through all those years since he learned of it in childhood from his mother.

Angels had conversed with him ; increasingly he realised the watchful care of an ever-present spiritual Father Who was a Covenant-keeping God. And now, when he had done all he could along human lines to ensure a peaceful meeting, by sending ahead a lavish present of appeasement, he is left alone among the rugged rocks of the Jabbok, gloomy and perturbed at the possibilities ; little did he realise that he was about to play a part in a scene which was “a symbolical act in accord with the spirit of the patriarchal dispensation”—an experience unique in that he would be circumstantially drawn to wrestle face to face with the representative of the Almighty!

We picture him sitting, no doubt in alternating reverie and prayer, when he is suddenly disturbed by “a man” who, pre­sumably, would have the aspect of an unknown traveller, bent upon an attack on Jacob’s person —and they “close” in what is permitted to appear a long-drawn-out and seemingly “even” encounter. But sometime during the course of this all-night struggle till daybreak, Jacob must have become convinced of the real character and dignity of his assailant (doubtless the scale-tipping thigh-strain inflicted by a “touch”), for at mention of departure he is suppliant to one whose powers he now knows have been purposefully restrained, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” Filling out the picture with what the Spirit reveals through the first of the minor prophets:

“In manhood he strove with God, Strove with the Angel and prevailed ; He wept and he entreated Him.”

Thus we see that the patriarch’s perseverance in prayer, with its climax of intercession with crying and tears, produced a further blessing, strong in its present personal reassurance and rich in its undreamed prophetic import to all his seed, natural and spiritual. His name by natural birth, Jacob (follower after, supplanter), should from then on be changed to Israel (ruler with, or power with, God).

The author says, “In fact, it etymologically means ‘God perseveres’ but was applied to Jacob in the sense of one who had persevered with God.” It strikes us, however, that in the light of context and circumstance, the Septuagint and Vulgate rendering given in the R.V. margin is most likely to represent what the Angel con­veyed to Jacob, for it accurately summarises the Divinely-staged encounter and indicates its import and consequence: “. . . thou hast had power with God, and thou shalt prevail against men.”

“He was thus virtually told that, having prevailed in a combat with a supernatural being, he need not fear what Esau or any other man might do unto him.”

And with what a master-stroke does the Spirit complete the picture of this one who thus cast his burden on the Lord : exalted in spirit, but learning to live with an ever-present memorial of the weakness of the flesh:

“And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel,⁸ and he halted upon his thigh.”

Remembering that this work was produced while World War II was being waged, and that its author considered it his duty to help sustain the “Christian” wielders of the sword in the Allied Forces by consideration of Scriptures which would set their faith in God, one can understand why his second example of a great prayer, like his first, might not strictly be considered a prayer at all! Nevertheless, as a topic for devotional meditation and as a spur to unceasing prayer as we wage our warfare against evil and every false way, it is of great value. Under the title, The Sustained Prayer of Moses, his text is, “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” ⁹

Whilst urging that we pray without ceasing and call upon God in every emergency, he contends that prayer is not chiefly a matter of words. There is much truth in that observation, but its object in his  own context is chiefly to justify his selection of this incident as a prayer, which he styles,

“the mighty intercession on the hill.” He considers Moses, the forty years leader : lawgiver, prophet and mouthpiece of the Living God. Described as the meekest of men, his humility did not spell weakness, for when the Divine honour was in the balance he could be intensely severe.”

Christ excepted, his office and mission were the greatest ever entrusted to man. His contact with Jehovah, and his communion with Him, was closer than that of any of the other Old Testament prophets. His historical importance it is impossible to exaggerate : he was the human founder of the Theocracy, the mediator between God and Israel. And he was a man of prayer, leading the people to trust in God to Whom he con­stantly sought access in prayer : for many were the murmurings, perplexities, storms and stresses—and times of danger, such as threatened at the time Mr. Thomas here considers.

The Amalekites, descendants of Esau, and head of the Bedouin tribes, were warlike, rapacious and fierce, implacable and vindictive, a cruel and unscrupulous horde. They trusted in their own power and strength, “feared not God,” therefore were not impressed as were others around by the appalling phenomena that had marked the course of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

They would know that Israel had become possessed of treasured water in Horeb, and banking on their military inex­perience, they made a wanton and unprovoked aggression in Rephidim, employing the mean and dastardly artifice of falling on the rear, stabbing in the back and directing their assault at first on the feeble and the aged when weary with the fatigue of travel.

No doubt at this juncture, Moses would turn in earnest prayer to God, but we are not aware that it is recorded. He instructed that chosen men should go out and fight with Amalek, and said,

“Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.”

Accordingly, when he had done all he could along human lines, up to the top of the hill he went, with the rod of God in his hand—the rod which in faith he had notably wielded at the time of the crossing of the Red Sea and for the supply of water from the rock. Joshua’s best would not have sufficed : the battle was God’s. When the symbolic rod was uplifted in faith, Israel prevailed ; but when the aged leader was unequal to the day-long physical strain and his hand drooped down, Amalek prevailed. But a stone was fetched for him to sit on, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, steady till sunset, enabling Joshua to lay Amalek low, giving no quarter.

From this, the writer draws out the lesson that those who may be too old and feeble to take actual part in the fray, may, like Moses and his associates in this effective intercession, make full use of the privilege of prayer. Real prayer, he reminds us is hard and exhausting, in the continual warfare against the kingdom of darkness ; but by its means God’s people can hold up the hands of ministering elders who, recalling their wonderful deliverance from darkness, still seek to guide the tide of battle by prayerfully upholding “the divine stick.”¹¹

Paul knew the truth of this full well, when in his weariness and travail he appealed, “Brethren, pray for us.” ¹²

In a special paragraph, the author stresses that prayer should “be stimulated by a watchfulm appreciation and sustained interest in the march of events, side by side with a study of the special needs of the times.” “The relation- ship between prayer and knowledge,” he says, “requires the regular study of literature.”

“Were praying men and women more concerned in keeping themselves fully informed of the advance and hindrance to the con­tinued progress of God’s work . . . striving ever to adapt their intercessions to the fluctua­tions of the war against evil, what powerful service could thus be rendered.”

There is the useful thought that this inter­cession of Moses on the hill prefigures that of Christ lifted “higher than the heavens” and who “ever liveth to make intercession.” And the sequel is contrasted with such as attaches to national triumphs as today known. “No triumphal column was erected, nor medals struck, nor even honours heaped on Joshua.”

But (1) a historical record was to be made in the annals of the chosen people : and (2) an altar was to be dedicated to their Divine Deliverer by the name, Jehovah-nissi, borrowed from the chief incident of that historic day—the lifting up of God’s rod as a banner. That sustained intercession “should ever rebuke us for our intermittent and half-hearted prayers,” and the sequel remind us, in our experiences of triumph and deliverance, humbly to take no credit to ourselves, but rather to exclaim,

“We will rejoice in Thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners.” ¹³