595. Prayer

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1. For the position of this chamber, see note on 2 Kings 4:1010Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. (2 Kings 4:10) (#333).
2. He did not look toward the sun, as the fire-worshipers did (see note on Ezekiel 8:1616And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. (Ezekiel 8:16), #568) but toward Jerusalem, where the temple of Jehovah stood, and where the sacred Presence was in the Oracle. This seems to have been a custom among the Jews when they were away from the Holy City. See 1 Kings 8:44,4844If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: (1 Kings 8:44)
48And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: (1 Kings 8:48); 2 Chronicles 6:3434If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto thee toward this city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name; (2 Chronicles 6:34); Psalm 5:7; 28:2; 138:27But 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. (Psalm 5:7)
2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. (Psalm 28:2)
2I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2); Jonah 2:44Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. (Jonah 2:4). See also note on Matthew 4:2323And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23) (#636).
3. There was no legal prescription in the Jewish ritual of any hours for seasons of prayer. The hours of morning and evening sacrifice would naturally be suggested to the mind of a pious Jew as suitable times for prayer. To this might easily be added a time midway. This appears to have been the case with David, who says: “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psa. 55:1717Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. (Psalm 55:17)). The order in which these three seasons of prayer are named by the psalmist seems to indicate the origin of the custom as just suggested. In the text Daniel is said to have prayed “three times a day.” From Daniel 9:2121Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (Daniel 9:21), it appears that one of these seasons of prayer was at the time of evening sacrifice; the two others were probably the same as those mentioned by David. In later times the precise hour is more clearly indicated. Compare Acts 2:15; 10:9; 3:115For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (Acts 2:15)
9On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: (Acts 10:9)
1Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. (Acts 3:1).