NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIX

Part II (con’t)

Verse 7: And when you pray, don’t be like the people who don’t know God. They say the same thing over and over again. They think that if they say it enough times, their god will hear them.

Those in the crowd listening to Jesus no doubt understood who He was referring to. They had heard of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and how they chanted again and again from morning till noon but received no answer from Baal.¹ So we see that the Jews did not promote needless repetition of prayers. As a matter of fact, one respected Rabbi said: “Be heedful in the reciting of the Shema² in the prayer; and when you pray don’t make it a mere recitation, but let it be gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, and being repentant of any evil deeds and do not be egotistical.”³ In his commentary on this teaching, Rabbi Huna, in quoting Rabbi Meir, says: “A man’s words should always be few in addressing the Holy One, blessed be He, since it says, ‘Do not speak rashly with your mouth and do not be hasty in your heart to say things to God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth, therefore let your words be few⁴.”⁵ Apparently the people Jesus was referring to were ignoring such advice from the Written Word and their verbal tradition. Rabbis were passing on the advice of their ancestors who ruled: “One must include all eighteen benedictions in his prayers because it is necessary to include a benediction at the conclusion of Sabbath and festival days, to the One who blesses man with knowledge.”⁶

Chromatius, who we quoted earlier, tells us that in his mind nonbelievers think they can obtain more of what they require from the Lord by using many words, but that the Lord does not expect this from us. Says Chromatius: “He wants us to send up our prayers not with wordy speech but with faith that comes from the heart. By doing so we commend the merits of justice to Him. He surely knows better all the things of which we have need and before we speak is aware of everything that we are going to request.”⁷ Put that way, it would be reasonable to add that since God already knows what is in our hearts and minds, and He is fully aware of our motives and intentions, by going to Him in prayer we can prove our honesty by saying exactly what we are thinking and wishing, and confess to Him why we are doing so. People often do not receive an answer to their prayers because God hears what they say and knows what they are really thinking, and they do not match.

Verse 8: Jesus didn’t want that type of monotonous prayer life for His followers. So He tells them: Don’t be like those people. Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

After reading verse 8, the anonymous writer of the incomplete work on Matthew, we referenced before, says: “God is to be conciliated, not taught; a long prayer is not needful for Him but a genuine spirit.”⁸ He makes this statement based on the fact that if God knows what we want ahead of time, then we do not pray to demand from God what we want but that it may please Him to bestow what we need. Therefore, your Father knows what is necessary for you before you ask Him. So after you have told Him what you need, don’t tell Him what you want, but let Him know you are ready for what He wants you to have.

Verse 9: So this is how you should pray. ‘Our Father in heaven, blessed be Your name.

Jesus points out here that when the Jews prayed, apparently they didn’t believe that God knew what they wanted until they asked. God made this very clear to the prophet Isaiah: “Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.”⁹ A great Jewish philosopher tell us that certainly God knows more than we do. He relates: “It happened one day that a man who had committed such an act of impiety was led away to prison; and Moses being at a loss as to what he should do to the man for committing a crime worthy of death, and did not know what was the most suitable way to inflict the proper punishment on him, went with his invisible soul to the invisible judgment seat, and asked the Judge who hears everything before He is even told, what sentence should be rendered.”¹⁰ In other words, people who address God improperly should be dealt with by God Himself.

As we have seen, many Jewish prayers begin with the phrase, “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, King of the Universe.” Since our English translation was taken from the Greek, which was a rendering by the gospel writers of Jesus’ native language, Aramaic, there is a good possibility that this is the way Jesus started His prayer for the disciples to follow. In speaking of prayer, one Rabbi says: “Let us lift up our hearts with our hands towards God in Heaven.”¹¹ He then goes on to comment that: “Even a divider made of iron cannot separate Israel and their Father in heaven.”¹² But we find an even clearer reference when speaking of thanksgiving offerings. A respected Rabbi says: “This teaches us that it is the same whether one gives much or little, as long as he directs his heart to his Father who is in Heaven!”¹³ So we see that Jesus was using a phrase His disciples were already familiar with.

Therefore, referring to God in heaven was not a new concept. Hence, “Our Father which art in heaven” corresponds with “Adonoy our God, King of the Universe,” and “Hallowed be Thy name” is similar to “Blessed are You.” This is also how David instructed those who were seeking Adonai with joyful hearts, that they should give “Glory to His holy name.”¹⁴ As such, this opening phase of the Lord’s Prayer includes a salutation. There is a cultural factor in this prayer that we find prevalent in the Middle East to this day, even among Muslims, where any mention of the name of a prophet or deity, is followed by an acknowledgment of the holiness and great reverence for that name. For instance, in Jewish writings we find the following prayer: “The Holy One, blessed be He, causes the winds to blow….”¹⁵ We also read about the time when Nimrod the wicked had cast Father Abraham into the fiery furnace, and Gabriel stood forth in the presence of the Holy One – blessed be He! – and said… “Then the Holy One – blessed be He! – said unto him…”¹⁶

Early Church father Tertullian made this observation: “It begins with a proof of (our belief in) God and a meritorious act of faith when we say, ‘Father, who art in heaven.’ For we adore God and prove our faith, of which this form of address is the result. It is written: ‘To them that believe in God He gave the power to be called the sons of God.’¹⁷ Our Lord very frequently spoke to us of God as a Father; in fact, He even taught us to call none on earth ‘father,’ but only the one we have in heaven. Therefore, when we pray like this we are observing this precept, too. Happy are they who know the Father! This is the reproach made against Israel, when the Spirit calls heaven and earth to witness saying: ‘I have begotten sons and they have not known me.’ Moreover, when we say ‘Father,’ we also add a title to God’s name. This form of address is one of filial love and at the same time one of power.”¹⁸

Also, the renown Catholic scholar Origen in his treatise has this the say: “According to the apostle ‘the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.’¹⁹ But the fullness of time is in the sojourn of our Lord Jesus Christ, when they who desire receive adoption as sons, as Paul teaches in the words, ‘For you did not receive a spirit of slavery unto fear, but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, wherein we cry “Abba Father;”’²⁰ and as it is in the Gospel according to John, ‘To as many as received Him He gave authority to become children of God if believers on His name;’²¹ and it is by reason of this Spirit of adoption as sons, we learn in the Catholic Epistle of John regarding the begotten of God, that ‘Everyone that is begotten of God should not sin because His seed abides in him, and he must not sin because he is begotten of God.’²²”²³ No one believes that Origen is teaching perpetual purity here for those who become believers, because John himself says that if we do sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. However, this promise of God’s willingness to forgive, is based on the fact that we are His children.

When Jesus included the salutation “Blessed be Your name” in this prayer, He knew that many of those listening to Him were aware of the Jewish teaching called the Kaddish prayer which says: “Magnified and sanctified be His great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will, and may He establish His kingdom in your lifetime.” Not only does this Kaddish prayer revere God’s holy name, but also expresses a yearning for the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. It is often called the “Mourners Prayer.” Jewish scholars explain: “As we can see, the ‘blessed be He’ is not a part of the prayer but a sign of reverence for the Holy One, just as hallowed be Thy name in the Lord’s Prayer is a sign of reverence to the Father in heaven. We find that Moses did not mention the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, until after he had spoken twenty-one words. From whom did he learn this? From the ministering angels, for the ministering angels mention the name of God only after the threefold Sanctification, as it is said, And one called unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.²⁴ Said Moses, ‘It is enough for me to be seven times as modest as the ministering angels. The matter lends itself to inference from the minor to the major: if Moses, the wisest of the wise, the greatest of the great, and the father of the prophets, mentioned God’s name only after twenty-one words, how much more must one be cautious not to mention God’s name in vain.”²⁵

Therefore, Jesus was following the custom of His day in the instructions He gave His disciples on prayer. Then our Lord’s recognition of God’s kingdom, was also very much in the mind of praying Jews. We read where Rabbi Johanan said: “Any benediction in which God’s Kingship is not mentioned is no benediction.”²⁶

Verse 10: So Jesus goes on: May Your kingdom will come—that Your will be done here on earth, the same as in heaven.

This becomes no small matter when we also consider His majesty and superiority. When King Jehoshaphat was facing his troubles, he prayed, “Lord God of our ancestors, You are the God in heaven. You rule over all the kingdoms in all the nations. You have power and strength. No one can stand against you. You are our God!”²⁷ Furthermore, the Psalmist acknowledged that when we pray, we do not pray for our answer, but His answer. “Lord, You should receive the honor, not us. The honor belongs to You because of Your faithful love and loyalty. Why should the nations wonder where our God is? Our God is in heaven, and He does whatever He wants.”²⁸ The prophet Isaiah adds another factor that should be acknowledged when we pray, and that is our respect for the One to whom we pray, “God is exalted on high. He lives forever. His name is holy. He says, ‘I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and sorry for their sins. I will give new life to those who are humble in spirit. I will give new life to those who are sorry for their sins.”²⁹ Then Isaiah adds this: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is where I rest my feet.”³⁰ So by directing the prayer to the Father in Heaven, Jesus was in harmony with how the Jews had been taught in times past. But He did so because many of the Pharisees and hypocrites were not thinking of the Father in heaven when they prayed, but those listening around them.

Origen in his treatise on prayer makes a point of explaining that when the disciples were to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” they were not to suppose a literal kingdom here on earth with a capital city such as Jerusalem, that would come much later. Rather, that the kingdom of God was to be within us. So says Origen: “The Kingdom of God does not come observably, nor should men say ‘Lo it is here’, or ‘Lo is it there’, but the Kingdom of God is within us; for the utterance is exceedingly near in our mouth and in our heart. It is therefore plain that he who prays for the coming of the kingdom of God prays with good reason for rising and fruit bearing and perfecting of God’s kingdom within him. For every believer is ruled over by God and obeys the Spiritual laws of God, and conducts himself like a well-ordered city; and the Father is present with him, and Christ rules together with the Father in the perfected Soul, according to the saying that I mentioned shortly before: We will go to Him and make abode with Him. By God’s kingdom I understand the blessed condition of the mind and the settled order of wise reflection; by Christ’s kingdom the issue of words of salvation to their hearers and the practice of acts of righteousness and the other excellencies; for the Son of God is Word and Righteousness.”³¹

King David had no doubts about God’s reputation. He always kept His promises and did not walk away without finishing what He started. That’s why David proclaimed, “Your name will be honored forever.”³² Solomon felt the same way, and wanted people far and wide to come and worship God in the Temple, “From Your home in heaven, please listen to their prayers. Please do everything the people from other places ask You. Then they will fear and respect You the same as Your people in Israel.”³³

I love that song written by Bill and Gloria Gaither that says, “There’s something about that name.” The Levites wrote a similar song, “People should praise Your glorious name. May your name be lifted above all blessing and praise. You are God. Lord, only you are God. You made the sky and the highest heavens and everything in them. You made the earth and everything on it. You made the seas and everything in them. You give life to everything. All the heavenly angels bow down and worship you.”³⁴ And David adds, “Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel! Only He can do such amazing things. Praise His glorious name forever! Let his glory fill the whole world. Amen and Amen!”³⁵

It is a shame that other names and not His name is being lifted up. It is necessary to direct our prayers to Him in order to access the blessings and joys that are His, and to open the door of our hearts and minds for His kingship to rule and reign in our lives. So many are waiting for His kingdom to come, when it is already available to those who recognize Him as king, and bow to Him in praise and worship, and honor Him by following His word and doing His will.

1 I Kings 18:26-29

2 “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”

3 Rabbi Simeon Jewish Mishnah, (Tractate Aboth, Chap. 2:13).

4 Ecclesiastes 5:1

5 Babylonian Talmud., op. cit., Seder Zera’im, Masekhet Berachoth, folio 61a.

6 Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel in the Babylonian Talmud, op. cit., Seder Tohoroth, Masekhet Nidah, folio 8b

7 Tractate on Matthew 27.2.1-2

8 Homily 13

9 Isaiah 65:24

10 Philo of Alexandria, Bk. II, Ch. XL. (217).

11 Moses Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, op. cit., Sefer Ahavah, Tractate Tefilah and Birkat Kohanim, Ch. 5, Halacha 4.

12 Ibid. Ch 15, Halacha 8 .

13 Rabbi Hisda in Babylonian Talmud, Seder Nezikin, Masekhet Shevu’oth, folio 15a

14 I Chronicles 16:10 – Complete Jewish Bible

15 Babylonian Talmud, op. cit., Seder Nashim, Masekhet Kuddushin 32b

16 Babylonian Talmud, op. cit., Seder Mo’ed, Masekhet Pesahim, folio 118a

17 John 1:12

18 Prayer by Tertullian, Ch. 2:1

19 Galatians 4:2

20 Romans 8:15

21 John 1:12

22 1 John 5:18

23 Origen: On Prayer, Ch. 12:3

24 Isaiah 6:3.

25 Sifre on Deuteronomy we read this commentary on Chapter 32:3 (A Tannaiitic Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, Trans. By Reuven Hammer, Yale University Press, 1986, Piska 306, p. 322).

26 Babylonian Talmud., op. cit., Seder Zera’im, Masekhet Berachoth, folio 40b.

27 II Chronicles 20:6

28 Psalm 115:1-3

29 Isaiah 57:15

30 Ibid., 66:1

31 Origen: On Prayer, Ch. 15:1-2

32 II Samuel 7:26

33 I Kings 8:43

34 Nehemiah 9:5-6

35 Psalm 72:18-19