I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old Testament

I WILL LIFT

MY EYES UNTO

THE HILLS

WALTER C. KAISER JR.

I WILL LIFT

MY EYES UNTO

THE HILLS

LEARNING FROM

THE GREAT PRAYERS

OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills:

Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old Testament

© 2015 by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

First edition by Weaver Book Company

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations noted as NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Print ISBN 9781683591825

Digital ISBN 9781683591832

Cover design: Frank Gutbrod

Editorial, design, and production:

{ In a Word } www.inawordbooks.com

/edited by Rick Matt/

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 The Prayer of Abraham

for a Wicked City

2 The Prayer of Moses

for Pardon for Israel

3 The Prayer of Hannah

in Thanksgiving for Her Son

4 The Prayer of David

in Thanks to God for His Dynasty

5 The Prayer of Solomon

for a Listening Heart

6 The Prayer of Solomon

at the Dedication of the Temple

7 The Prayer of Jonah

in Thanksgiving for His Rescue from Drowning

8 The Prayer of Hezekiah

for Dealing with an Arrogant Enemy

9 The Prayer of Nehemiah

in a Time of Distress

10 The Prayer of Ezra

for Confession of Corporate Sin

11 The Prayer of Daniel

in Confession of National Sin

Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

INTRODUCTION

THE POWER AND VALUE OF PRAYER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Prayer has always been the way God has chosen to show himself strong on behalf of those who called upon him. Thus it happened that when the sermons of a certain man of God seemed to be most effective in the conversion of many new believers in one local church, it became known to him and to others that these conversions were not the direct result of his preaching. Instead, while God certainly used the man’s preaching to bring many souls to Christ, the conversions also were influenced by the prayers of a faithful lay person who pleaded with God for the success of the preaching of the Word of God in that particular setting—and many responded to the call to faith. So it may be revealed in the Final Day that all the honor and praise for the supposed accomplishments of many whom we had thought were responsible for such success may not belong to them alone. Rather, the honor will belong as well to those who held up the arms of God’s workers in constant and faith-believing prayer.

It is a rather remarkable feature of prayer that so many who are not themselves believers, or are backslidden in the work of prayer, have such faith in others whom they recognize as being men or women of influence with the Lord that in times of trouble they turn to those whose prayers can bring deliverance from evil or avert God’s wrath. Often, these who are themselves deep in unrighteousness or sin will come to persons whom they recognize as real prayer warriors to beg them to intervene with the Lord above on their behalf, asking for his gracious mercy. The troubled souls feel that they cannot pray to God themselves, either because they do not know him, or because they have fallen away from him, but they instinctively recognize the power, value, and need for prayer. In fact, even an atheist in a foxhole under enemy fire will often suddenly cry out to God for his own deliverance, even though he has never offered one prayer to God previously. Thus, even wicked men and women, while verbally denying the existence of the living God who hears and answers prayer, will often in the extreme crises of life suddenly call out to him.

Likewise, the beneficial influence of a group of believers can be seen on other occasions when a sinner will beg believers, Pray for me, for I need God and his help in this time of crisis. Seldom does the church realize or appreciate the full impact of her praying for the unconverted or those who are in distress; only eternity will reveal how critical such involvement had been for the deliverance of so many. If God’s people do not uphold the cause of Christ and pray that the unsaved multitudes would turn to the Savior, how shall we answer to our Lord for our complacency in that final day? Such praying for the masses of humanity who are without the knowledge of Christ’s redemptive work must not be done in a cold, heartless, and formal way, for that kind of praying goes nowhere. True revival will begin when sinners have heard about the effectiveness of the prayers of God’s people and as a result seek out such praying persons for their own needy lives.

Prayer in Old Testament times was marked by some of the same issues we face in our own day. For example, many Old Testament people would, when trouble arose in their midst, seek out those whom they knew were praying men and women. They wanted those intercessors to invoke prayers on their behalf so that relief and deliverance would come. These sinners may not have believed in God themselves—or at least would not have openly claimed to believe in him—but they instinctively knew that he must exist and that God is a prayer-answering God. And thank God that there were in Old Testament days men and women who maintained a life and spirit of prayer! They were ready to pray when it was convenient and when it was not convenient. And pray they did!

Some have asked: how far is the present-day church responsible for the lack of faith of the unconverted, and for the low value too many today place on the usefulness and necessity of prayer? Actually, only God knows the final answer to that question, but it is clear that more people do not respond more readily to the call to repent and follow Christ because most of our praying for the souls of men, women, and children is of such poor quality.

THE EXAMPLE OF THE ISRAELITES AND MOSES (NUMBERS 21:4–9)

The Old Testament supplies us with many vivid illustrations of cases where unrepentant men and women, in a moment of deep affliction and need, made a sudden appeal for prayer to one they trusted. In Numbers 21:4–9, for example, the Israelites grew weary of the long journey through the wilderness, so they began to complain and speak evil of God and Moses as they mouthed off to their leader by saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food! (v. 5). They had had enough of the times in the wilderness!

In order to get their attention, however, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them that began to bite the people, with the result that many of them died (v. 6). That did get the people’s attention, for immediately they came to Moses and changed their tune: We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us or we will all die (v. 7). So Moses graciously prayed for the people, and the serpents were removed.

It is rather amazing that despite the fact that these murmurers had departed from the Lord and complained about how he had dealt with them, they still had not lost their faith in prayer! They believed Moses had exactly the right kind of influence with God that could avert their problems right then and there. On that point they were correct.

THE EXAMPLE OF JEROBOAM AND THE PROPHET OF JUDAH (1 KINGS 13 AND 14)

Another Old Testament example is Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom of Israel after its division from the southern kingdom of Judah. The sin of Jeroboam was so notorious that, for generations to come, the sins of those who followed him in the northern kingship were measured by it. It was said of these kings that they too sinned with the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Yet, despite Jeroboam’s awful record of wickedness, on one occasion, when he presumed to take the place of the high priest at the altar, an unnamed prophet of God from Judah cried out against the altar: Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you [altar] he will sacrifice the bones of the priests who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you’ (1 Kings 13:2). With that, the altar split apart and the ashes flowed out from it (v. 3). The king ordered, Seize him! And as he stretched out his hand to arrest the prophet or to do violence to him, the king’s hand shriveled up so he could not pull it back again (v. 4). This was evidence of the judgment of God on King Jeroboam. Many years later, however, all that this unnamed prophet from Judah said about Josiah by the word of the Lord came true.

So astounded was King Jeroboam at the lightning swiftness of God’s retribution for his sin that he immediately cried out: Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored (v. 6b). And what did the prophet do? Did he say, Forget it! Serves you right! Don’t you know that I am a prophet of Yahweh?

On the contrary! The man of God interceded with the Lord on behalf of this most unworthy recipient. The text says that the king’s hand was restored and became as it was (v. 6c). What is so amazing is that this ruler in Israel, who was guilty of such reprehensible sin and who had departed from the Lord, still, when God’s judgment came suddenly like a bolt of lightning on him, without any further consideration or hesitation called on a praying prophet to intercede for him. Why is it that those who say they are atheists, or those who do not practice conversation with God in prayer, show when the chips are down that they really do believe in the power and virtue of prayer? Their involuntary witness is stronger than untold amounts of direct teaching that prayer is indeed powerful.

One would think that this lesson was so strong that no one in this family would fail to follow the Lord or live apart from a life of prayer. However, the son of King Jeroboam, named Abijah, later fell sick and was at death’s door (1 Kings 14:1). Here was an opportunity for Jeroboam and his wife, who had experienced the power of prayer with the man of God from Judah, to bow their knees to the Lord. But no; instead, Jeroboam decided to be sneaky as he instructed his wife to dress up in a disguise and go inquire of another godly prophet, named Ahijah, asking whether the boy would live or not (v. 2). Jeroboam actually thought that this disguise would fool the prophet, if not God himself!

The disguise of Jeroboam’s wife, however, was useless, for the prophet Ahijah, who lived in Shiloh, was blind. Nevertheless, despite the man’s blindness, God had revealed to him that Jeroboam’s wife was coming in disguise to ask about her ill son and to inquire if he would recover from his sickness (1 Kings 14:5). Thus, when the prophet heard her footsteps at the door, he said boldly: Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? (v. 6b). After telling her what would happen to the kingdom of Israel, and after he had charged her husband with refusing to keep the commandments of God, he told her to return home but that when she set her foot in their city, the boy would die (v. 12). Even though King Jeroboam still refused to confess his faith in God and to follow in the path Scripture taught, he nevertheless instinctively trusted the power and the value of prayer when his household fell into trouble. So why, in this instance, did he not trust God? Why did he steadfastly refuse to pray and serve God the rest of his days? His inconsistencies, I suppose, are as explainable as some of our own disconnects with the grace of God. How silly it is to know where the real power of God is and then to live so differently and so bankrupt of it!

THE EXAMPLE OF JOHANAN AND JEREMIAH (JEREMIAH 40–43)

Still another Old Testament example of the power of prayer is found in the life of Johanan, son of Kareah (Jer. 40–43). Judah had just been taken into captivity by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and a small remnant had been left in the land under Gedaliah, a governor appointed by the Babylonians. But Gedeliah was quickly and unmercifully slain by Ishmael while he was entertaining Ishmael and his ten men at a dinner party (Jer. 41:1–3). Johanan came to the rescue and saved the people from further harm by Ishmael. But his long-term solution was to flee to Egypt with the people who were left, for they were all afraid of what was going to happen in the land next.

However, they thought it would be well first to ask the prophet Jeremiah to seek the Lord’s will as to whether they should go to Egypt or not (Jer. 42:2–3). Jeremiah promised to inquire of the Lord. After ten days the answer came: the people should not go down to Egypt (vv. 7–10). However, Johanan and those with him declared instead that Jeremiah was lying (43:2); the Lord had not sent Jeremiah with the message they expected, so they were going to go to Egypt anyway and take Jeremiah along with them as a hostage. Even though they did not listen to what they were told was the will of the Lord, because their minds had been made up already, they initially had enough faith in the power and value of prayer to consult God as to which direction they should take. They just did not trust Jeremiah.

THE EXAMPLE OF ZEDEKIAH AND JEREMIAH (JEREMIAH 21:1–2)

One final illustration of how even sinners show how much they trust in the power and value of prayer can be seen in the life of the final king of Judah, Zedekiah. People like him involuntarily show the preeminence that prayer should have in our lives, even though they do not make it so in their own living. Yet, when push comes to shove, they instinctively fall back to seeking out someone they know who has demonstrated the power and value of prayer and asking that person to pray for them or the situation they find themselves in. Such was the story of King Zedekiah when he sent two of his chosen men, Pashur and the priest Zephaniah, to the prophet Jeremiah to ask him if Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who was in the act of attacking Judah, would withdraw from them, and if the Lord would perform his miracles as he had done so often in the past (Jer. 21:1–2).

The Lord gave an answer to Jeremiah as he made this request in prayer, but as had happened in the case of Johanan, King Zedekiah would not do as God instructed him. Thus, while Zedekiah still believed in the power and value of prayer, he was loathe to follow the instructions that came to him through the prophet’s prayer.

THE LESSON OF OLD TESTAMENT PRAYER

As our examples show, prayer held a most prominent place in the lives of the Old Testament people, but they often failed to act on it. This lesson from the history of God’s people is scary when we begin to think of the Christian church today and of our own lives. If prayer is that powerful and has that kind of value, then the practice and habit of prayer ought to set a whole new direction for each of us and for the larger body of believers. We often correctly say that nothing will be accomplished without prayer. And it is also true that if we do not pray we will accomplish precisely nothing—at least, nothing of any true and lasting value. Therefore,