- Theology and Identity
- Season 2
- Episode 2
- Airdate: 22 November 2024
- Please note this is a script, and not a transcript. There may be slight differences between this text and the actual broadcast.
- All Bible quotations taken from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)
Audio Links:
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Early Judaism and the roots of Christian Prayer
Intro
When I began my PhD studies many years ago, my aim was to study the Lords Prayer.
I initially though that my research would begin in the Gospels, but it didn’t take me long to realise that this wasn’t really the place to begin. The Lord’s prayer didn’t begin as a ‘Christian’ prayer. It was a Jewish prayer taught by a Jewish rabbi to his Jewish disciples.
So it became clear to me that if I really wanted to understand what this prayer first meant for Jesus and his followers – I had to study Early Judaism.
The term Early Judaism describes the faith and practice of Jewish people from about the 6th century BC up until 70 AD. This is an era that both Christians and Jewish people both claim as part of our spiritual heritage. This is that time when the Judaic people moved away from their tendency to worship other deities in addition to YHWH. This is when they got really serious about one and only one God. And as we saw in our previous episode, prayer played an essential role in their faith and practice.
In this episode, we want to explore how exactly they prayed. I the course of my research, I’ve discovered that the prayer themes of early Judaism were remarkably similar to the themes of the Lord’s Prayer. This is to say that thematically, there is really nothing in the Lord’s Prayer that you won’t find in other early Jewish prayers.
Christian prayer begins with the Lord’s Prayer. And the Lord’s Prayer is 100% an early judaic prayer. So if we really want to understand the roots of Christian prayer, we need to look at prayer within early Judaism. And that what’s were going to do in this episode. So here we go.
The people of ancient Israel saw themselves as characters in a story, and the meta-narrative of their experience was often recounted in prayer. Jewish prayers reflected upon the past, articulated the challenges of the present, and cast a vision for the future. Listen to the words of this prayer from the War Scroll, which is part of the DSS:
[You are] the God of our fathers; we bless your Name for ever. We are the people of your [inheritance]; You did make a Covenant with our fathers, and will establish it with their children throughout eternal ages. And in all your glorious testimonies there has been a reminder of your mercies among us to save the remnant, the survivors of your Covenant, that they might [recount] your works of truth and the judgements of youor marvellous mighty deeds. You have created us for yourself, [O God], that we may be an everlasting people.[1]
Let’s unpack what this prayer is saying. Now first, we need to remind ourselves who it is that’s praying this prayer. In our introductory episode for this season, we talked a but about the DSS and the Qumran community: This is a community led by outcast priests, who have been driven away from the Jerusalem and the sacrifices of the Temple over a dispute with the Temple hierarchy. This is a marginalized community, struggling for its physical and spiritual survival.
Now lets look at what this prayer says about how they understood their own identity:
- They see themselves as true heirs of the covenant.
- You are] the God of our fathers; we bless your Name for ever. We are the people of your [inheritance]; You did make a Covenant with our fathers, and will establish it with their children throughout eternal ages.
- When everyone else has gone off the right path, they see themselves as that small group of people who have remained faithful
- And in all your glorious testimonies there has been a reminder of your mercies among us to save the remnant, the survivors of your Covenant, that they might [recount] your works of truth and the judgements of youor marvellous mighty deeds.
- They have an expectation that one day, they will be restored to their rightful place as the leaders of Israel. They are the ones who will survive this time of testing, while their enemies are going to perish.
- You have created us for yourself, [O God], that we may be an everlasting people.
So what we’re seeing in this text is that Jewish prayer was not merely a recitation of doctrine, nor solely petition for present needs. It was a means by which the people of Israel affirmed YHWH’s sovereignty over their lives and history. It was a way for them to say this is how we understand our place in the current state of the world, and this what we believe God will do for us in the future. It was really an expression of identity.
As we continue to explore how prayer articulated the identity of the Jewish people, we need to keep in mind 2 fundamental beliefs:
First – they believed that their God was the one and only true God.
Second – they believed that they were the one and only people on earth to whom this God had revealed himself.
Terrence Donaldson puts it this way:
On one hand, Jews understood their God to be the one, universal deity, a God who had created the whole world and who continued to exercise sovereignty over the created order and all the nations within it. On the other, Jews believed that this God had chosen them out of all the nations of the world to be a special people, that the will and the ways of this God had been revealed uniquely in Israel’s scripture, that the God who had created the cosmos was nevertheless uniquely present in the Jerusalem temple, and that despite the Jews’ temporal misfortunes, eventually Israel would be vindicated and exalted to a position of preeminence over all other nations.[2]
This claim to be the one nation chosen by the one true God expresses a foundational element of Israel’s self-identification, this is referred to as particularity.
But this peculiar people also had a purpose in the world: they believed that through them, YHWH would reveal Himself to the nations. This mission of inclusivity, wherein all peoples would acknowledge the supremacy of their God, is another foundational element of Israel’s self-identification and is referred to as universality.
The expression of universality and particularity within Israel’s self-identity was not limited to one group or one era of the nation’s history. Rather, this motif is broadly attested throughout the whole of ancient Jewish literature.
It is in the historical development of these themes that we find what Jesus considered to be the ‘back story’ of his own life and ministry. He saw his own mission as operating within this framework of universality and particularity. And the prayer that he taught his followers is all about these two ideas; it’s a prayer that expresses universality - there one God and only one God. And it’s a prayer that expresses particularity -we, the people who pray this prayer have a special place in God’s purposes to redeem all the nations of the earth.
We will, in future episodes, unpack how specifically these themes are expressed in the LP. But before we get there, we need to understand Jewish prayer. Remember, I’ve said that thematically, there’s really nothing in the LP that wasn’t already being expressed in other Jewish prayers.
So let’s look at how the Jewish people understood their own identity.
I here present a brief survey of select passages, from a diversity of texts that speak about these themes of universality and particularity.
Psalms
We start with Ps 98:2-3:
The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. The nations shall praise the God of Israel when they see His works of power among His chosen people.
Prophets
Isa 2:2-3: the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.
Isaiah also spoke of a servant, who would not only re-gather the tribes of Israel, but whom YHWH would raise up as a “light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa 49:6) God promised them, “nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” (Isa 60:3) Jews would be sought out by Gentiles, who would see Israel’s exaltation and long to be taught her laws: “Men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” (Zech 8:22)
Even as Israel lived for centuries under the dominion of other nations, the prophets proclaimed that she would someday be restored and exalted. At that time, her enemies would be defeated, the twelve tribes would be re-gathered, the Temple would be made glorious, the people would be purified, and many nations would recognize the supremacy of her God as they would come to worship in Jerusalem.
Now let’s look at some non canonical texts:
Tobit 14:5-7 contains a prophecy which was spoken by Tobit just before he died. It talks about the restoration of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and the rebuilding of the temple.
And afterward they shall return from all places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God shall be built in it for ever with a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken thereof. And all nations shall turn, and fear the Lord God truly, and shall bury their idols. So shall all nations praise the Lord, and his people shall confess God, and the Lord shall exalt his people; and all those which love the Lord God in truth and justice shall rejoice, shewing mercy to our brethren.
Summary
The book of Enoch envisions a coming “Son of Man” of whom it is said:
He will become a staff for the righteous ones in order that they may lean on him and not fall. He is the light of the gentiles and he will become the hope of those who are sick in their hearts. All those who dwell upon the earth shall fall and worship before him; they shall glorify, bless and sing the name of the Lord of the Spirits. For this purpose he became the Chosen one.[3]
The Sibylline Oracles envisioned a time when, “the people of the great God will again be strong who will be guides in life for all mortals.”[4] The nations will declare:
Come, let us all fall on the ground and entreat the immortal king, the great eternal God. Let us send to the Temple, since he alone is sovereign and let us all ponder the Law of the Most High God, who is most righteous of all throughout the earth. But we had wandered from the path of the Immortal. With mindless spirit we revered things made by hand, idols and statues of dead men.[5]
Ps Sol 17:30-32 tells of the Messiah:
And he will have gentile nations serving him under his yoke, and he will glorify the Lord in (a place) prominent (above) the whole earth. And he will purge Jerusalem(and make it) holy as it was even from the beginning, (for) nations to come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, to bring as gifts her children who had been driven out, and to see the glory of the Lord with which God has glorified her. And he will be a righteous king over them, taught by God. There will be no unrighteousness among them in his days, for all shall be holy, and their king shall be the Lord Messiah.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
We’ve already looked at one passage from the DSS that demonstrates how their prayers were a way of expressing their identity. We will now look at some texts that speak specifically about these notions of universality and particularity.
There are many texts found at Qumran that speak of the salvation of the Gentiles, which will occur as the nations witness the blessing and restoration of Israel. The following are examples:
4Q504
your re[si]dence […] a place of rest in Jerusa[lem the city which] you [cho]se from the whole earth for [your Name] to be there for ever. For you loved Israel more than all the peoples. . . And all the countries (הגוים) have seen your glory, for you have made yourself holy in the midst of your people, Israel. And to your great Name they will carry their offerings: silver, gold, precious stones, with all the treasures of their country, to honour your people and Zion, your holy city and your wonderful house.[6]
4Q504
You will raise up survivors among your people and a remnant within your inheritance. You will purify and cleanse them of their sin for all their deeds are in your truth. You will judge them in your great loving-kindness and in the multitude of your mercies and in the abundance of your pardon, teaching them according to your word; and you will establish them in your Council according to the uprightness of your truth . . . All the nations shall acknowledge your truth, and all the people your glory. For you will bring your glorious (salvation) to all the men of your Council, to those who share a common lot with the Angels of the Face.[7]
4Q 215
And they will refine by them the chosen of justice and he will wipe out [al]l iniquity on account of his pio[us] ones; for the age of wickedness is fulfilled and all injustice will [pass a]way. [For] the time of justice has arrived, and the earth is filled with knowledge and the praise of God. In the da[ys of …] the age of peace has arrived, and the laws of truth, and the testimony of justice, to instruct [all] in God’s paths [and] in the mighty acts of his deeds [… f]or eternal centuries. Every t[ongue] will bless him, and every man will bow down before him, [and they will be] of on[e mi]nd.[8]
Talmudic Prayers
The final prayers we’ll look at today are the prayers of the ancient synagogue.
One example is the Kaddish, which affirms the universal rule of YHWH in language very similar to that of the LP:
Exalted and hallowed be His great Name in the world which He created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of the whole household of Israel, speedily and at a near time.[9]
Another ancient prayer which affirms the unique identity of Israel and the future salvation of the nations is the Alenu. Among its declarations and petitions are found the following:
It is for us to praise the Lord of all, to ascribe greatness to the God of creation. Who has not made us like the nations of other countries, nor placed us like the other families of the earth. He did not appoint our portion like theirs. Nor our destiny like that of their multitudes . . . the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else . . . We therefore hope in You, 0 Lord our God, That we may soon behold the glory of Your might, when idols will be removed from the earth, and non-gods will be utterly destroyed. When the world will be perfected under the rule of the Almighty, when all mankind will invoke Your Name . . . Before You, O Lord our God, Let them bow down and worship. Giving honour unto Your glorious Name. May they all accept the yoke of Your kingdom, So that You will reign over them soon and forevermore. For Yours is the kingdom. And unto all eternity You will reign in glory.[10]
So we’ve here looked at prayers from multiple biblical and early Judaic sources: the Psalms, the prophets, Tobit, Enoch, Sibyllne oracles, the DSS, and the prayers of the synagogue. What we’ve seen is that the that the themes of universality and particularity come through again and again.
And this isn’t surprising because these are ideas that were expressed in the promise which God had made to Abraham: “I will surely bless you . . . and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 22:17-18) Israel viewed itself as a particular nation, chosen and blessed by YHWH. They believed that eventually this blessing would spread through them to all of the families of the earth.
Prayer was the means by which the beliefs of the Jewish people became real in the own lives. Yes, they believed doctrinally that YHWH was the one and only God. Yes, based on the Scriptures they believed that God had spoken to Abraham, and made a promise that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed. But what we see happening in these texts that we’ve looked at is that prayer is a way of moving what’s in the head down into the heart. In these we’ve seen how prayer leads to emotional engagement and it leads to affirmation of identity. Through these prayers, the Jewish people were expressing who they were in the eyes of God, and how they say themselves fitting into God’s plan for the history of humanity.
And so when we see how important prayer was for shaping the identity of the Jewish people, its no surprise that Jesus viewed prayer in the same way. He taught his followers a prayer so that they could know who they were and how they fit into the Fathers purposes for the human race.
But that’s a topic for our next episode.
For now, I want to wrap up this episode with a thought for reflection. We’ve been saying over and over again that prayer is a way expressing identity. If you want to know what a community thinks about themselves and what they think about God – just look at how they pray.
How might we apply these ideas to our spirituality and practice? After spending time in prayer – have you ever looked back on your prayers – asking ‘what did I just say’
I would encourage you think about some of the major themes and patterns in your own life. Do your prayers reflect a healthy and correct view of yourself? Do your prayers accurately reflect the nature and righteous character of God as communicated in his Word. Identity and prayer go hand in hand. And if there are areas in your life where you’re struggling with low self esteem or confusion over your relationship with God and your identity in him, I would encourage you to start by looking at the way you pray. And then perhaps, discern some changes that your might need to make in the way you pray. Align the way you talk about yourself with what God has said about you. And align the purpose of your prayers what God says in his word about his purpose and plans for you.
[1] 1QM 13, [Vermes (2004), 179].
[2] Donaldson (2007), 17-18.
[3] 1 En. 48:4-6. See also 1 En. 50:2-5.
[4] Sib. Or. 3:194-195.
[5] Sib. Or. 3:716-723. See also Sib. Or. 3:556-573; 3:624-631; 3:710-723; 3:732-733; 3:762-775; 5:420-428.
[6] 4Q504 f1-2 4:2-12, [Garcìa Martìnez & Tigchelaar (1997-1998), 1015].
[7] 1QHa 14:8-13, [Vermes (2004), 277].
[8] 4Q215a 3-8, [Garcìa Martìnez & Tigchelaar (1997-1998), 457].
[9] Petuchowski (1978a), 37.
[10] Petuchowski (1978a), 43.