How Is Prayer 

Modeled in the Old Testament?

The drama of prayer is revealed to us in the Old Testament and is identified most often with the intimate personal contact of God with his people. At the beginning, the first great prophet of prayer was Abraham, who submissively answered God’s call, going off to a strange land, building an altar to the Lord at each stage of his journey. Abraham’s first prayer was a prayer of faith, tested by action. His prayer was silent, marked not by words but by “attentiveness of the heart” (CCC §2570).

 As time went on, Abraham became more comfortable with God’s promises and he welcomed God as a guest at Mamre. Then, with even greater confidence, he interceded with God for the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (though his intercession does not succeed). Finally, God confronts Abraham with his biggest test of faith, a request to sacrifice the son God had given him. Faithfully, Abraham followed God’s instructions, realizing that all things were possible to God. In the end, God intervened, providing another sacrifice in place of Abraham’s son, Isaac. In all these events, Abraham demonstrates an important aspect of prayer. He lived his faith; his prayer took the form of action. 

Later in the Old Testament, Moses would be called by God from the midst of a burning bush, which would become a fiery prototype of God’s call to us to pray and a signifier of a holy place to worship. Moses eventually becomes God’s messenger and leads the Israelites from Egypt. Moses models prayer as a holy friendship, of one man speaking to his friend, face to face, and as the Catechism says, in this relationship Moses reveals the characteristic of contemplative prayer (CCC §25 76). Moses’ intimacy with God as God’s prophet and mes senger and his role as mediator between God and his people who have fallen victim to idolatry shows his great determination to fulfill the word of God. David, a king “after God’s own heart,” is another example of the human experience of prayer. 

At the dedication of the Temple, David raises his hands to heaven and pleads with the Lord, for himself and for his people, to forgive their sins and to provide for their daily needs, so that all nations may know that there is only one God Most High and that the worship of his people may belong entirely to him (CCC §2580). David’s people went on to use the Temple as a school of prayer where they would offer sacrifices, incense, and other signs of the holiness of God. But this prayer became hollow and ritualistic, so God sent Elijah, the father of the prophets, to show the power and effectiveness of the prayer of the righteous. Through the miraculous multiplication of the flour and oil, Elijah shows the widow of Zarephath that the promises of the Lord will be fulfilled; and through Elijah’s pleading prayer on behalf of the widow’s son, God brings the boy back to life. 

In addition to the instances of individual prayer, the Old Testament tells of the important role prayer plays in the life of the people of Israel. Indeed, from them we receive that masterpiece of prayer, the Book of Psalms, or the Psalter. Saint Ambrose describes them beautifully: What is more pleasing than a psalm? David expresses it well: “Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good: let there be praise of our God with gladness and grace!” Yes, a psalm is a blessing on the lips of the people, praise of God, praise of God, .. .the voice of the Church, a confession of faith in song (CCC §2589). The psalms present two kinds of prayer, the personal and the communal. Besides telling the history of God’s people, the psalms reflect the varied human experiences of those who composed them. There is a simplicity and a spontaneity about these songs of Israel. They reflect the full gamut of human prayer and emotion: praise, thanks, fear, exultation, depression, anger, sorrow, joy.