Month: October 2023

There are few men in Bible history of more significance than Moses. Deliverer of Israel, giver of the law, a man whose face had to be veiled because he physically reflected God’s glory after being in his presence (Exodus 34:29-35, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18). And though we read that “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11), there were many times Moses would pray to the Lord. During the time of the ten plagues, Pharaoh pled with Moses to pray to Lord to remove the plagues, and he would do so. Moses also prayed to the Lord on behalf of Israel (Numbers 11:1-3, 21:6-8) and his brother Aaron (Deuteronomy 9:19-21) for God to show his mercy.

But the only prayer we have recorded in the scriptures by Moses is his supplication to God after the sin of the people and Aaron with the golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the stone tablets with the words of the covenant. Remember that Moses had been on the mountain for forty days and nights, neither eating nor drinking. And when he had received the tablets, he was told by God about the idol that the people had made for themselves.

What is perhaps not as well known is that after Moses broke the tablets, he fasted for another forty days and nights before praying to God on behalf of Israel and Aaron!

Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger.  I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.

I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’ But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”

Deuteronomy 9:18-20, 25-29

In Moses’ plea to God, we see his recognition that we do not deserve the forgiveness we seek. His plea with God was to “overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin”. And his primary reason for the request was ultimately for the glory of God! His fear was that the nation of Egypt would somehow look upon God as a failure, if he were to destroy the people that he had performed such mighty works to deliver.

Similarly, our supplications to God should reflect the same attitudes. We should recognize that we are not deserving of the rich blessings we receive from God, nor of the mercy he shows to us. And our requests should always be those that would give glory to God, because that is why we are here!

Prayer in the Bible – the search for Rebekah

Abraham is one of the key figures in the Bible, having been mentioned 235 times! And as we read in Galatians chapter 3, even the law of Moses does not nullify the promise God made to Abraham, through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and which was fulfilled by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we read in the book of Genesis about the story of Abraham and his relationship with God, we come to understand how serious Abraham regarded this covenant God had made with him. He began by taking all his possessions and people and moving to a land he didn’t know, led only by God’s direction. Later, he showed his faith in God by being willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac, even though God had already told him that through Isaac his promise would be fulfilled.

In Chapter 24 Isaac is now fully grown, about 40 years old, and Abraham is addressing the matter of finding a wife for Isaac. There are a couple of reasons why Abraham would not want Isaac to marry a woman from the local area: it was customary in that time to choose a wife from one’s own “tribe”, but more importantly, Abraham must have recognized the importance of choosing a wife who would not bring pagan beliefs into the marriage and pull Isaac away from his relationship with God.

Abraham entrusts the matter to his senior servant, but he treats the matter so seriously as to place his servant under an oath. Although not named in this chapter, Abraham had referred to his servant as Eliezer of Damascus (Genesis 15:2), so these two may be one and the same.

There are two notable conditions of this oath: (1) if the woman was unwilling to be Isaac’s wife, the servant was released from the oath, and (2) Isaac must not travel back to their home country. We can see how seriously Abraham regarded his covenant with God. Since he was directed to come to this “promised land”, not even Isaac should return from it, lest the covenant be broken.

When the servant of Abraham reaches his destination and arrives at the well outside of town, he demonstrates both his faith in God, and his devotion to Abraham as he prays to God:

Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

Genesis 24:12-14

We learn that the servant’s prayer was answered “before he had finished praying”, and Rebekah appears with the other women of the town. She offers the servant water, and also offers to water his camels. When the servant learns that she is also the daughter of Abraham’s relatives, he realizes his prayers have been answered, and he immediately worships God:

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

Genesis 24: 26-27