Enriching Your Prayers: Vol 1, Praying Genesis Through Joshua: Praying Through the Bible, #1

Introduction to the Prayers of Genesis

Genesis means beginning, and that is what this book describes: the beginning of the world and the beginning of the people of Israel. The first four chapters are like an epic, with no set time or place. There is a lot to learn about who God is, why he created humans, and what the relationship is between people and God. Beginning with chapter 12, we learn about the origins of Israel, its early history, and its special relationship with God.

The first thing that might strike you about the prayers in Genesis is how much variety there is among them. All sorts of people offer them—from kings to prisoners—in all kinds of situations: birth, death, joy, and suffering. Some prayers are long and formal. Some are only one sentence. The prayers offer rich models for us to draw from for our own prayers.

There are fourteen prayers: five blessings, five petitions, two intercessions, two vows, and one each of a thanksgiving, a lament, and a curse. The context encompasses everything from the birth of children to prayers for the whole nation of Israel. Some of the prayers are used for deceptive purposes. One is offered by a pagan priest! 

The variety of prayer in this first book shows that prayer can take on many forms and styles, contexts, purposes, and situations. These fourteen prayers serve as an excellent beginning in our journey to develop a richness in our own prayer lives.

The Personal Name of God

(Gen 4.26)

At that time, people began to invoke the name of the LORD.

Background

Ancient people believed that there were many gods. They differed in personality, characteristics, abilities, jurisdiction, and power. For instance, Ba’al was the Canaanite god of rain and storms. He did good by bringing rain for the crops, but he could also wreak havoc through floods and storms. When there was a drought, Ba’al was thought to have been imprisoned by another god. To the Egyptians, Re was the sun god and Hapi was the god of the Nile River. When God performed miracles on the Nile River (see Exodus 7–8), the Egyptians saw this as a defeat of Hapi by the God of the Hebrews. There were gods of fertility, gods of war, and gods of art and science. Gods of childbirth, gods of healing, and gods of each specific craft. Most were rarely heard from unless a human did something to get their attention (good or bad). Occasionally, a god or goddess would become fond of a particular person and would bless and protect them. Though it might seem strange to those who practice Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, these gods did not care much about ethics or morals. They placed few, if any, demands on humans (other than to respect the gods). Humans existed to serve the gods when required.

God is entirely different. Genesis stresses that God created the world for humans, not for his own benefit. He nurtures people instead of seeing them as slaves. He cares how they live and how they treat each other. Ethical and moral behavior matter to this God.

In this passage in Genesis 4.26, we find the first mention of prayer in the Bible. It is not a long essay on the subject or even an example of prayer. It is a brief mention that, after the flood, people began to pray; that they began to call on the name of the Lord. In the ancient world, to know someone’s true name was to allow you into their life.

Meaning

It is not clear in an English translation, but the English word Lord used here is not a translation of the common Hebrew word adonai. The word means lord, sir, or master. But here, the word is YHWH (or Yahweh), a strange word in Hebrew. It is probably a form of the Hebrew verb to be, which is why many Bibles translate it as I Am. A better translation, though more cumbersome, is I will be what I will be. The word YHWH is not a general word of description, like el or elohim (God). It is not a title, like el shaddai (God Almighty) or el elyon (God Most High). Instead, it is God’s actual name. That name became so sacred to the Jewish people that they later chose not to speak it aloud. Instead, they substituted the word adonai or the phrase The Name, or some other word or phrase. 

In early Hebrew, only the consonants were written down (to save paper). In the seventh century AD, a group of Jewish scholars called the Masoretes decided to add written vowels to the consonants in the biblical text. When they came to the word YHWH, no one remembered the vowels because the word had not been spoken aloud for centuries. So, the Masoretes used the vowels from the word adonai, making up a word from part of both YHWH and adonai.¹ Those vowels and consonants are untranslatable and unspeakable by the rules of Hebrew grammar. So English Bibles usually use the word Lord. To distinguish it from adonai (which is also translated Lord), most publishers print it in small caps (LORD) and print adonai as a normal capitalized word (Lord).²

In Exodus 6.2, Moses experienced the presence of God through a burning bush. When Moses asked who He was, God tells him that he is the one who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as el shaddai (a title). Then he tells Moses that he only made himself known to them in part, but now he is revealing his true name, YHWH, to Moses.

Yet we just came across the word YHWH here in Genesis, long before Exodus 6. How can that be? Well, the books of the Old Testament were passed down orally through many generations, eventually written down, and later edited more than once. It was the later editors who put the word YHWH in Genesis 4, probably because it is the first mention of God. The editor wanted to make it clear just who this God was: not some distant god, not some uncaring god, but the God YHWH himself, who had revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush. Remember, the people reading this story would already know about Moses and the burning bush. The name YHWH was so important that those who wrote down these stories wanted to make it clear from the first the character of this God.

Application

And what does it mean? It means He is the God who wants us to know Him in an intimate and personal way. He wants us to come to him, to share with him, and to be in fellowship with him. So he gave to Moses, and to us, his personal name to use when we call upon the Lord.

How do you usually address God in prayer? Is it formal? Is it familiar? Both are appropriate, for he is a powerful, terrifying presence who also wishes to be intimate with the people he created. The name YHWH captures this somewhat contradictory aspect of God—so sacred that Jews would not say it out loud, yet so intimate because it is his personal name. Spend some time in prayer to this God who cares about you so much that he is willing to make himself vulnerable to you. A God who is prepared to run the risk of you hurting Him, rejecting Him, or ignoring Him. He was willing to risk all that, as God, to have the chance for an authentic and intimate relationship with you. How will you respond today in prayer?

Noah's Blessings and Curses

(Gen 9.25-27)

"Cursed be Canaan;

lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers."

He also said,

"Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem;

and let Canaan be his slave.

May God make space for Japheth,

and let him live in the tents of Shem;

and let Canaan be his slave."

Background

Most of the prayers in the Bible are one of four types: praise, thanksgiving, petition, or intercession. Yet the second prayer that appears in the Bible is one of the rare types: a curse and blessing.

Noah asked for a curse on his son Canaan, and blessings on his sons Shem and Japheth. Why? The previous events show that Canaan had acted with disrespect towards his father, while the other two protected and honored him. Showing disrespect for a parent was a great crime in the ancient world—some cultures punished it by death. Because Canaan broke this essential rule of ancient societies, he was condemned. 

Most people pray for blessings, but rarely, if ever, pray for a curse upon someone.³ Sermons or church classes about prayer seldom mention curse-prayers. Yet there are curse prayers in the Bible. What do we make of this genre?

God would not want me to ask Him to curse someone, would he? We might say that this was the Old Testament, before Jesus—now we love our enemies, we do not curse them (Luke 6.28). Paul echoes that thought in Romans 12.14. Revelation 22.3 implies that the curse pronounced upon humans in Genesis 3 will be reversed.

But curses are found in the New Testament as well. Matthew 25.41 is an example from the New Testament. Paul, in his letter to the Galatian Christians, is so angry with someone that he writes, let that one be cursed! In 1 Corinthians 16.22, Paul writes the same about anyone who does not have love for the Lord. Paul even wishes a curse on himself in Romans 9.3, if it would help his fellow Jews come to believe in the Messiah Jesus. Second Peter 2.14 pronounces a curse on those who engage in sinful behavior with full knowledge and intent. The warning at the end of the book of Revelation pronounces a curse on anyone who might add things to the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation. 

Meaning

Curses are a part of the Bible and so a part of the communication between humans and God (though they are more rare than other types of prayer). If they should be a part of our prayer life, how should we use them?

It is a matter of perspective and responsibility. Even though we often find blessings and curses together, there are many more blessing-prayers in the Bible than curse-prayers. Jesus, on the cross, asked God to forgive his torturers, rather than to curse them. We should take extreme care before praying a curse. Curse-prayers are not divine grenades that I can lob at those who hurt me. God is not my personal hit man to do my bidding. 

The best way to view curse-prayers is as a negative counterpart to prayers of forgiveness. God has forgiven me; I should forgive others. Jesus implies this concept in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.9–13, then states it again in Matthew 6.14–15. If I desire forgiveness, I must extend it to others first. Before I ask God to curse someone, I should examine myself. Curse-prayers should not often be uttered. God is a God of mercy. Besides, we would want mercy from those who might want to curse us! Most of the curse-prayers in the Bible are aimed at those who intentionally, consistently, and even gleefully try to destroy God’s work or God’s people, or for those who attempt to twist the Gospel so that it destroys the message and hurts people. (The latter is the reason for Paul’s emphatic curse in Galatians.)

Having a curse-prayer in your arsenal is like having a drop of potent poison in your possession; it has the power to hurt others and to hurt you. Maybe it is best if we never offer one, or reserve it for the most devastating and far-reaching circumstances, as in scripture. I would suggest that we not use curse-prayers at all until we have finished a good portion of this journey through the prayers of the Bible. Then, perhaps, we will have a context to understand the proper use of curse-prayers (and we still may never wish or need to pray a curse).

On the other hand, blessings are easy to understand. In contrast to curses, blessings are a healing balm that should be sprinkled liberally on all. To understand the context of the blessing and curse-prayer in the current passage, read the paragraph just before the prayer (Gen 9.20-24). Because Canaan dishonored his father in public during a vulnerable moment, Noah utters a curse-prayer on Canaan’s descendants. Shem and Japheth, however, are blessed, for not only did they refuse to participate in Canaan’s sin, but they covered their father, without looking, thus treating him with honor. They showed proper respect to their father and deserved blessings because of it.

Application

Who can you ask God to bless today? Be specific, just as Noah is specific in this prayer, both in the person and the kinds of blessings you want God to bestow on the recipient. Be generous, as God is generous.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram

(Gen 14.19-20)

"Blessed be Abram by the God Most High,

The One who created the heavens and the earth.

And blessed by the God Most High,

Who delivered your enemies into your hand."

Background

We might assume that the Bible only contains prayers by Jews or Christians. Yet, there are prayers in the Bible by people who are neither. We might then think that these must be prayers to their pagan gods, and sometimes this is true. One example is in the book of Jonah, where a group of sailors pray to their gods to deliver them from a storm. But there are also instances of pagans offering prayers to the God of Israel. Today’s passage is one of those. Melchizedek, a priest-king of the Canaanite god El, offers a prayer of blessing for Abram.

This is the third prayer in the Bible and is the second blessing. Abram, a man chosen