TO PRAY OR NOT TO PRAY--
THAT IS NOT THE QUESTION!
By Frank Guasto
Sacrifice, offering, drawing near, calves - bulls,
broken, contrite, fruit, blessing, kneeling,
praise, prayer, asking, service, incense, set time -due season-appointed
time, morning - evening, third hour - ninth hour
All of these words have a direct connection to when we should pray, where we should pray and how we should pray. I will do my best to give you a glimpse of what the Scriptural model of prayer is by listing several examples of the when where and how. This explanation is not complete by any means but I hope you will receive at least some insight and encourage you to add to what is contained herein. The context of this teaching comes from Numbers 28, and there are five key points that we are going to be developing through this study using verses one through 10 as the foundation.
1. To define the Hebrew word qorban which means an offering for a sacrifice. The sister word or verbal root word for qorban is qarav or to draw near
2. To Shamar or to observe (which is to guard, watch over and do them)
3. At the moed or appointed time
4 This Tamid offering which is a continual offering for all time
5 These commands were to all the children of Israel
In order to get a firmer grasp on prayer, worship and a proper attitude towards the obedience and discipline that is required we would be best served by having a better understanding of The Temple, the sacrifices, the priesthood and the people.
In Numbers Chapter 28 YHWH commands the children of Israel that they will observe to offer sacrifices made by fire to YHWH in due season, (moed) and take two lambs of the first year, and without spot day by day, for a continual offering. One lamb shall be offered in the morning and the other in the evening. This was called the daily sacrifice, the morning and the evening and known as the Tamid offering which is a perpetual sacrifice. I think by now we are beginning to see the picture, as these sacrifices represent the eternal sacrifice of the Master, Yeshua (Jesus), the spotless Lamb Of God who takes away the sins of the world. Sandwiched in between these two sacrifices were all the other sacrifices that were part of the daily offerings for the priests and for the people. Another way to look at this is that all the sacrifices were covered by the First and The Last. Interestingly enough is the fact that the daily morning sacrifice was done at 9:00 am and the evening at 3:00 pm and are referred to much in Scripture as the third hour and ninth hour. More about this later.
There are specific times throughout the day and through the year that YHWH has designated for us to meet with Him, these meetings in the Hebrew are called moeds. These are His appointed times, and they Must be done in the manner, place and time of His choosing, not where we might think it to be more appropriate. This is not to say that you cannot pray at a time of your choosing, but it is to say that you will not substitute His appointed times for a different time, place or manner. The appointments of YHWH are the weekly Sabbaths, the seven yearly Festivals of YHWH, and the New Moons, (Nbrs 28:11, Ezek 46:1,3 & 6) but what we are concentrating on in this study are the daily appointments, sometimes referred to as the lost moeds, or lost appointed times. These are the specific prayer times that seem to be somewhat hidden in Scripture. These for the most part are what we will be addressing here, blended in with spontaneous prayer which is less non specific to place, time or manner, although there were sacrifices and prayers that were made in between the morning and the evening sacrifices for those who wished to petition YHWH for an offense, or even to give a thanksgiving offering.
The question quite often arises, how is it that we are to worship YHWH outside of the Temple context and in the manner He prescribed for us? How do we do it without a temple, and without a priesthood? Even in Malachi 1:11 it says: For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name [shall be] great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense [shall be] offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name [shall be] great among the heathen, saith YHWH of hosts. So even in Malachi it says that an offering will be in every place. It seems that they had the same questions we have today with the exception that they figured it out through the Scriptures. If we look at the following we see that YHWH is not one dimensional as He has provided a way for us to be as observant, at least as observant as we possibly can until the temple and the priesthood is re-instituted in the millennial reign with Yeshua as our King.
In Psalm 5:3 David says: My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O YHWH; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
In Psalm 141:2 David says: Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Hosea 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to YHWH: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
The word calves (Par -Str #6499 here relates to bulls which were used at the Temple sacrifices) and its verbal root meaning is to break, or be broken or contrite.
Ps 34:18 YHWH [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Ps 51:17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Also, see Isaiah 57:15 & 66:2
The association of calves, bulls, broken and contrite is paraphrased as follows. YWHW desires that in the absence of a temple and a temple sacrifice that by a broken heart and a contrite spirit one may bring an offering and draw near unto YHWH, and the offering will be given as from the calves (bulls) which is the sacrifice coming from the fruit of our lips. Hebrews 13:15-16 is an extension of Hosea 14:2.……
Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving thanks to his name.
Hebrew 13:16 But to do good and to communicate (draw near) forget not: (call to remembrance) for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
We see Aaron burning incense …
Exodus 30:7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
Exodus 30:8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before YHWH throughout your generations.
Incense is strongly connected to prayers as we can see in Revelation 5:8
Now when He
had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And we see in Zacharias, according to the custom of the priesthood was to
burn incense when he went into the Temple of YHWH in the order
of his course of the twenty four courses of the priesthood.
Note: The twenty
four elders and the 24 priests are the same entity.
Luke 1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course
Luke 1:9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of YHWH.
Luke 1:10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
So everyone was involved at the set hour of prayer; as prayers, burning incense and sacrificial offerings were given unto YHWH. The people each contributed the temple tax of one half shekel toward the procurement of the daily sacrifices, and in this way were involved as a part of the total community of Israel.
Now what we also see going back to Numbers 28:9 &10 is not two, but four lambs being offered on the Sabbath. Everything was shut down and the sanctuary’s courts were a busy place on Sabbath, thus making His house function properly. As the double portion of manna was provided before the Sabbath, so are we are given greater capacity to receive the bread of spiritual truth—on the Sabbath.
The priesthood engaged in worship or service which is one and the same. To worship YHWH is to be engaged in a work of service. The works of service is referred to in the Apostolic Scriptures (N.T.) mostly by the word ministry, and as we minister to YHWH and to others we enter into worshipping YHWH.
Getting back to the third hour and the ninth hour the following terms have a symbiotic relationship.
THIRD HOUR- Morning sacrifice, rising of the sun NINTH HOUR -Evening sacrifice, setting of the sun.
You will see throughout the Scriptures that the time of prayer, answered prayer, burning of incense, works of service, visions, angelic visitations as well as miraculous occurrences are at the set times of the morning and evening sacrifices. Here are some of the occurrences.
1Kings 18:29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the [time] of the offering of the [evening] sacrifice, that [there was] neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
1Kings 18:36 And it came to pass at [the time of] the offering of the [evening] sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, YHWH God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou [art] God in Israel, and [that] I [am] thy servant, and [that] I have done all these things at thy word.
2Chron 2:4 Behold, I build an house to the name of YHWH my God, to dedicate [it] to him, [and] to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of YHWH our God. This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel.
Daniel 9:21 Yea, whiles I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
Psalm 69:13 But as for me, my prayer [is] unto thee, YHWH, [in] an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
Luke 1:11 An angel of YHWH standing on the right side of the altar of incense at the set time of the morning sacrifice as people were standing praying
Acts: 2:15 The pouring out of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) at the third hour
Acts 2:42 The people adhering to the apostles in the teaching of fellowship, breaking bread and prayer
Acts 3:1 Peter and John going to the temple at the set time of prayer, the ninth hour
Acts 4:31 Filled with the Ruach at the time of prayer
Acts 10:3 & 30 Cornelius saw an angel in a vision at the ninth hour while he was praying.
Acts 10:9 Peter goes to the roof to pray at the sixth hour. This would be about noon. This was not an appointed time, nor would Peter have considered it as one of YHWH’s set times, but it was a prayer of spontaneous communication with YHWH, and there was and is no prohibition against this. Daniel got on his knees and blessed YHWH three times a day and prayed. Note: Bless and kneel or kneeling is the same Hebrew word.
Acts 22:17 Paul praying in the temple at a set time when he was in a trance.
Acts 24:11 Paul going up to Jerusalem to worship (work of service)
Several others……1Chron 16:40, 2Chron13:11, Ezra3:3, 9:5, Psalms55:17
The apostles and men of faith had a responsibility to function and come together at the set times of prayer not as a means to sacrifice, but to offer their prayers to God as incense.
As Paul says in Romans 12: I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. His mercies are displayed IN each of the morning and evening sacrifices.
Lam 3:22 [It is of] YHWH'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Lam 3:23 [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness.
Yeshua was and is our Passover sacrifice. At the third hour He was nailed to the tree as the suffering servant, and He gave up His Spirit at the ninth hour and will return as the conquering king, according to the prophets of old, and the Word of God.
Some liturgy contained within the Siddur (order) are read at the set times. It is to our benefit to get the heart of the Siddur, but also to grasp the historic understanding of the responsibility to pray at these set times. Here is the first prayer of two such prayers.
May it be your will Hashem (The Name) our God, the God of our forefathers, that this recital be worthy and acceptable and favorable before you as if we had offered the continual offering in its set time, in its place according to its requirements.
The other repeats some of the same things but goes into further depth, and it says. Master of the worlds, you commanded us to bring the continual offering at its set time that the Priests were to be at their assigned service, the Levites on their platform, and the Israelites at their station, but now through our sins the holy temple has been destroyed, the continual offering has been discontinued and we neither have Priests at their service, or Levite on his platform nor Israelite at his station, but you said let our lips compensate for the bulls, therefore may it be your will Adonai our God, the God of our forefathers that the prayer of our lips be worthy and acceptable and favorable before you as if we had brought the continual offering at its set time and we had stood at its station.
The entire reason as well as the methods being employed in the sacrificial process is to demonstrate to us how we are to repent as we draw near unto God. In essence, when a man comes to bring a burnt offering he is really bringing himself. He is supposed to be coming to slay himself before YHWH, to repent before Him, to present a proper atonement, it is intended to be a thing of the heart, and this is the real essence of what really is being said here. As a man comes before YHWH he is to diminish himself, to humble himself with a repentance down deep within his soul, into his innermost parts. This is when God creates within his heart the real temple with the real furnishings, and walks within himself into the real temple of God, where we can worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Praising, Petitioning and Thanksgiving to YHWH are the three main pillars in our continued bonding with God, but the most important thing is stopping whatever you are doing and getting into the discipline to communicate and bond with YHWH. It is difficult for us in this world to do so, especially in the midst of the day when most of us are working at our jobs. We are considered at present to be in exile, away from the Holy City of God having been cast into the nations, and subjected to living under conditions that will not be present once Messiah Yeshua comes to rule and reign. In the meantime, He has provided a way for us to be as observant as we possibly can until the temple and the priesthood is re-instituted in the millennial reign with Yeshua as our King. YHWH understands our predicament; even so we should try to set a couple of times a day at a pre-assigned time as best we can to bond with our Creator, even if we can only devote five to ten minutes to start with. He will work it out for each of us as He adds the increase, for He is our loving Father.
Shaalu Shalom Yahrushalayim
Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem