The Gentile Question (Part 3)

 
PAUL’S GOSPEL FOR THE GENTILES..."IN CHRIST"
 
Although we read about Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (~ A.D. 30), he disappears from the Acts account until significant numbers of Gentiles start believing in Antioch (~ A.D. 42). When Paul arrives in Antioch, his teaching is different from the other apostles. Paul’s teaching contained in his letters, is a combination of his Pharisaic upbringing at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), his additional training for proselytizing the Gentile world, all overshadowed by the revelation he received directly from the Lord, “for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ,” (Gal 1:12).
 
Consistent with the Pharisees, Paul taught that salvation could only originate through the nation of Israel, as Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is from the Jews,” (John 4:22). Paul acknowledged to the Ephesians, without Israel, Gentiles were “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,” (Eph 2:12). Paul did not preach “universalism”, that is, a Gentile salvation path to God the Father apart from the nation of Israel. For Paul, Israel was the only path of salvation promised by God. To the Israelites “belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all,” (Rom 9:4).
 
Although Paul agreed with the Pharisees that salvation was through the promises given to Israel, he departed from their theology on how a Gentile could enter the nation of Israel. The Pharisee believed the only path to God was through the physical conversion to Judaism, to become a proselyte. This was in part due to the low view Pharisees held toward Gentiles. By tradition, Gentiles had rejected the Torah at Mount Sinai (Av. Zar.2b), and were largely motivated by their idolatry, moral laxity, and other such faults. Gentiles of the ancient world were largely idol worshipping, sometimes child sacrificing, pagans without a moral code of ethics derived from a knowledge of true God.
 
Paul’s view of Gentile salvation was different from the Pharisees based on a divine revelation he received from Christ Jesus that Paul saw confirmed in scripture. Paul called it, “the mystery of Christ” (Eph 3:4), that had been hidden in the past but now revealed “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” (Eph 3: 6). So unique was this revelation among the apostles that Paul referred to it in personal terms as “my gospel” (Rom 2:16, 16:25). For a brief time, Paul feared that he “might be running, or had run, in vain” (Gal 2:2), because his message was unique even among the apostles in Christ.
 
According to Paul, Gentiles had access to the promises of Israel through the Messiah. Jesus was the “Door” (John 10:9) and the “Way” (John 14:6), into the nation of Israel and the promises of the Fathers originally given to Abraham, (Gen 26:24). In Paul’s words, Jesus “broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments…so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man…and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross,” (Eph 2:14-15). Breaking down the wall simply meant that Gentiles had access to the promises of Israel through the Messiah without becoming Jews. Paul’s words do not argue for elimination or the invalidity of the Law, which sanctifies Jews from the nations of the world.
 
Paul’s approach to Gentile salvation was neither conversion to Judaism nor universal salvation independent from the nation of Israel. Using our modern vernacular, Paul’s gospel was a “hybrid” of the two approaches permitting a Gentile to remain, “In that condition he was called” (1 Cor 7:20). At the same time, Gentiles could be “adopted” (Eph 1:5) and “grafted” (Rom 11:17) into the olive tree of Israel and the promises of Abraham. Previously, salvation had been possible only for those people who were “in Israel”, a phrase often used in the Hebrew text for the collective nation and also used by Jesus (Matt 8:10).
 
Paul’s gospel held access to salvation for both the Jew and the Gentile as possible through the Messiah, “In Christ”, a phrase almost completely unique to the epistles of Paul. “In Christ” was Paul’s answer to how Gentiles could have access to the promises of Israel, “In Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles,” (Gal 3:14). According to Paul, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man…for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise,” (Gal 3:26-29). “In short, the Gentiles ‘in Christ’ had ceased to be strangers and foreigners and had become Israelites in the true sense” (Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, WD Davies, 1965, page 113) as Paul wrote, “In Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” (Eph 2:13), enabling the believer to obtain “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory,” (2 Tim 2:10).


(Next Part - Paul's Gospel in the Jewish World, Scott)

The Gentile Question (Part 2)

 
GO TO ALL THE NATIONS
 
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20)
 
The words Jesus spoke to the apostles before His ascension foreshadowed the plan of salvation for the Gentiles. Rather than simply a command to teach Jews in the Diaspora, which I have interpreted in the past, Jesus directed his disciples to “the nations”, a common biblical reference to the Gentiles, (Duet 32:8). Although the words of Jesus seem clear in hindsight, the apostles did not immediately take the gospel to the Gentiles. The focus of the apostles in the early years was directed toward the Jews in the nation of Israel fulfilling the approach of Paul, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” (Rom 1:16). Jesus had provided a similar gospel sequence, “in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth,” (Acts 1:8).


 
After the persecution of Stephen, the gospel spread to the Samaritans, but still not to “the nations.” Even Peter resisted intermingling with Gentiles until he received a vision from the LORD. When Peter returned from Cornelius’ house to Jerusalem, he was questioned extensively by those who had not received a similar vision. Although Peter pacified “those who were circumcised,” (Acts 11:2), telling them, “The Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15), the long-term status of Gentiles, remained unanswered in terms of their obligation to the commandments.
 
It is not clear what status “God-fearing” Gentiles like Cornelius held in the early church prior to Acts 15. Did the apostles consider Cornelius to be part of the greater assembly or were additional steps toward Judaism still required? A greater focus on Gentiles did not occur in Acts until “men of Cyprus and Cyrene…came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks…preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20-21), probably after A.D. 40, or up to ten years after the resurrection of Jesus.


 
(Next Part - Paul's Gospel For the Gentiles, Scott)

The Gentile Question (Part 1)

 
THE GENTILE QUESTION
 
I have procured one of Teresa’s books (Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, WD Davis, 1965), and it has offered some new insights on a fundamental misinterpretation of scripture. The argument between Paul and Peter had its roots in a Pharisaic debate almost two centuries old by the time Paul opposed Peter in Antioch, (Gal 2). The argument was not about “faith verses works”, as popular church theology suggests, but a question on how Gentiles had access to God the Father. Did Gentiles have there own path to God or was God only accessible through the nation of Israel?
 
As the gospel spread in the Book of Acts, salvation came to the Gentile world. The salvation of Gentiles had been foreshadowed from the time of Abraham, having been more clearly revealed during the days of the prophets. The apostles were not the first to read the words of Isaiah and understand the calling of Israel to be “A light to the nations” (Isa 49:6, 60:3), and foresee a future time when all the nations would stream to the mountain of the LORD, (Isa 2:2-4). The prophet Ezekiel seemed to speak of salvation only for Israel, but Jeremiah and Isaiah spoke of Israel as an instrument for the salvation of all the Gentile nations.
 
“Whereas in Jeremiah all the nations, even those hostile to Israel, would finally be converted to the true faith, in Ezekiel no hope is extended to them. While for Jeremiah the Israel of God will be the instrument of saving others, in Ezekiel it is itself saved to the exclusion of others. In the subsequent centuries Judaism has representatives of both these attitudes…According to the great prophet of the Exile (Isaiah), through the instrumentality of the ‘Israel’ of God all the nations are to be converted and included in the Messianic kingdom. Israel was given, not merely ‘to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel’, but also ‘to give light to the Gentiles to make God’s salvation known to the ends of the earth.’” (Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, WD Davies, 1965 Edition, page 60)
 
It should be no surprise that the Pharisees debated how Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles and what was the expected response of Gentiles to the light. In short, was Gentile redemption only possible by converting to Judaism as proselytes or did the Gentiles have a separate path to God the Father? The story of Jonah suggested an example where Gentiles could somehow be saved in their existing condition. Even Jesus reinforced this interpretation when He told some scribes and Pharisees, “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah,” (Matt 12:41).
 
The view that Gentiles could be saved apart from converting to Judaism was a form of “universalism” initially recognized by the Pharisees in the first and second centuries B.C., as it is written, “Open the gates that a righteous Gentile keeping faithfulness may enter,” (Isa 26:2). Although Gentiles could become righteous and have access to the nation of Israel, their righteousness was contingent on the Law, “Hence even a Gentile who obeys the Torah is the equal of the High Priest. (Sifra to xviii 5)”  As shown in the rejection of the Samaritans, “By the first century B.C., there is an almost complete absence of any expression of universalism” (ibid, page 62)
 
“With the belief in the ultimate salvation of the Gentiles it came to be recognized that the only hope for the latter was to become Jews, i.e., to be naturalized into the Jewish people, and it is this that accounts for the considerable activity shown in the gaining of proselytes…R. Eleazer of Modiim (A.D. 120-40) said that ‘God scattered Israel among the nations for the sole end that proselytes should wax numerous among them. (Pes 87b)’” (Everyman's Talmud, A Cohen, 1949, page 63)
 
By the first century, Jews viewed “the Dispersion” (John 7:35), as part of God’s plan for the salvation of the Gentile nations leading the scribes and Pharisees to “travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte,” (Matt 23:15). The pattern for making proselytes is based, in part, on the actions of Abraham. “We are told, Abraham made proselytes among the men and Sarah among the women, ‘And the souls that they had gotten in Haran’ (Gen 12:5)…’ Whoever brings a heathen near to God and converts him is as though he had created him’ (Gen. R. 39:14).” (ibid, page 64)  These words recorded in Genesis Rabbah reflect the attitude of the first century Pharisee.
 
“The most prominent of the advocates on behalf of proselytes was Hillel (100 B.C.–10 A.D.), whose maxim was: ‘Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow-creatures and drawing them near to the Torah’ (Aboth 1:12).” (ibid 65)
 
To achieve this objective, the Pharisees decided that it was acceptable to learn the Greek culture and Jews were “allowed to recite the Shema in Greek and likewise grace after meals and the Eighteen Benedictions. According to b. Sotah 49b, R Simeon b. Gamaliel II had 500 lads learning the wisdom of the Jews in his house and another 500 learning the wisdom of the Greeks.” (Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, page 6).  The apostle Paul was a product of his upbringing in a Greek town (Tarsus) and his Greek training under Gamiel the Elder, the grandfather of Gamaliel II, which made Paul especially adapt at taking the gospel to the Gentiles. This was all part of God’s plan, (Acts 9:15).
 
(Next Chapter - "Go to All the Nations" - Scott)

Let's Start Praying More (Part 18)

 
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: A BIBLICAL EXAMPLE
 

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matt 6:13)

 

God will test a person “that He might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chron 2:32), but temptation does not originate from God, “for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone,” (James 1:13). Often we think of Satan as the source of temptation.  He tempted Eve in the garden, Jesus after He came out of the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11), and Paul feared for some of the Thessalonians, “that the tempter might have tempted you,” (1 Thess 3:5). The NIV took this position in translating the LORD'S prayer, “deliver us from the evil one.”

 

The Jewish perspective would more often be “deliver us from the evil inclination,” that is, our own sinful nature found in the flesh. James appears to adopt this view writing, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it bring forth death,” (James 1:14-15).

 

The truth resides in a combination of the two. Our evil inclination (the flesh) is always fighting against the spirit within us. Sometimes, maybe often, that evil inclination is strengthened by spiritual forces that seek to destroy us and plan that God has for us. The good news, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation,” (2 Pet 2:9).

 

The believer is protected from temptation by a combination of instruction and intervention. Through the word we are instructed to flee from temptation (1 Cor 6:18) and take other steps that will reduce the temptation within us, (1 Cor 7:5)(Job 31:1). The primary protection against temptation is through prayer. In the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of the crucifixion Jesus told His disciples,

 

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” (Matt 26:41).

 

During that night, scripture tells us that Jesus prayed three times (Matt 26:44). On the same night prior to these three prayers, Jesus prayed the prayer recorded in John chapter 17 and then crossed the Kidron valley with the disciples to reach the Garden of Gethsemane, (John 18:1). Four prayers on the night of His betrayal strengthened Jesus so that He could endure the cross, as the Hebrew writer wrote, “For the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” (Heb 12:2).

 

In the account of Luke, Jesus twice told His disciples to “Pray that you may not enter into temptation,” (Luke 22:40, 22:46). Scripture does not give us any indication that any of the three with Jesus; Peter, James, and John, prayed on the night before the crucifixion.  Each time Jesus returned from praying He found them asleep. Peter should have been motivated to pray after he received a warning from Jesus at the Passover dinner earlier in the same night, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat,” (Luke 22:31).

 

When they came to arrest Jesus, all of His disciples ran away, (Matt 26:56). One ran away naked (Mark 14:52), which may have been John who recorded this warning in the Book of Revelations, “I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keep his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame,” (Rev 16:15). The later part of John's words sounds like a recounting of the night in the Garden.  History records that Jesus prayed three times while Peter denied the Master three times “and went out and wept bitterly,” (Matt 26:75).

 

Through prayer, Jesus was prepared for the coming trials of the cross and He overcame the temptation to call twelve legions of angels, (Matt 26:53). Without prayer, Peter, John, and James were counted among those who ran away during the arrest of Jesus. The notable difference in the two outcomes, Jesus prayed and the disciples did not. The lesson to every believer, pray often for the LORD to “deliver us from evil.” (I credit the previous example to the discussion of our Sunday Bible study group at FEFC.)

 
(The End of this Dusty Disciple EntrySubject - Now Let's Start Praying More and More and More) 

Let's Start Praying More (Part 17)

 
RELATIONSHIP HINDRANCES TO EFFECTIVE PRAYER
 

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Pet 3:7)

 

A problem in our relationships can impact the effectiveness of a believer’s prayer. Peter speaks of a poor relationship with our spouse that can hinder our prayers, but our prayers can also be hindered by a problem in our relationship with brothers and sisters in the faith. When discussing the offering at the temple, Jesus said,

 

“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matt 5:23-24)

 

The words of Jesus imply that an offering will be negated or disqualified if the relationship with a brother remains wounded. In other words, the believer cannot expect the LORD to look favorably on our offering when we remain at odds with our brethren. Since the temple offering was often equated to prayer (Hosea 14:2), we would expect the same principal to apply. In both offering and prayer, the believer stands before the mercy seat of the LORD and he must do so with “clean hands and a pure heart,” (Psa 24:24).

 

“It was also advised: ‘Anyone whose mind is not at rest should not pray’ (Erub. 65a); ‘A man should always examine himself (before offering prayer); if he can direct his heart (to God), let him pray, otherwise he should not pray’ (Ber. 30b).” (Everyman's Talmud, page 86)

 

In the Lord’s Prayer, we see personal forgiveness dependent on our forgiveness of another, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” (Matt 6:12). This passage is shortly followed by “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions,” (Matt 6:15). The Lord's Prayer follows the biblical principle of “measure for measure” (Ex 21:24).  Our relationship with another impacts our relationship with the LORD. Therefore, we could conclude that not only the relationship of a husband and wife, but any relationship where transgression or injury exists can be detrimental to a person’s prayer life. To paraphrase the words of John, a person cannot say he loves and prays to God, who he has not seen, while at the same time he hates his brother who he has seen, (1 John 4:20).

(Final Part Next - Lead Us Not Into Temptation) = Scott

Let's Start Praying More (Part 16)

Persistence In Prayer (Continued) (2) Direction:
 

In addition to frequency, we are told that Daniel “had windows open toward Jerusalem”. The direction of Daniel’s prayer is based on the words of Solomon at the dedication of the temple.

 

“When the heavens are shut up and there is not rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk...” (1 Kings 8:35-39)

 

The LORD responded to the petition of Solomon saying, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is not rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place…My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” (2 Chron 7:12-16).

 

For this reason, all synagogues are oriented toward Jerusalem and the typical Jewish believer prays toward Jerusalem. The Greek text might not reference the direction or frequency that Jesus or the apostles prayed, but we can surmise that all followed the pattern of the Spirit inspired cloud of prophets and witnesses that followed before. After all, Jesus calls the temple in Jerusalem, “A house of prayer for all the nations,” (Matt 21:13)(Isa 56:7).

 

Whereas synagogues normally face toward the temple, churches and most believers have no such orientation. Is direction really a concern?  If we believe that greater effort results in greater reward in the physical world, how much more should we attempt to mirror the image of Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets in our prayers before God the Father.

 

While standing is often the form Jews take at the Western Wall or when praying the daily Amidah, the Bible records many various positions for praying. “People prayed standing (Gen 24:12-14), lifting up their hands (1 Tim 2:8), sitting (Jud 20:26), kneeling (Mark 1:40), looking upward (John 17:1), bowing down (Ex 34:8), placing their heads between their knees (1 Kings 18:42), pounding on their breasts (Luke 18:13), and facing the temple (Dan 6:10)…wearing sackcloth (Ps 35:13), sitting in ashes (Job 1:20-21, 2:8), crying tears (Ps 6:6), tearing garments (1 Kings 21:27), fasting (Deut 9:18), sighing (Ezra 9:4-15), groaning (Psa 6:4-6), agonizing with broken hearts (Ps 34:18), and singing songs (Acts 16:25).” (Alone With God, John MacArthur, Jr., 1997 Edition, page 19)

 

God allows great flexibility in our form. What God desires is our prayers.

 
(Next - Relationship Hindrances) - Back in Austin, Scott

Let's Start Praying More (Part 15)

 
PERSISTANCE IN PRAYER
 

“It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune telling” (Acts 16:16)

 

Believers might find it surprising to classify prayer as an act of rebellion. The believer who prays is rebelling against the world and the ruler of this world, Satan. In effect, the believer is saying that he will not accept the status quo, but that he believes the world can and will be made better through the power of the Creator. In the words of John MacAuthur, “Because communion with God is so vital and prayer so effective in the fulfillment of God’s plan, the enemy attempts constantly to introduce errors into our understanding of and commitment to pray.” (Alone With God, John McArthur) 

 

All believers are in a war “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Eph 6:12). One of the great weapons in our battle against spiritual forces is prayer, (Dan 10:12-13). Therefore, we will be resisted as Paul and Silas were when they “were going to the place of prayer.” A demon possess girl “met” them, which implies that she went out of her way to disrupt the plans of Paul and Silas. So it is today in the believer’s prayer life. We are often hindered or distracted from praying. Sometimes we just do not feel worthy of having our prayers answered. This is not new and the writers of Exodus Rabba wrote to this concern saying,

 

“But no person should refrain from praying because he feels himself undeserving of a response; he should persevere with his prayer. ‘If a man sees that he prays and is not answered, he should repeat his prayer’ (Exod. R. 32b)’”

 

Jesus told his disciples a parable “to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,” (Luke 18:1).

 

“In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him saying, ‘Give me legal protection form my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.” (Luke 18:2-8)

 

Just as in many endeavors of life, persistence in prayer is important. Although God would never forget a word of our prayer, persistence is a demonstration of our faith (Luke 18:9); we believe that God both desires and is capable of answering our prayer. The Jewish sages sometimes say that God so much desires a relationship with us that an unanswered prayer can be equated to the father who does not quickly grant requests to his children because he enjoys their presence when they come to him with requests.

 

Persistence is seen in a believer's frequent and direction of their prayer.

(1) Frequency. The need for persistent prayer is echoed in the tradition of Jews praying three times a day, as the prophet Daniel prayed. “Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously,” (Dan 6:10)

 

Daniel prayed “three times a day,” which is a pattern repeated in scripture, although seven times a day is mentioned in Psalms 119:164. The Psalmist wrote, “Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice,” (Pas 55:17). Evening and morning prayers coincided with the two daily animal offerings, that occurred at the third hour and ninth hour of the day, (Acts 10:3). The prayer of Cornelius coincided with the afternoon offering, (Acts 10:3), while the answer to one of Daniel’s prayers came “about the time of the evening offering,” (Dan 9:21). Although advocated three times a day, prayer was not to be seen as an obligation, but as an opportunity for communion. “When you pray, regard not your prayer as a fixed task, but as an appeal for mercy and grace before the All-present. (Aboth II.18)

The daily offerings were “continuously” before the LORD (Ex 29:38), because one animal was always on the altar. The writer of Hebrews uses this understand to exhort believers to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name,” (Heb 13:15).  Paul drew on the standard of the Hebrew text when he wrote, "pray at all times” (Eph 6:18), “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:25), and be “devoted to prayer,” (Rom 12:12). In other words, anytime and all the time is the right time to pray.  In the words of the Encyclopaedia Judaica,

 

“The heart and not the hour dictated the occasion for prayer. Day and night the Heavenly Father could be entreated.” (Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Vol 16, page 457)

(Next Part - Is the direction we pray important?) - Scott