Welcome back to The Moral Vision of Jesus Christ, a Gospel study. If you're new here, and you want to know what's going on, start over from the beginning by following this link. If you're not the link-following type, then suffice it to say that this will be the largest, most comprehensive Gospel study to have ever been written in history, and that, by the end of it, we will know everything that there is to know about my absolute favorite historical figure, Jesus Christ.
Remember that we are currently, and have been for some time, studying Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount," the longest and most focused collection of his moral prescriptions that exists. The Sermon on the Mount does more to define Christ's philosophy and world-view than does any other extant ancient text, and, for the discerning historian, serves as the baseline or the bedrock from which everything else Christian grows.
Without further delay, let's see what's next in the Sermon, shall we?
Matthew 6:7 through 6:8
7 In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
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You'll recall that in Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus told his followers not to pine for attention and human accolade through the act of prayer, instead advising his followers to pray in secret, in their bedrooms. This followed closely the theme of the previous four verses, in which he advised his followers not to seek worldly glory for almsgiving and "righteous deeds." Today, in verses 6:7-8, Jesus deviates slightly from the trajectory of the last six verses, and becomes more specific about how his followers ought to pray. In order to get underneath this reading, first we need to look at some of the original Koine Greek behind the English we have before us. Then, for the meat of our study today, we'll look at the nature of pagan prayer in the ancient world for context on this "babble like the pagans" phrase. Continuing next time we meet, as Jesus introduces "The Lord's Prayer," we'll look at Jewish prayer customs as they existed in ancient times, and try to draw some conclusions regarding what Jesus thought about prayer generally.
Anecdotally, I will take this opportunity to tell dear reader a little about my prayer preferences. Personally, I often say "The Lord's Prayer" the way my parents taught it to me when I was a boy. I also say "The Jesus Prayer" like a mantra. The Jesus Prayer is one of the oldest extant Christian prayers, and it soothes me during good times and trying times. I sometimes say it over and over and over again until the words start to lose their wordiness and become more like unrelated nonsense syllables. The Jesus Prayer reads as follows:
Anecdotally, I will take this opportunity to tell dear reader a little about my prayer preferences. Personally, I often say "The Lord's Prayer" the way my parents taught it to me when I was a boy. I also say "The Jesus Prayer" like a mantra. The Jesus Prayer is one of the oldest extant Christian prayers, and it soothes me during good times and trying times. I sometimes say it over and over and over again until the words start to lose their wordiness and become more like unrelated nonsense syllables. The Jesus Prayer reads as follows:
Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
There is evidence of The Jesus Prayer's popularity among the Desert Fathers, a loose group of Third-Century Christian ascetic-hermit-monks who lived in virtual solitude in the deserts of Egypt. I think I was initially drawn to The Jesus Prayer upon learning about these Desert Fathers and their preference for it. We will find more time to talk about The Jesus Prayer and the Desert Fathers later. I just thought this the time to disclose my prayer preferences.
Now let's get Greek.*
Now let's get Greek.*
Some Koine Greek Terms
We've already looked at the Greek counterparts to a couple of the critical words in today's reading. The word "pagans" is being translated from the plural of the Greek word "ethnikos," which we discussed here, and the word "Father" we arrive at from the Greek word "patér," discussion of which can be found by following the same link.
Terms that are new and interesting to us today are "praying," "babble," and "many words." We will take them in that order.
The word "praying," here, is translated from the present participle of the Koine Greek "proseuchomai" which means "to pray," "to vow," "to offer prayers," "to worship," or "to pray for a thing." This term can be found in a myriad of ancient Greek texts, including in "Histories," by our old friend Herodotus. As promised, we will endeavor to understand the meaning of "prayer" to ancient Greeks like Herodotus shortly.
The Greek word that was translated into "babble" here is a form of the term "battalogeó." In other Bible translations, this word comes out as "say meaningless things," "use vain repetitions," "use meaningless repetitions," or "babble repetitiously." It could also be translated as "to stammer" or "to speak idly." The interesting thing about this word is that scholars aren't sure exactly how it originated. It may have been onomatopoeic, meaning that it literally sounds like the kind of babbling that it describes. Alternatively, it may have been synthesized from the Aramaic word for "idleness" and the Aramaic verb for "to say." It may even have been derived from the name Battus, after Battus I of Cyrene, a Seventh Century BC Greek king remembered for, among other things, a childhood speech impediment. This word occurs only one single time in the entirety of the Bible.
This concludes today's short Greek lesson. Now, let's take a look at the nature of prayer in the ancient pagan world.
Prayer Among the Ancient Pagans
As we've noted many times over, the religions of the ancient world were all extremely similar in their form and execution. From Greece to Rome to Egypt to Babylonia, people of the ancient world shared religious systems that were so similar to one another that, today, we commonly lump them all together into one word: paganism. Aspects these ancient religious systems generally had in common were A) the belief in multiple, if not many, deities, B) the worship of these deities at temples, sanctuaries, or holy places specifically dedicated to particular deities, and C) the transactional practice of some sort of sacrifice to said deities in exchange for worldly favors.
Whereas we tend, today, to think of religions as systems of morality, ancient religions did not prescribe morality. The ancient Gods were disinterested in who you had intercourse with, whether or not you stole something from your neighbor, or whether or not you commonly lied in business. The ancient Gods were mostly just interested in what you could give them, especially in the way of delicious smelling barbecues.
Prayer has existed as long as the fear and worship of gods has existed. The basic shape of prayer has not changed over the millenia. In its origin, prayer was a one-sided conversation with a deity meant to garner some divine favor for the individual offering the prayer. One could argue that most prayer today, even in our modern monotheistic religions, remains the same.
Many examples of ancient pagan prayer remain extant, either carved in stone or some such near-permanent medium, or passed down through ancient writings. The easiest way for us to access the world of ancient pagan prayer is for us to read some of these historical prayers. To start, let us look at an example of an ancient Greek prayer found in Homer's The Iliad, Book 1. In this prayer, Chryses, a priest from a Trojan-allied town that has just been sacked by the Achaean army - led by Agamemnon - is praying for divine retribution to be rained down upon his Achaean enemies. Chryses calls for this retribution because his daughter has been taken by Agamemnon as a prize, and Agamemnon has rejected Chryses' offer of a massive ransom for her return. The texts reads:
Another example of ancient Greek prayer, from an inscription carved in Second Century Phrygia, reads as follows:
Whereas we tend, today, to think of religions as systems of morality, ancient religions did not prescribe morality. The ancient Gods were disinterested in who you had intercourse with, whether or not you stole something from your neighbor, or whether or not you commonly lied in business. The ancient Gods were mostly just interested in what you could give them, especially in the way of delicious smelling barbecues.
Prayer has existed as long as the fear and worship of gods has existed. The basic shape of prayer has not changed over the millenia. In its origin, prayer was a one-sided conversation with a deity meant to garner some divine favor for the individual offering the prayer. One could argue that most prayer today, even in our modern monotheistic religions, remains the same.
Many examples of ancient pagan prayer remain extant, either carved in stone or some such near-permanent medium, or passed down through ancient writings. The easiest way for us to access the world of ancient pagan prayer is for us to read some of these historical prayers. To start, let us look at an example of an ancient Greek prayer found in Homer's The Iliad, Book 1. In this prayer, Chryses, a priest from a Trojan-allied town that has just been sacked by the Achaean army - led by Agamemnon - is praying for divine retribution to be rained down upon his Achaean enemies. Chryses calls for this retribution because his daughter has been taken by Agamemnon as a prize, and Agamemnon has rejected Chryses' offer of a massive ransom for her return. The texts reads:
"Hear me, god of the silver bow, who stand over Chryse and holy Cilla, and rule mightily over Tenedos, Sminthian god, if ever I roofed over a temple to your pleasing, or if ever I burned to you fat thigh-pieces of bulls and goats, fulfill this prayer for me: let the Danaans pay for my tears by your arrows.” So he spoke in prayer, and Phoebus Apollo heard him. Down from the peaks of Olympus [Apollo] strode...Later in The Iliad we find a similar prayer, uttered by Theano of Troy, daughter of King Cisseus, to the Goddess Minerva. The text (from a more poetic translation) reads:
"The priestess then the shining veil displays,Examples of such prayers abound in ancient Greek literature.
Placed on Minerva's knees, and thus she prays:
"Oh awful goddess! ever-dreadful maid,
Troy's strong defence, unconquer'd Pallas, aid!
Break thou Tydides' spear, and let him fall
Prone on the dust before the Trojan wall!
So twelve young heifers, guiltless of the yoke,
Shall fill thy temple with a grateful smoke.
But thou, atoned by penitence and prayer,
Ourselves, our infants, and our city spare!"
So pray'd the priestess in her holy fane;
So vow'd the matrons, but they vow'd in vain"
Another example of ancient Greek prayer, from an inscription carved in Second Century Phrygia, reads as follows:
"Zeus, wet the earth, that she become heavy with fruit and flower with ears of corn. This I, Metreodoros, beg of you, Zeus of Kronos, as I perform delightful sacrifice on your altars."Notice the economic or transactional nature of each of these prayers. All three prayers call attention to sacrifices made by, or promised by, the prayer him or herself. Chryses calls Apollo's attention to the work he has done erecting Apollo's temple, and to the many blood sacrifices he has made in Apollo's name over the years. He is calling on a bank of goodwill he has built up with Apollo. Theano promises a sacrifice of twelve premium heifers in exchange for Minerva's protection. Our Second Century Phrygian calls Zeus' attention to a sacrifice he is making at the time of the prayer. "Please accept this sacrifice in exchange for good farming weather," he pleads. As historian Mary Depew notes in her paper Reading Greek Prayers, from which we get two of these examples, "No [Greek] prayer is complete without a sacrifice or an offering."
It is also important to note that Greek prayers were not usually "formulaic." They were, more often than not, composed at the time of their offering by the prayer, and represented a personal, conversational interaction with the gods.
The Romans, to the contrary, did tend to use formulaic prayers, the precise recitation of which was imperative for the efficacy of the prayer. Livy, in his History of Rome, gives an example of this when he says that an entire religious festival had to be repeated because an official who had offered a prayer during the first festival had botched the thing by not offering the prayer perfectly. Livy writes:
"The Latin festival was celebrated on the third day before the nones of May; and because, on the offering of one of the victims, the magistrate of Lanuvium had not prayed for the ROMAN PEOPLE, THE QUIRITES, religious scruples were felt. When the matter was laid before the senate, and they referred it to the college of pontiffs, the latter determined that the Latin festival had not been duly performed, and must be repeated; and that the Lanuvians, on whose account they were repeated, should furnish the victims."As you can see, the Lavunians payed the price for their improperly executed prayer by having to supply the replacement "victims," or sacrificial animals, for the second-try-festival.
We find several examples of formulaic Roman prayer in a book written around 160 BC by Cato the Elder called De Agri Cultura. De Agri Cultura is the oldest extant complete work of Latin prose, and has been described as a "farmers notebook." Chapter 132 of De Agri Cultura consists of instructions for making an offering for the health of one's oxen. It reads as follows:
"The offering is to be made in this way: Offer to Jupiter Dapalis a cup of wine of any size you wish, observing the day as a holiday for the oxen, the teamsters, and those who make the offering. In making the offering use this formula: "Jupiter Dapalis, forasmuch as it is fitting that a cup of wine be offered thee, in my house and in the midst of my people, for thy sacred feast; and to that end, be thou honoured by the offering of this food." Wash the hands, then take the wine, and say: "Jupiter Dapalis, be thou honoured by the offering of thy feast, and be thou honoured by the wine placed before thee." You may make an offering to Vesta if you wish. Present it to Jupiter religiously, in the fitting form. The feast to Jupiter consists of roasted meat and an urn of wine. After the offering is made plant millet, panic grass, garlic, and lentils."Formulaic, indeed. Later, in Chapter 141, Cato explains how to make a prayer and sacrifice offering for the purification of one's land. He writes:
"The following is the formula for purifying land: Bidding the suovetaurilia** to be led around, use the words: "That with the good help of the gods success may crown our work, I bid thee, Manius, to take care to purify my farm, my land, my ground with this suovetaurilia, in whatever part thou thinkest best for them to be driven or carried around." Make a prayer with wine to Janus and Jupiter, and say: "Father Mars, I pray and beseech thee that thou be gracious and merciful to me, my house, and my household; to which intent I have bidden this suovetaurilia to be led around my land, my ground, my farm; that thou keep away, ward off, and remove sickness, seen and unseen, barrenness and destruction, ruin and unseasonable influence; and that thou permit my harvests, my grain, my vineyards, and my plantations to flourish and to come to good issue, preserve in health my shepherds and my flocks, and give good health and strength to me, my house, and my household. To this intent, to the intent of purifying my farm, my land, my ground, and of making an expiation, as I have said, deign to accept the offering of these suckling victims; Father Mars, to the same intent deign to accept the offering of these suckling offering." Also heap the cakes with the knife and see that the oblation cake be hard by, then present the victims. When you offer up the pig, the lamb, and the calf, use this formula: "To this intent deign to accept the offering of these victims." . . . If favourable omens are not obtained in response to all, speak thus: "Father Mars, if aught hath not pleased thee in the offering of those sucklings, I make atonement with these victims." If there is doubt about one or two, use these words: "Father Mars, inasmuch as thou wast not pleased by the offering of that pig, I make atonement with this pig."Fascinating.
So you can see here, as we've noted before, that both Greek and Roman prayer systems were transactional. The prayer offers something to a particular god or group of gods in exchange for some favor by the god or group of gods. You can also see the difference between the Greek and Roman style of prayer; the Greeks tended to make their prayers up as they went, while the Romans tended to recite specifically worded prayers in the midst of specifically designed ceremonies.
For Jesus' part, it is likely that he would have been familiar with both of these kinds of pagan prayer, and perhaps even others outside of the Greek and Roman systems. We can be all but certain that he would have been exposed more often to Roman prayer than any other form of pagan prayer, because of Rome's considerable and growing influence in the region of Palestine at that time. When Jesus says "do not babble like the pagans," then, the context of rote formulaic Roman prayers should come to mind. Perhaps we could read Jesus' words here as "don't go on and on, the way Cato the Elder taught."
That's all we need to know for today. Your takeaways are these:
- Pagan prayer was almost always transactional, meaning that it referred to some sacrifice to the gods that accompanied the prayer.
- The linguistic form of pagan prayer varied between pagan cultures.
- The Romans were a little OCD about the execution of their prayers and religious ceremonies.
- Cato the Elder is awesome.
Join us next week when we will look at the prayer habits of the ancient Jews, comparing and contrasting them with the prayer habits of the ancient pagans, as context for Jesus' words regarding prayer here in the Sermon on the Mount. Thank you for reading. Please share this writing.
Love.
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* No, not that way.
** Suovetaurilia - a traditional Roman sacrifice consisting of a sheep, a pig, and a bull.
** Suovetaurilia - a traditional Roman sacrifice consisting of a sheep, a pig, and a bull.
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To read what came prior to this, click here.
