WALTER C. KAISER JR.

I WILL LIFT MY EYES UNTO THE HILLS

learning from the great prayers of the old testament

I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old Testament

© 2015 by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

First edition by Weaver Book Company

All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations noted as NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Print ISBN 9781683591825

Digital ISBN 9781683591832

Cover design: Frank Gutbrod

Editorial:

{In a Word} www.inawordbooks.com

/edited by Rick Matt/

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 The Prayer of Abraham

for a Wicked City

2 The Prayer of Moses

for Pardon for Israel

3 The Prayer of Hannah

in Thanksgiving for Her Son

4 The Prayer of David

in Thanks to God for His Dynasty

5 The Prayer of Solomon

for a Listening Heart

6 The Prayer of Solomon

at the Dedication of the Temple

7 The Prayer of Jonah

in Thanksgiving for His Rescue from Drowning

8 The Prayer of Hezekiah

for Dealing with an Arrogant Enemy

9 The Prayer of Nehemiah

in a Time of Distress

10 The Prayer of Ezra

for Confession of Corporate Sin

11 The Prayer of Daniel

in Confession of National Sin

Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

Scripture Index

INTRODUCTION

THE POWER AND VALUE OF PRAYER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Prayer has always been the way God has chosen to show himself strong on behalf of those who called upon him. Thus it happened that when the sermons of a certain man of God seemed to be most effective in the conversion of many new believers in one local church, it became known to him and to others that these conversions were not the direct result of his preaching. Instead, while God certainly used the man’s preaching to bring many souls to Christ, the conversions also were influenced by the prayers of a faithful lay person who pleaded with God for the success of the preaching of the Word of God in that particular setting—and many responded to the call to faith. So it may be revealed in the Final Day that all the honor and praise for the supposed accomplishments of many whom we had thought were responsible for such success may not belong to them alone. Rather, the honor will belong as well to those who held up the arms of God’s workers in constant and faith-believing prayer.

It is a rather remarkable feature of prayer that so many who are not themselves believers, or are backslidden in the work of prayer, have such faith in others whom they ...