What is the post-exilic Israelites’ destiny? What should they have hoped for? How could they actualize their desired community? This book discusses the identity of the post-exilic Israelite community by focusing on the unique rhetorical impetus in the book of Chronicles. Chronicles suggests a picture of the desired future Israel. Yet, the Chronicler does not call for a new identity, creation ex nihilo, from the community but calls for the restoration of the Israelites’ past identity by reporting the history of Israel and Judah. The restoration of their past identity can be actualized when members of the community fulfill portrayed roles and characteristics in Chronicles: worshiping, monotheistic believing, and praying, and Davidic citizenship. Further, recorded prayer plays a crucial role as Chronicles persuades its readers to render or exhibit those roles and characteristics. Prayer invites the community members to participate so that they transform past prayers into their own prayers. By doing so, the prayer participants perceive portrayed roles and characteristics and change their attitude. By rendering and exhibiting desired roles and characteristics, they eventually hope for and actualize a better community, the liturgical community.

Substantial insights into various identity discourses reflected in the biblical prayers This collection of essays from an international group of scholars focuses on how biblical prayers of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods shaped identity, evoked a sense of belonging to specific groups, and added emotional significance to this affiliation. Contributors draw examples from different biblical texts, including Genesis, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Psalms, Jonah, and Daniel. Features Thorough study of prayers that play a key role for a biblical book’s (re)construction of the people’s history and identity An examination of ways biblical figures are remodeled by their prayers by introducing other, sometimes even contradictory, discourses on identity An exploration of different ways in which psalms from postexilic times shaped, reflected, and modified identity discourses

Prayer is a major topic within Christian theology. The biblical text has various references to various recorded and reported prayers. In fact, references to prayer are found within the rich diversity of the various books, corpora and genres of Scripture. As can be expected, much has been written about prayer in the biblical text. However, a comprehensive Biblical Theology dealing with the concept of prayer in Scripture has not been published before, and this book intends to fill this gap, assuming that such an approach can provide a valuable contribution to the theological discourse on prayer and related concepts. This book aims to investigate prayer and its related elements – including worship, praise, thanksgiving, adoration, petition, intercession, lament and confession – in the Old Testament on a book-by-book or corpus-by-corpus basis. The investigation follows a Biblical Theological approach, reading the Old Testament on a book-by-book basis in its final form to uncover the Old Testament’s overarching theology of prayer, understanding the parts in relation to the whole. By doing this, the discrete nuances of the prayers of the different Old Testament books and corpora can be uncovered, letting the books and corpora speak for themselves. In addition, the advantage of this approach is that it provides findings that can benefit the modern Christian community and contribute to the practice of Reformed theology in Africa. This book is of significant value to scholars. It will inspire scholars to think about prayer and use the Bible as the major ‘prayer handbook’ in their spiritual lives.

The annual Review of Biblical Literature presents a selection of reviews of the most recent books in biblical studies and related fields, including topical monographs, multi-author volumes, reference works, commentaries, and dictionaries. RBL reviews German, French, Italian, and English books and offers reviews in those languages.

When we pray to our Abba, we are presenting a petition on our behalf or the behalf of another. It is a plea; not a demand. In our sincerity, the Father looks at our hearts. But what is it that we are trying to do? Are we asking for something, or are we trying to see if the Father is listening to us? Take a look at the book of Proverbs 28:9, it says, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." So, for all who say, the law is dead; do you think your prayer is being heard? Go to 1 Kings 8:27-29, David wanted to build the Father a temple; but the Father told him no, someone from your loins would build it. Solomon builds the temple, and he is dedicating it. It reads, "But will ELOHIM indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" Verse 28, "Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O YAHUAH my EL, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:" Verse 29, "That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.' So, when we pray; we always pray towards Jerusalem. The reason why is because the Father placed his name there; this is where the temple was built, and the Father's eye would be on it night and day. Let us stay in the same book, and chapter; but go down to verse 38, it reads, "What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:" This is an instruction on how to pray correctly. There is a right and wrong way to do anything; although we know that in a time that we cannot pray properly; YAHUAH will hear us. However, if it is possible; there is a proper way of doing it. What is going on in verse 38 is; it is being explained how we should do it. Not only are we to face toward Jerusalem; we are to stretch out our arms. Let us look at what Solomon did in verse 22-23, it reads, "And Solomon stood before the altar of the YAHUAH in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven:" Verse 23, " And he said, YAHUAH ELOHIM of Israel, there is no ELOHIM like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:" Abba knows our hearts; He really does; it is evil from its youth, but those who walk before Him; properly, and do the things that He requires of us. He also knows that heart as well. After the temple was built, Solomon was praying to the Father in the presence of the Elders of Israel. He is explaining in this pray and instructions; that we are to pay towards the temple; forever. Go to 1 Kings 9:3, it reads, "And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." There is so much more for you inside this book; click the buy now button and learn more.

This book was awarded the 2006 R. B. Y. Scott award, which is awarded annually by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies in recognition of an outstanding book in the areas of Hebrew Bible and/or the Ancient Near East written by a member of the CSBS. Kalimi catalogues and categorizes the techniques by which the Israelite history in Samuel—Kings is reshaped in the biblical books of Chronicles. The chapters of this study consider the various historiographical and literary changes found in the parallel texts of Chronicles. Because about half of the material in Chronicles is available to us in other biblical sources, comparison of the literary and linguistic devices used by the Chronicler is very revealing. Kalimi considers the ways in which the Chronicler has edited the material available to him, addressing such topics as: literary-chronological proximity, historiographical revision, completions and additions, various kinds of parallelism and literary devices, and so on. A handy compendium of the ways in which the Chronicler treated his material by one of the premier scholars working in the field.