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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Matthew 6:7 - 6:7
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Use not vain repetitions - Μη βαττολογησητε, Suidas explains this word well: “πολυλογια, much speaking, from one Battus, who made very prolix hymns, in which the same idea frequently recurred.” “A frequent repetition of awful and striking words may often be the result of earnestness and fervor. See Daniel 9:3-20; but great length of prayer, which will of course involve much sameness and idle repetition, naturally creates fatigue and carelessness in the worshipper, and seems to suppose ignorance or inattention in the Deity; a fault against which our Lord more particularly wishes to secure them.” See Mat 6:8. This judicious note is from the late Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, who illustrates it with the following quotation from the Heautontimorumenos of Terence:
Ohe! jam decine Deos, uxor, gratulando Obtundere,
Tuam esse inventam gnatam: nisi illos ex Tuo Ingenio judicas,
Ut nil credas Intelligere, nisi idem Dictum Sit Centies
“Pray thee, wife, cease from Stunning the gods with thanksgivings, because thy child is in safety; unless thou judgest of them from thyself, that they cannot Understand a thing, unless they are told of it a Hundred Times.” Heaut. ver. 880.
Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. The eloquence of prayer consists in the fervency of desire, and the simplicity of faith. The abundance of fine thoughts, studied and vehement motions, and the order and politeness of the expressions, are things which compose a mere human harangue, not an humble and Christian prayer. Our trust and confidence ought to proceed from that which God is able to do in us, and not from that which we can say to him. It is abominable, says the Hedayah, that a person offering up prayers to God, should say, “I beseech thee, by the glory of thy heavens!” or, “by the splendor of thy throne!” for a style of this nature would lead to suspect that the Almighty derived glory from the heavens; whereas the heavens are created, but God with all his attributes is eternal and inimitable. Hedayah, vol. iv. p. 121.
This is the sentiment of a Mohammedan; and yet for this vain repetition the Mohammedans are peculiarly remarkable; they often use such words as the following: -
O God, O God, O God, O God! -
O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord! -
O living, O immortal, O living, O immortal,
O living, O immortal, O living, O immortal! -
O Creator of the heavens and the earth! -
O thou who art endowed with majesty and authority!
O wonderful, etc.
I have extracted the above from a form of prayer used by Tippo Sahib, which I met with in a book of devotion in which there were several prayers written with his own hand, and signed with his own name.
Of this vain repetition in civil matters, among the Jews, many instances might be given, and not a few examples might be found among Christians. The heathens abounded with them: see several quoted by Lightfoot. -
Let the parricide be dragged!
We beseech thee, Augustus, let the parricide be dragged!
This is the thing we ask, let the parricide be dragged!
Hear us, Caesar; let the false accusers be cast to the lion!
Hear us, Caesar, let the false accusers be condemned to the lion!
Hear us, Caesar, etc.
It was a maxim among the Jews, that “he who multiplies prayer, must be heard.”
This is correct, if it only imply perseverance in supplication; but if it be used to signify the multiplying of words, or even forms of prayer, it will necessarily produce the evil which our Lord reprehends: Be not as the heathen - use not vain repetition, etc. Even the Christian Churches in India have copied this vain repetition work; and in it the Roman Catholic, the Armenian, and the Greek Churches strive to excel.
As the heathen - The Vatican MS. reads υποκριται, like the hypocrites. Unmeaning words, useless repetitions, and complimentary phrases in prayer, are in general the result of heathenism, hypocrisy, or ignorance.