In the religious life of the biblical communities, as in that of the churches of today, prayer was both individual and corporate. Although the biblical worshiper always approaches the Lord as a member of a larger covenanted community, there is a distinction between prayer in general and prayer set in the context of acts of corporate worship. Because prayer is a pervasive posture and activity in the Christian life, the subject of prayer is a comprehensive one; the following discussions are confined largely to prayer as a part of the worship of the gathered community. Prayers of intercession are petitions offered to the Lord on behalf of others: people in special personal need; those who bear particular responsibility for the welfare of others, such as leaders of church and state; the many concerns and issues affecting the church, local and universal; and the larger community of the nation and the world.
Intercession in Israelite Worship
If prayer can be broadly understood as calling on the Lord or crying out to God, the Bible contains many prayers and much material of a prayerlike nature, ranging from the appeals of the psalmists to the complaints of Moses and Jeremiah. It is striking, however, to discover that in biblical prayer the note of intercession is seldom sounded; the speaker often appeals to the Lord on his or her own behalf but rarely for other people and almost never in the context of corporate prayer in the worship of the assembled community.
The book of Psalms (the first half of which is called “the prayers of David son of Jesse,” Ps. 72:20) is no exception to this rule, despite their use in the worship of the gathered community. If the speaker in the Psalms is frequently the king, calling out to Yahweh as representative of the people, then the Psalms may have the effect of intercession on the nation’s behalf. The intercessory form, however, is rarely used. In a few instances, the speaker prays for the king (Pss. 20:1–5; 72:1–17); even here the words constitute more of a blessing than an intercession. In Psalm 122, worshipers are urged to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” and are given the words to say (Ps. 122:6–9). When the speaker prays for the people as a whole, he does so as one of the people (Pss. 90:13–17; 144:12–15) rather than as one interceding for a third party. The psalmists know the Lord’s concern for the needy, oppressed, and defenseless, but rather than intercede for them they celebrate what the Lord has already done in his providence and justice (Pss. 107; 146:7–9; 147:2–6).
The Israelite priesthood performed an intercessory function in officiating in the sanctuary worship. The priest was to “make atonement” for the worshiper in bringing his or her sacrifice before the Lord (Lev. 4–7), and the high priest performed special acts of intercession on the Day of Atonement. Although the sacrificial offerings themselves were considered the principal vehicle of intercession (Lev. 6:30), they might be accompanied by prayer calling upon the Lord to have mercy on the people. Thus Samuel interceded for Israel during a period of warfare against the Philistines; offering a lamb as a whole burnt offering, he “cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him” (1 Sam. 7:9). Evidently, Job also was understood to have been something of a priestly intercessor; Yahweh instructs Job’s friends to offer up burnt offerings for themselves and says, “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly” (Job 42:8).
The prophets, as mediators of the covenant between the Lord and Israel, may intercede for the people, especially that the Lord’s judgment may not overtake them because of their unfaithfulness. Moses is the paradigm of the prophetic intercessor, appealing to Yahweh on the basis of his promises to the Hebrew patriarchs (Exod. 32:11–13; 31–32; cf. Num. 21:7). Amos intercedes for the nation in a similar manner (Amos 7:2, 5). Jeremiah’s words to the people during the last days of the kingdom of Judah highlight the customary role of prophets as intercessors on behalf of the community: “If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty” (Jer. 27:18). King Zedekiah himself sent to Jeremiah, asking him to intercede for the nation (Jer. 37:3). Although the prophetic intercessions are not liturgical acts in a corporate setting, the relationship of the prophets to the sanctuary and to the renewal and maintenance of Israel’s covenant with Yahweh places such acts within the broader framework of worship.
In the Old Testament, the magnificent exception to the general absence of intercessory liturgical prayer is the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple (2 Chron. 6:14–42). The king intercedes with the Lord on behalf of those who may sin or on behalf of the nation should it experience defeat, drought, famine, pestilence, captivity, or another consequence of the Lord’s judgment. He even intercedes for the foreigner, that Yahweh might respond to his requests. The entire prayer is based on the understanding that difficulties encountered are the result of the Lord’s judgment on sin and that the deepest need of all people is the application of his forgiveness and covenant love: “Hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place; and when thou hearest, forgive” (2 Chron. 6:21 RSV).
Intercession in the New Testament
The New Testament does not record any intercessory prayers as specific acts of the church’s worship; there is no mention of corporate intercession, for example, in the various accounts of the Lord’s Supper. However, Jesus’ great prayer on the night of his arrest (John 17) is the intercession of the Lord on behalf of his disciples that they may be unified and protected from evil. While not a corporate prayer, it is a model of intercession with a liturgical stamp, and its setting on the night of the Last Supper (though John has omitted mention of the ordinance) places it in the context of early Christian worship. This prayer is often called Jesus’ “high priestly prayer,” a reminder that Jesus as the great High Priest (Heb. 4:14) continues to intercede for “those who come to God through him” (Heb. 7:25). There is a similar liturgical quality to Paul’s prayer at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, which begins in the form of Jewish brakhah or blessing (Eph. 1:3) and then moves into an intercessory mode (Eph. 1:15–19) as he prays that his readers will know the fullness of the Father’s glory and the greatness of their calling in Christ.
Intercessory prayer is encouraged in several places in the New Testament. James calls on the person who is ill to ask the elders of the church to pray for him, both for restoration and for the forgiveness of sin, and invites Christians to “pray for each other” (James 5:14–16). Paul, writing to the pastor Timothy, urges him to see that “requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority” (1 Tim. 2:1–2); such prayers are the response to God’s desire for “all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). In the Old Testament, an intercessor was one who stood in a special relationship of consecration to the Lord, as prophet, priest, or king. In the New Testament, all these roles are summed up in Christ and are conveyed also to his people in the community of the new covenant. Thus the church as a body is a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9) and a prophetic assembly (1 Cor. 14:1, 24–25) and assumes the intercessory role in corporate worship.
Prayers of Intercession in the Church
The ancient church incorporated acts of general prayer and intercession into its observance of the Lord’s Supper. Justin Martyr, writing in the middle of the second century, indicates that prayers “for all men everywhere” were included in the liturgy preceding the celebration of the Eucharist (Apology I, 65). Such prayers have continued as a regular part of Christian worship. Although for many centuries only the officiating clergy would offer prayers of intercession, the liturgical renewal movement in the traditional denominations has restored much of the ancient congregational participation. In some churches, a kind of “bidding” form is used, in which the leader invites worshipers to offer spontaneous prayers for various stated needs. At other times, the act of intercession may take the form of a litany or responsive prayer, as in this example from The Book of Common Prayer:
Father, we pray for your holy catholic church;
That we all may be one.
Grant that every member of the church may truly and humbly serve you,
That your name may be glorified by all people.
We pray for all bishops, priests, and deacons;
That they may be faithful ministers of your Word and sacraments.
Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake;
That our works may find favor in your sight.
Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble;
That they may be delivered from their distress.…
We praise you for your saints who have entered into joy;
May we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom. Let us pray for our own needs and those of others.
[Silence.]