Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
6. closet ] A private oratory or place of prayer. These were usually in the upper part of the house. The Greek word in the original is translated (1) “Secret Chambers,” ch. Mat 24:26; (2) “Storehouse,” Luk 12:24.
pray to thy Father which is in secret ] Christ was the first to enjoin clearly secret and silent prayer. Certainly to pray aloud and in public appears to have been the Jewish practice; it is still the practice with the heathen and Mahomedans. The Roman looked with suspicion on private prayer: “quod scire hominem nolunt deo narrant” (Seneca). Cp. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 59 62, where see Macleane’s note. Cp. also Soph. Electra, 638, where Clytemnestra apologises for offering up a secret prayer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Enter into thy closet – Every Jewish house had a place for secret devotion. The roofs of their houses were flat places, well adapted for walking, conversation, and meditation. See the notes at Mat 9:2. Professor Hackett (Illustrations of Scripture, p. 82) says: On the roof of the house in which I lodged at Damascus were chambers and rooms along the side and at the corners of the open space or terrace, which constitutes often a sort of upper story. I observed the same thing in connection with other houses. Over the porch, or entrance of the house, there was frequently a small room of the size of the porch, raised a story above the rest of the house, expressly appropriated for the place of retirement. Here, in secrecy and solitude, the pious Jew might offer his prayers, unseen by any but the Searcher of hearts. To this place, or to some similar place, our Saviour directed his disciples to repair when they wished to hold communion with God. This is the place commonly mentioned in the New Testament as the upper room, or the place for secret prayer.
The meaning of the Saviour is, that there should be some place where we may be in secret – where we may be alone with God. There should be some place to which we may resort where no ear will hear us but His ear, and no eye can see us but His eye. Unless there is such a place, secret prayer will not be long or strictly maintained. It is often said that we have no such place, and can secure none. We are away from home; we are traveling; we are among strangers; we are in stages and steamboats, and how can we find such places of retirement? I answer, the desire to pray, and the love of prayer, will create such places in abundance. The Saviour had all the difficulties which we can have, but yet he lived in the practice of secret prayer. To be alone, he rose up a great while before day, and went into a solitary place and prayed, Mar 1:35. With him a grove, a mountain, a garden, furnished such a place, and, though a traveler, and among strangers, and without a house, he lived in the habit of secret prayer. What excuse can they have for not praying who have a home, and who spend the precious hours of the morning in sleep, and who will practice no self-denial that they may be alone with God? O Christian! thy Saviour would have broken in upon these hours, and would have trod his solitary way to the mountain or the grove that he might pray. He did do it. He did it to pray for thee, too indolent and too unconcerned about thy own salvation and that of the world to practice the least self-denial in order to commune with God! How can religion live thus? How can such a soul be saved?
The Saviour does not specify the times when we should pray in secret. He does not say how often it should be done. The reasons may have been:
(1)That he designed that his religion should be voluntary, and there is not a better test of true piety than a disposition to engage often in secret prayer. He intended to leave it to his people to show attachment to him by coming to God often, and as often as they chose.
(2)An attempt to specify the times when this should be done would tend to make religion formal and heartless. Mohammed undertook to regulate this, and the consequence is a cold and formal prostration at the appointed hours of prayer all over the land where his religion has spread.
(3)The periods are so numerous, and the seasons for secret prayer vary so much, that it would nor be easy to fix rules when this should be done.
Yet without giving rules, where the Saviour has given none, we may suggest the following as times when secret prayer is proper:
1. In the morning. Nothing can be more appropriate when we have been preserved through the night, and when we are about to enter upon the duties and dangers of another day, than to render to our great Preserver thanks, and to commit ourselves to His fatherly care.
2. In the evening. When the day has closed, what would be more natural than to offer thanksgiving for the mercies of the day, and to implore forgiveness for what we have said or done amiss? And when about to lie down again to sleep, not knowing but it may be our last sleep and that we may awake in eternity, what more proper than to commend ourselves to the care of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps?
3. We should pray in times of embarrassment and perplexity. Such times occur in every mans life, and it is then a privilege and a duty to go to God and seek his direction. In the most difficult and embarrassed time of the American Revolution, Washington was seen to retire to a grove in the vicinity of the camp at Valley Forge. Curiosity led a man to observe him, and the father of his country was seen on his knees supplicating the God of hosts in prayer. Who can tell how much the liberty of this nation is owing to the answer to the secret prayer of Washington?
4. We should pray when we are beset with strong temptations. So the Saviour prayed in the garden of Gethsemane (compare Heb 5:7-8), and so we should pray when we are tempted.
5. We should pray when the Spirit prompts us to pray; when we feel lust like praying; when nothing can satisfy the soul but prayer. Such times occur in the life of every Christian, (and they are spring-times of piety – favorable gales to waft us on to heaven. Prayer to the Christian, at such times, is just as congenial as conversation with a friend when the bosom is filled with love; as the society of father, mother, sister, child is, when the heart glows with attachment; as the strains of sweet music are to the ear best attuned to the love of harmony; as the most exquisite poetry is to the heart enamored with the muses; and as the most delicious banquet is to the hungry.
Prayer, then, is the element of being – the breath the vital air; and, then, the Christian must and should pray. He is the most eminent Christian who is most favored with such strong emotions urging him to prayer. The heart is then full; the soul is tender; the sun of glory shines with unusual splendor; no cloud intervenes; the Christian rises above the world, and pants for glory. then we may go to be alone with God. We may enter the closet, and breathe forth our warm desires into his ever-open ear, and He who sees in secret will reward us openly.
In secret – Who is unseen.
Who seeth in secret – Who sees what the human eye cannot see; who sees the real designs and desires of the heart. Prayer should always be offered, remembering that God is acquainted with our real desires; and that it is those real desires, and not the words of prayer, that he will answer.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 6:6
Enter into thy closet.
Private prayer.
I. The nature of prayer.
II. The kind of prayer prescribed-Enter into thy closet.
III. The object of prayer Thy Father.
IV. The reward promised-Reward thee openly. (J. Pollock.)
Closet prayer
I. The duty.
II. The place.
III. The Spirit.
IV. The object.
V. The profit of prayer. (T. Whitelaw, M. A.)
The duty of secret prayer
To press this I offer the following motives:-
1. It is expressly commanded of God.
2. Are not the vows of God upon you for the performance of it?
3. Were ye not baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to worship them, and that in all parts of worship, of which prayer is a principal one?
4. Have not some of you been admitted to the Lords table, when ye professed to renew your baptismal engagements?
5. Have ye not secret sins, secret wants, and secret temptations? And shall ye not have secret prayers adapted to each? (Thomas Boston.)
Secret prayer
I. The duty of secret prayer. All the force of a command. It is more by example than by precept that this duty is enforced in Scripture. Is essential, because we have wants which can be presented before God in no other way. No times are specified for the performance of this duty.
II. The proper Mode and seasons of secret prayer. If possible, a place to which we may retire and be alone with God. Set times. The appropriate seasons-early morning, evening, times of perplexity, etc.
III. The rewards and advantages of secret prayer. Furnishes the best test of piety. What is the open reward? Are you obeying the command? (Dr. A. Barnes.)
Secret prayer
I. Directions.
1. The place. As solitary as possible.
2. The Being. He is in secret-invisible-omniscient. Realization of the Divine presence.
3. The spirit-filial.
II. Encouragements.
1. From the relation which He sustains.
2. From the prerogative which He exerts. He sees the suppliant.
3. From the reward which He bestows, present and future. (Various.)
I. The duty and necessity.
II. The employments and enjoyments.
III. The many advantages.
IV. The lamentable consequences of neglecting secret devotion. (Studies.)
Secret prayer
I. It is a duty.
1. Because it is commanded.
2. Because indispensable to the religious life of the soul.
II. It is a privilege.
1. Because it is communion with God.
2. Because it is priceless and seasonable. It is not like the Roman Porta Santa, which is opened but once in twenty-five years, with grand ceremonies, conducted by the highest dignitaries of the Church.
III. Its practice is commended to us.
1. By example of Christ.
2. By the observance of eminent saints.
IV. Its object.
1. TO be alone with God.
2. To cultivate heart-religion.
3. To obtain needed supplies of grace.
V. Its benefits.
1. Its privacy promotes meditation and heart-scrutiny.
2. It favours the confession of such sins as are individual.
VI. Applications.
1. A command all followers of Christ will obey.
2. Some local inner chamber not necessary. Every man can build a chapel in his breast. (American Homiletic Monthly.)
The secret life of the Christian the most important
The root that produces the beautiful and flourishing tree, with all its spreading branches, verdant leaves, and refreshing fruit, that which gains for it sap, life, vigour, and fruitfulness, is all unseen; and the farther and deeper the roots spread beneath, the more the tree expands above. Christians! if you wish to prosper, if you long to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, strike your roots wide in private prayer. (Salter.)
The silent influences of secret prayer the most productive
As the tender dew that falls in the silent night makes the grass and herbs and flowers to flourish and grow more abundantly than great showers of rain that fall in the day, so secret prayer will more abundantly cause the sweet herbs of grace and holiness to grow and flourish in the soul, than all those more open, public and visible duties of religion, which too, too often are mingled and mixed with the sun and wind of pride and hypocrisy. (Brooks,)
Closet prayer secret in mode as well as in place
Not like the hen who goes into a secret place to lay her egg, but by her cackling tells all the house where she is, and what she is doing. (Gurnall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. But thou, when thou prayest] This is a very impressive and emphatic address. But THOU! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian-enter into thy closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body of every real Christian is, 1Co 3:16. To this closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company.
Reward thee openly.] What goodness is there equal to this of God to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his subjects’ account, even their trust and confidence in begging all things of him!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By this public prayer is not condemned, but secret prayer is established, and made every Christians duty; and Christians are warned not to think that their duty of prayer is discharged by their going to places of public worship, and praying there: but that which our Saviour here cautions us against is ostentation, by which men may as much offend in their closets as elsewhere. Wherever we pray, we must take heed that our ends be right, that the glory of God be our principal end, and yielding obedience to his command; and there is no better means in order to this than the right setting of God before our eyes, as he that seeth in secret, and knoweth the most secret designs, scopes, and intentions of our hearts, and who, if we thus perform our duty, will reward us of his free grace and mercy; not as persons who by our prayers have merited any thing at his hand, (for what merit can there be in our prayers?) but as having showed our obedience to his will, and in the fulfilling of those many promises which he hath made to those that seek his face for the hearing of their prayers.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. But thou, when thou prayest,enter into thy closeta place of retirement.
and when thou hast shut thydoor, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father whichseeth in secret shall reward thee openlyOf course, it is notthe simple publicity of prayer which is here condemned. It may beoffered in any circumstances, however open, if not prompted by thespirit of ostentation, but dictated by the great ends of prayeritself. It is the retiring character of true prayer which ishere taught.
Supplementary Directions andModel Prayer (Mt6:7-15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,…. Or “chamber”, a secret place, fit for private retirement, meditation, and prayer.
And when thou hast shut thy door; see some such like phrases in
Isa 26:20 where they are used to express security, here secrecy. Our Lord does not mean to exclude and condemn public prayer, in joining with few, or more persons, in such service; for he himself directs to it, and approves of it, Mt 18:19 but his view is to instruct persons that they should not only pray in public, but in private also; and especially the latter, which is more suitable and fitting for their particular cases, and less liable to pride, hypocrisy, and vanity.
Pray to thy Father, which is in secret; who is invisible; not to be seen with the eyes of the body, but to be approached with a true heart, in faith and fear, through his Son Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man; and who is the image of the invisible God, and in whom he is pleased to manifest himself to his people, so as he does not unto the world:
and thy Father, which seeth in secret, observes and takes notice of the secret breathings, pantings, desires, and requests of thy heart and lips,
shall reward thee openly, both here and hereafter; by pouring into thy bosom all the good things thou hast been praying for, both for time and eternity. This is agreeable to what the Jews sometimes say,
“that a man ought not to cause his voice to be heard in prayer; but should pray , “silently”, with a voice that is not heard; and this is the prayer which is daily accepted g.”
g Zohar in Gen. fol. 114. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Into thy closet ( ). The word is a late syncopated form of from (steward) and the root – from , to cut. So it is a store-house, a separate apartment, one’s private chamber, closet, or “den” where he can withdraw from the world and shut the world out and commune with God.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Closet [] . See on Luk 12:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,” (su de hotan proseuche eiselthe eis to tamieion sou) “But when each of you prays, enter into your private room,” a secret or private place, as in Isa 26:20; Dan 6:10; Mat 23:5-7; Mat 23:14.
2) “And when thou hast shut thy door,” (kai kleisas ten thuran sou) “And when you have closed the door,” for prayer that is private and secret in nature, without public show, Mr 12:38-40. When you have gone aside to a place of retirement, away from temptations for sham and show, there pray.
3) “Pray to thy Father which is in secret;” (proseuksai to patri sou to en to krupto) “Pray directly, personally, or intimately to your Father in secret,” to Him alone, Mat 6:4; Joh 16:24. It is the retiring character of true prayer that is taught here.
4) “And thy Father which seeth in secret,” (kai ho pater sou ho blepon en to krupto) “And your Father who continually sees in secret,” who is looking on, Luk 14:12. Prayer is not a display of devotional talent or personal piety, but a private expression of affection and desire between the creature and his Creator.
5) “Will reward thee openly.” (apolosel soi) “He will reward, repay, or give back to you openly,” in a visible, clear, evident manner, whatever your need may be, Php_4:17-19; 2Ti 1:16-18. 1) Isaac’s closet was an open field, Gen 24:63; 2) David’s closet was a bedchamber, Psa 4:4; 3) Our Lord’s closet was in a mountain alone, Mat 14:23; 4) Peter’s closet was on a housetop, Act 10:9; 5) Hezekiah’s closet was in a sick-bed with his face to the wall, 2Ki 20:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) Enter into thy closet.Literally, the store-closet of thy house. The principle, as before, is embodied in a rule which startles, and which cannot be binding literally. Not in synagogue or street, nor by the river-side (Act. 16:13); not under the fig-tree in the court-yard (Joh. 1:50), nor on the housetop where men were wont to pray (Act. 10:9)these might, each and all, present the temptations of publicitybut in the stewards closet, in the place which seemed to men least likely, which they would count it irreverent to connect with the idea of prayer. The principle thus clothed in paradox is, of course, that personal prayer should be strictly personal and private. Our Lords mode of acting on the principle was, it will be remembered, to withdraw from crowds and cities, and to pass the night in prayer on the lonely slopes of the hills of Galilee (Mat. 14:23; Mar. 6:46; Joh. 6:15).
Openly.Probably, as before, in Mat. 6:4, an interpolation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Closet The word primarily signifies a locker, or fastened store-room. Hence any private close apartment or chamber. Symbol for any secret retreat. But not only may we be in our closet; our closet may be in us. The innermost prayer of the heart, though in a dense crowd, may be truly the closet prayer. Shut thy door As our Lord is here prescribing a mode of action in opposition to the conduct of the ostentatious hypocrite of his day, he lays a special emphasis upon the particular points of difference. For this reason it is that he specifies the closet and the shutting of the door. These are the symbols of unostentatious devotion. They are not, therefore, to be interpreted materially and mechanically. The pure thought is Perform thy religious duties for God’s eye and not for man’s.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber,
And having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret,
And your Father who sees in secret will recompense you.”
But the true disciple when he prays goes into an inner room in his house, probably a store room, where no one will know what he is doing. He wants no credit for what he is doing. Such an idea would not even cross his mind. The ‘inner room’ or ‘store room’ would probably be windowless. Here no one was likely to see him, or even know what he was doing there. Then he closes the door and prays to his Father in secret. And then he can be sure that his Father will hear, for his Father will be there with him ‘in secret’, and it will be clear that his motive is genuine, for otherwise he has nothing to gain from it. And if his prayer is right, his Father will give him what he asks for.
Clearly this was not speaking about public prayers of the right kind. There had to be public prayers in the synagogue, just as there have to be in church, and there was no condemnation in that. What would have been condemned with regard to that was to pray in public in such a way that it was simply putting on an act so as to earn men’s esteem. The one who prays in public as a public responsibility has rather therefore to ensure that he is really concerned to pray to God, and be aware that he is leading others in prayer to God, and praying with that aim, desiring no credit for himself. Once he begins to admire his own prayers (or others begin to declare their admiration of them and he basks in their praise) may God help him, for he will need it.
‘Your Father Who sees in secret.’ The idea is that the presence of God is with them in their secret room, despite it simply being a store room. For here they will enter Heaven (Isa 57:15). It may even have indicated the room where valuables were kept, with the idea being that he had in his treasure room found the most precious thing of all. The reward will include the answer to their prayer, as long as the prayer is for something that is within His will, but above all it will mean that they are establishing their relationship with Him. And Jesus will now in fact reveal what kind of thing we should be praying for.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The true manner of praying:
v. 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. An emphatic contrast, “But thou. ” Be as different from these hypocrite’s as possible, lest thy manner of praying savor of their hypocrisy. Christ does not restrict the praying to fixed hours. Whenever you feel the need of communing with God, as often as you wish to be undisturbed with Him alone. For such a purpose a room in the interior of the house or on the housetop, secluded from all interference and intrusion, will be found most appropriate. Christ advises even the shutting of the door to emphasize the intimacy which such a prayer implies. Here, with no one to disturb you, with no one present but Him who is in the secret places, whose omnipresence invites you freely to confide in Him, you may open your heart freely, even in regard to matters which may fitly be hidden before the eyes of the whole world. Every one accustomed to private prayer after this description of the Lord will receive full edification also from the public prayer in home devotions and in congregational worship. His heart has been trained to be centered in the Lord alone and to banish all distracting thoughts Note especially that the Lord emphasizes “thy Father,” which tenderly invites and urges childlike trust and confidence. “Though I be a sinner and unworthy still I have here God’s command, which commands me to pray, and His promise that He “will mercifully hear me, not on account of my worthiness, but for the sake of the Lord Christ. With this trust thou canst put away all thoughts and doubts, and kneel down cheerfully and pray, not regarding thy worthiness or un-worthiness, but thy trouble and His word, in which He commands you to put confidence.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 6:6. Enter into thy closet That is, “perform thy private devotions without noise or shew; by which it will appear, that thou art influenced by a true sense of duty.” The word , closet, signifies any retired part of the house, any secret or separate place; and Mr. Blair piously conjectures, that Christ might use a word of such latitude, that none might omit secret prayer, for want of so convenient an apartment as they could wish to retire into. Duly to perform the great duty of private prayer, we must withdraw from the world not only our persons, but our thoughts too; we must shut out all worldly cares and considerations, as if we and God were alone in nature. Some of the fathers teach us, that our Lord here alludes not only to the closet, but to the heart: and indeed all duties, unaccompanied with integrity of heart, are utterly unavailing. “The heart,” says St. Ambrose, “is a retiring-place, always private, always at hand, and ready to receive you:” indeed a mind long practised in piety can easily recollect itself in every place, and maintain devotion in the midst of a crowd. Thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and there enter into thyself by devout recollection; for the bodilyretirement avails nothing, but inasmuch as it serves to promote the mental; which is a disposition essentially necessary to prayer, and sometimes difficult to beginners, by reason of the contrary habit which their minds have contracted, by living ever abroad, and being dissipated among sensible objects; but a sincere endeavour will soon be accompanied by greater aid from the grace of God, if we faithfully bear in mind the fundamental truth in which our Lord here instructs us; namely, that the Almighty God is with us in our secret retirement. Pray to thy Father who is in secret,is there present with thee. God, we know, is in all places; but his spiritual nature lies beyond the reach of bodily senses. When, therefore, you are retired from the world, and have shut the door of your closet, and of your heart too, as close as possible by devout recollection, turn all your attention to God, present with you, and present in you, and humble yourselves before him with a full assurance of faith, of actual faith I mean, that you are in his presence; and believe me,for this is a truth of the utmost consequence,that as the faith of the diseased woman, who touched our Saviour’s clothes, drew forth a miraculous power to heal her infirmity, so this faith, wherewith we approach God in and through Christ in prayer, will infallibly draw forth the Divine co-operation to our endeavours. He is a living God, and a gracious God through Christ, and his spirit will unite with ours to help our infirmities, and enable us to offer up such prayers as will find acceptance at the throne of grace. Such is the preparation or disposition with which we should address ourselves to God in prayer. The following words instruct us in what is farther requisite for the right performance of it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 6:6 . ] any room in the interior of the house , as opposed to the synagogues and the streets. We are therefore not to think exclusively of the closet in the strict sense of the word, which was called ; see note on Act 1:13 . For the expression, comp. Isa 24:20 ; for , conclave , see Xen. Hell . v. 4. 5; Mat 24:26 ; Sir 29:12 ; Tob 7:17 .
] for thy undemonstrative piety. It is not public prayer in itself that Jesus condemns, but praying in an ostentatious manner; rather than this , He would have us betake ourselves to a lonely room. Theophylact: , .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Ver. 6. But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, &c. ] The proper place for secret prayer (as the family is for private prayer, Act 10:3 ; Act 10:9 , and the church for public, Luk 4:16 ), that being sequestered from company, we may more fully descend into our own hearts, and be the freer from ostentation and hypocrisy, and from discursation and wandering of mind ( Anima dispersa fit minor ): as also for the demonstration of our faith, whereby we believe the omnipresence of God, who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly. Daniel indeed opened his windows, and prayed in an upper room, not to be more secret (as Pintus mistaketh it) but to be more seen; and yet not of vain ostentation, but of zealous and constant profession. The king had forbidden it (so did Henry III, King of France, forbid householders to pray with their famihes), Daniel did it notwithstanding, as beforetime. God must be obeyed rather than men, as not Scripture only, but nature teacheth. a He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed; that had been his custom, and should be. David also at morning, at evening, and at noon, called upon God, and had his set times for such devotions. But the devil, as it is probable, 2Sa 12:2 , had caused him to come from his trench, and then did presently wound him. He knows well enough that a Christian’s strength lies in his prayer (as Samson’s did in his hair), that it buckleth all our spiritual armour close to us, and makes it useful, that a Christian can never lack help while he can pray, Eph 6:18 ; as they were wont to say, the pope can never lack money so long as he can hold a pen in his hand to command and send for it: that secret prayer is a soul-fattening exercise, as secret meals, we say, feed the body. The old serpent feels himself charmed and disabled to do hurt by these kinds of duties. They have “poured forth a charm ( ) when thy chastening was upon them,” Isa 26:16 . Yea, he is deeply wounded and driven out of the field by those arrows of deliverance, as the king of Syria was, 2Ki 13:17 , which therefore he keeps (what he can) from being multiplied and enlarged. Fervent prayers are the pillars of smoke wherein the Church ascendeth to God out of the wilderness of this world, and by a humble familiarity converseth, yea, parleyeth with him, b as Abram and Moses did (especially when Satan, sin, and conscience accuse), and standeth, as it were, upon interrogatories; such as are those, Rom 8:33-35 .
And when thou hast shut thy door ] So to shut out distractions, which yet will grow upon us, do what we can. For though the spirit is willing to wait upon God all the while of the duty, yet the flesh is weak. It being but partly mortified, draws away our thoughts many times; and putteth us to St Paul’s complaint, “When I would do good, evil is present with me,” Rom 7:21 . Satan also will be jogging and interrupting us; and will needs be talking to us when we are most busily speaking to God, as the Pythoness troubled St Paul as he went to prayer, Act 16:16 . Worldly things likewise are so natural to us, and so near our senses, heavenly things are so supernal and supernatural, that we cannot without watching our senses, and travail of soul, stay our spirits long upon them. For help herein, St Augustine telleth us that the ancient Christians of Egypt were wont to use only short and pithy prayers and ejaculations, c such as was that of Elijah when he contended with the priests of Baal, charging God (in two words) with the care of his covenant, of his truth, and of his glory. Many other helps there are for the curing and casting out (in a comfortable measure) these by thoughts, these birds that would rob Abraham of his sacrifice; these swarms of Egypt, that our hearts may be as so many Goshens; these creeping things innumerable, as David hath it. This among the rest, that our Saviour here prescribeth, to retire into a secret place, as Abraham did into his grove at Beersheba, planted for the purpose (though that was afterwards abused by the heathens, and therefore forbidden the Israelites, Deu 12:3 ). Isaac had his oratory in the fields, where he prayed with deep meditation or soliloquy, as the word there signifieth. Rebekah upon the struggling of the babes, “went to inquire of the Lord,” Gen 25:22 , that is, she went to some secret place to pray, and receive some revelation from God, say Calvin, Musculus, Mercer, others. Jacob had visions of God when he was all alone upon the way; Elijah prayed under the juniper; our Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, and many times in the mount; Cornelius in some corner of his house; Peter on the leads, d where also he fell into an ecstacy or trance, and saw heaven open, his soul was separated (after a sort) from his body for the time, while he was talking with God, he was so transported and carried out of himself, ut caro esset paene nescia carnis, as St Jerome testifieth of certain devout women of his time. For the place we pray in, no matter how mean it be, so it be secret. Where there is a Jeremiah, a Daniel, a Jonas, a dungeon, a lions’ den, a whale’s belly, are goodly oratories. e Shut the door to thee, remembering the weakness of thy flesh, and the malice of the devil, watching how to distract thee. Covenant with thy senses, and bind them to the good abearance all the while: look God full in the face, as David did, Psa 57:7 , call in and collect and focus thy thoughts, as men do the sunbeams into a burning glass: serve God with thy spirit, as Paul did, Rom 1:9 , say, “All that is within me, praise his holy name.” Have thy heart at thy right hand, with Solomon’s wise man, lay God’s charge upon it to attend upon him; when it roves and wanders, call it in and chide it; judge and shame thyself for thy distractions, and strive to do better, so shall they never be imputed unto thee, Psa 13:2 . To be wholly freed from them is a privilege proper to the estate of perfection. Some diseases will not be cured near home, but men must repair to the bath or city for help. This infirmity is not to be healed till we come to heaven. No shutting of the door will do it, nor anything else, till the everlasting door be opened unto us, till we enter in by the gates into the city of the living God, Rev 21:24 .
Pray to thy Father which is in secret ] There are no dumb children in God’s house; the least he hath can ask him blessing. All are not alike gifted, but every godly man prayeth unto thee, saith David, Psa 32:6 ; St Paul was no sooner converted but he was praying presently, Act 9:11 . The spirit of grace is the spirit of supplication, and teacheth to cry, “Abba, Father,” or Father, Father, Gal 4:5 . And this very naming of the name of God in prayer (though it be no more), so it be done in faith, entitles a man to heaven, 2Ti 2:19 , if also he depart from iniquity; when such as have the gift of prophecy and of doing miracles shall miscarry, and be turned off at the last day, because workers of iniquity, Mat 7:15-20 . And albeit God’s weaker children cannot utter their mind unto him in well couched words and variety of expressions, yet, if their broken language come from a broken heart, it avails more than affectation of rhetoric, without affection of prayer. Men are better pleased with the stammering and lisping of their own little ones than with all the plain speech of all the children in the town besides. Yea, because the soul is sick, the service is twice welcome. As, if a sick child reach us up a thing, we count it more than to send another of a laborious errand. “I will spare them,” saith he, “as a man spares his own son that serveth him,” Mal 3:17 . The business of prayer is more despatched by sighs than speeches, by desires and groans of the heart, to our Father which is in secret, whether we can express them in words or no. “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities” (he lifteth with us and before us, as the word signifies, , Rom 8:26 ), and maketh intercession in us and for us with groans unutterable. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit. As he heareth us without ears, so he understaudeth us without our words. If we can but groan out, Ah, Father, it is an effectual prayer. The voice is not simply required, Joh 4:24 . There is a great dispute (saith one) among the schoolmen about the speech of angels; but this they agree in, that one angel speaketh thus to another, when any one hath a conceit in his mind of anything, with a will that another should understand it, and that God should understand it, that is enough for the expression of it. So is it with the spirit of man in speaking to God: for the spirit agreeth to the angels. Yet we must pray for fit words also, Hos 14:2 , and strive to be enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, 1Co 1:5 , get a habit of heavenly mindedness, let the heart meditate a good matter, f and then the tongue will be as the pen of a ready writer, Psa 45:1 ; first prepare the heart, and then stretch out the hands, Job 11:13 . The heart should be praying a good while before the tongue; as before the seven trumpets were sounded at the opening of the seventh seal, there was half an hour’s silence in heaven, Rev 8:1-2 . And surely if there be an honest heart and a good intention, an ability of prayer usually is in us, though we know it not; as a man may have money about him, and not know so much, till necessity make him willing to search and glad to find it. Remember, however, the promise of the Spirit’s assistance and God’s acceptance, and know, that as in singing, so in praying, the pleasing melody is in the heart, Col 3:16 . The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which comes from the depth of the breast. As the deeper or hollower the belly of the lute or viol is, the pleasanter is the sound; the fleeter, the more grating and harsh in our ears.
And thy Father which seeth in secret ] And heareth too: as he did Moses when he cried to God, but said nothing; Exo 14:15 . Moses egit vocis silentio ut corde clamaret. Aug. and Hannah, when she moved her lips, but uttered not herself in an audible voice, 1Sa 1:13 ; and Nehemiah, when he lift up his heart to God, as he spake to the king, Neh 2:4 ; and as he doth still his praying people. His ears are into their prayers, saith St Peter, after David (1Pe 3:12 , . Psa 34:15 ), that though their prayers are so weak they cannot ascend to him, he will descend to them. He “hearkened and heard” those good souls in Malachi, Mal 3:16 as loth to lose any part of their precious language. Thus the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (when they are praying especially), and his ears are open to their prayers. He seeth his Church when she is in the clefts of the rocks, Son 2:14 ; when she is gotten into a corner and praying, he looks upon her with singular delight, and with special intimations of his love (as Ahasuerus dealt with Esther), and saith unto her, as he, “What is thy petition, and it shall be given thee,” Ezr 5:3 . And oh that every faithful soul, while it is sitting and feasting with God by secret prayer and other holy duties, would bethink itself what special boon it hath to beg, what Haman to hang up, what corruption to be subdued, what grace to be increased, &c. How should they be gratified, and their request granted, even to the whole of God’s kingdom. The truth is, they might have anything: and that which Zedekiah said to his courtiers flatteringly, God performeth to his people really, “The king is not he that can do anything against you,” Jer 38:5 . Luther was wont to say that prayer was after a sort omnipotent: for whatsoever God can do, that prayer can do. Of Luther himself, for his wrestling with God and prevailing (as he was mighty and happy that way), it was said, That man can have anything at God’s hands. Iste vir potuit quod voluit. De Luthero Justus Jonas.
Will reward you openly ] Here in part, hereafter in all perfection. He never said to the house of Israel, Seek ye me in vain, Isa 45:19 ; “This poor man (for instance) prayed,” saith David, pointing to himself, “and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his distresses,” Psa 34:6 . God is known by hearing of prayers; it is one of his titles, Psa 65:3 , it is his praise above all heathen gods, Isa 45:19-20 . By this Manasseh knew him to be God, 2Ch 33:13 , and all Israel, 1Ki 18:37 ; 1Ki 18:39 , when it came to a matter of competition. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,” Joh 16:23 . If we can find a praying heart, he will find a pitying: if we open our mouths, God will fill them: and he is worthily miserable that will not make himself happy by asking. Of some heathen princes it is said that they never sent away their suitors sad or discontented: this is most true of God; let a man bring right petitions, a clear conscience, faith in the promises, and hope to wait the accomplishment, and he shall not fail of the thing he asketh, or a better: when God denied David the life of the child, but assured him of his salvation, “I shall go to him,” &c., 2Sa 12:23 . So he denied his mother her particular request for that time, Joh 2:4 : and when his disciples asked him a curious question, “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” &c., that is not for you to know, saith he; but a better thing I can tell: you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, Act 1:7-8 . But many times God is graciously pleased not only to grant a man’s prayer, but also to fulfil his counsel, Psa 20:4 ; that is, in that very way and by that very means that his thoughts pitch on. But say he do neither of these; yet the very ability to pray in the Holy Ghost is a sweet and sure sign of salvation, Rom 10:13 . And a very grave divine writeth thus: I cannot but prefer faithful prayers for some temporal mercy far before that mercy for which I pray. Yea, I had rather God should give me the gift of prayer than (without that gift) the whole world besides. g As for those that are ita congregabiles (saith another divine of good note), so very good fellows that they cannot spare so much time out of company as to seek God apart and to serve him in secret, they sufficiently show themselves thereby to have little fellowship or friendship with God, whom they so seldom come at.
a Act 5:29 . Sic Socrates in Apologia, respondens, , , . .
b 1Ti 2:1 , , parleyings with God. So 1Pe 3:21 , , sc. in precibus, quae sunt electorum cum Deo colloquia. Pasor.
c Fratres Aegyptiaci brevissimis et raptim eiaculatis orationibus uti voluissent, ne per moras evanesceret et hebetarelur intentio.
d Act 9:4 ; Act 10:10 . , Quasi semoto ad tempus a corpore animo, cum Deo colloquitur. Beza.
e If ye will not hear me out, send me to my prison again among my toads and frogs, which will not interrupt me while I talk with my Lord God.
f Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur. Horat.
g Malo accipere a Deo serias preces quam sine precibus universum hunc mundum. Rolloc. in Joh 6:23 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. . . .] Both Chrysostom and Augustine caution us against taking this merely literally, ; , , ; , . . , , , . “ .” , . Hom. xix. 3, p. 247. ‘Parum est intrare in cubicula, si ostium pateat importunis, per quod ostium ea qu foris sunt improbe se immergunt, et interiora nostra appetunt.’ De Serm. Dom. l. ii. c. 3 (11), vol. iii. Cf. Psa 4:4 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 6:6 : true prayer in contrast to the theatrical type. , hou, my disciple, in opposition to the “actors”. , when the spirit moves, not when the customary hour comes, freedom from rule in prayer, as in fasting (Mat 9:14 ), is taken for granted. , late form for (Lobeck, Phryn. , 493), first a store-chamber, then any place of privacy, a closet (Mat 24:26 ). Note the after . and and , all emphasising isolation, thy closet, thy door, thy Father. , carefully shutting thy door, the door of thine own retreat, to exclude all but thy Father, with as much secrecy as if you were about a guilty act. What delicacy of feeling, as well as sincerity, is implied in all this; greatly to be respected, often sinned against. , He who is in the secret place; perhaps with allusion to God’s presence in the dark holy of holies (Achelis). He is there in the place from which all fellow-men are excluded. Is social prayer negatived by this directory? No, but it is implied that social prayer will be a reality only in proportion as it proceeds from a gathering of men accustomed to private prayer.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
closet = store-chamber. Hence a secret chamber where treasures were stored. Occurs only here, Mat 24:26, and Luk 12:3, Luk 12:24. Compare Isa 26:20. 2Ki 4:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6. …] Both Chrysostom and Augustine caution us against taking this merely literally, ; , , ; , . . , , , . . , . Hom. xix. 3, p. 247. Parum est intrare in cubicula, si ostium pateat importunis, per quod ostium ea qu foris sunt improbe se immergunt, et interiora nostra appetunt. De Serm. Dom. l. ii. c. 3 (11), vol. iii. Cf. Psa 4:4.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 6:6. , in secret) God both is, and sees, in secret.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
enter: Mat 14:23, Mat 26:36-39, Gen 32:24-29, 2Ki 4:33, Isa 26:20, Joh 1:48, Act 9:40, Act 10:9, Act 10:30
pray: Psa 34:15, Isa 65:24, Joh 20:17, Rom 8:5, Eph 3:14
Reciprocal: 2Ki 4:4 – thou shalt shut 2Ki 20:2 – he turned 2Ch 15:7 – your work Psa 19:11 – keeping Isa 38:2 – turned Mat 6:1 – otherwise Mat 6:4 – seeth Mat 6:9 – Our Mat 6:18 – shall Mat 10:41 – a righteous man’s Mat 20:14 – thine Mar 6:46 – General Luk 5:33 – and make Luk 6:12 – that Luk 8:51 – he suffered Luk 11:2 – When Gal 4:6 – crying 1Th 3:11 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ALONE WITH GOD
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.
Mat 6:6
It is the test of what a man is when he is alone with God. The religious life is what we are to God, and what God is to us.
I. A little sanctuary.Your own heart must be the closet. You must managein business, in the street, in company, in a crowd,to make a stillness; to draw the curtains round your mind, and constitute it, for a little while at least, a little sanctuary,a quiet, separate, holy place,and retiring into which, you must feel solitary. Only you and God. And then say your little, silent prayer withdrawn from outer life. So, from the rush and bustle of the day, you must go down into yourselves, and literally fulfil the command, wherever you are.
II. Suggestions for prayer.
(a) Have a purpose. By its being said, Enter into thy closet, it implies that you are not there; but that you go there for the purpose of prayer. It could not, therefore, primarily mean the prayer you say in the morning and evening, when you are already in your room, though it includes it; but such as you go to your room, or to some other place, expressly that you may say it.
(b) Separate yourself. Shut the door means separate yourself from all outer things: be, and feel, shut in with God. It would be to very little purpose to turn the handle, if you did not, by the same act, seclude yourself from the world without, worldly pleasures, and worldly business, and worldly associations.
(c) Pray audibly. It has been thought that you are to shut your door in order that you may not be overheard, which implies that, even in your closet, you pray out loud, in a soft, but in an audible voice. And I could not enjoin this too strongly. You will find it a very great help against wandering thoughts, and a real strength to prayer, if you use your lips in prayer.
(d) Have fatherly views of God. Let it be the prayer, not of a subject to a king, but of a child to a parent. Pray to thy Father.
(e) Be definite. Take care that your private communications with your Father be not vague,not such as any one else could say as well as you; but personal, confidential, minute.
(f) Be short. There are seasons when we feel that we could pray and praise for ever. But they are exceptions. More frequently we gain nothing by length, but a larger opportunity for distracting thought. Say what you have to say and finish.
(g) Adore God. There is another part of devotion, which does not occupy its proper place and degree, in most of our holy functions, and yet which is very importantadoration; adoring God for what God is in Himself; not for what He gives: simple, devout, admiring contemplation of God.
Always consider that the greatest act of the day is your private intercourse with God.
The Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
A lady missionary of the C.M.S., working near Jerusalem among Mohammedans, writes: One little boy, who attends our schools regularly, and is a most diligent, faithful little scholar, lives in a poor home, with just one small room for the whole family. His father is a carpenter, and from what I have heard, must be a harsh, unkind man. The mother (who told the story to a friend of ours) noticed that every night, even in the cold and rain, the little lad went out of the house before lying down to sleep, and remained away for some time. One night she remarked on it to him, and asked him where he went; he told her that he liked to go, and she could get little more out of him, so she determined to follow him and find out where he went. On reaching the door of the room, to her surprise she saw him not far off under a tree, with hands folded and eyes closed, praying!
(SECOND OUTLINE)
PRIVATE PRAYER
It is indeed an appalling desecration of an unspeakable privilege that men should pretend to be speaking to God when their only thought really is that the public should form a high notion of their goodness.
I. Private prayer.But Christ is speaking about private prayer, not about public worship. He is blaming the Pharisees because they said their private prayers in public. That is the point. The danger in which most persons in these busy, matter-of-fact, worldly, pleasure-loving days stand, is not so much of too great publicity in your private prayers; but it is really the danger of never genuinely, seriously, sincerely praying in private at all. Do your pray regularly in private from your heart? Do you really give a few moments at the beginning and at the close of each day to talking on your knees with God? This is what is meant by private prayer.
II. Divine help in prayer.From this day forth kneel down at your bedside morning and evening, if only for a few moments. Thoughts and words will come of themselves. Simply kneel down, and think for a moment of God, and of what you are yourself, and of what you want from Him. When once you have put your mind in the true attitude of prayer, then that Divine Power, the Holy Spirit, will help you. He kindles our aspirations, and does not let us rise from our knees until we have said something that is worth saying to God. Do you not want help? Amongst all the accidents and chances which may happen in these headlong days, do you need no protection from God? This little simple act of conversing with your Father in heaven the first thing in the morning will have started you well. And however tired you may be with your labours, do not let anything cause you to leave off the day without once more kneeling down and speaking to God before you go to sleep. It would perhaps be well for every one to repeat to themselves as they are closing their eyes, the great evening hymn, Glory to Thee, my God, this night.
III. Public worship.But the two points which our Lord presses home so strongly about private prayer, refer also to public worship. Never go to the house of prayer to be seen of men, but only to meet your heavenly Father. And, above all things, do not insult the Almighty by using vain repetitions. That is a risk in all regular forms of worship, because they become so familiar that we sometimes hardly consider what we are saying. Let us be more than ever careful not to allow any words to escape our lips in the house of God without attending to their meaning.
Archdeacon Sinclair.
Illustrations
(1)I often say my prayers, but do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
For words without the heart the Lord will never hear;
Nor will He to those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere.
(2) Prayer is this: to look into the Bible and see what God has promised; to look into our own hearts and ask ourselves what we want; and to look up to God to give us what we want, and what He has promised as the purchase of Christs blood; expecting that though we are most unworthy, yet He will be as good as His word.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
PRAYER AND ITS ANSWER
There is no subject upon which men are more sceptical than upon the subject of prayer. Such teaching as that which Christ gives is a hard saying, from its very simplicity and plainness. Men cannot believe that intercourse between God and man can be under any circumstances so close and so real as our Lord over and over again implies that it is.
I. What is prayer?Prayer, said St. Augustine, is our speech to God. Prayer, says another, is the link that connects earth with heaven, the impotence of man with the omnipotence of God. Prayer, says a recent writer, in its simplest essence is the turning of the soul towards God. It is that act by which the human spirit seeks to come in contact with the Divine Spirit.
(a) Prayer is man calling upon God. In times of want, of danger, of loneliness, man instinctively calls upon his God. He believes in His omniscience and His omnipotence and His benevolence, and therefore in every moment of need he calls upon His God.
(b) Prayer is the intercourse of the soul with God. It is what our Lord here tells us, asking the Father. When ye pray, say, Our Father. We shall never know God till we know Him as a Father. We shall never approach Him as He ought to be approached till we approach Him as a Father.
II. How may prayer be offered with acceptance?In Christs nameIn My name, My sufficiency, My completeness, My perfected work of redemption, the Name above every name, the name of our Great High Priest. This is the basis of our hope, the ground of our acceptance, the prevailing plea that God will hear.
III. May we look for an answer?Prayer rightly offered is always answered. We find in Scripture, except as our Lord put it before us, absolutely no limits and no conditions. Ask, and ye shall have whatsoever ye shall ask. The only condition, therefore, which at all limits the matter is that of fatherhood and sonship in which God stands to us and we stand to God. God may delay to send an answer, or give it us in another form.
IV. Learn two things
(a) Be particular in your prayers. Generalities are the death of prayer. It is not enough to go with general confession and general petition before your Father. If you believe in the providence of God, if you believe that in every event of life you are under His control, why, you must go with every request and every duty and every care, and lay them before your Father which is in heaven.
(b) Seek from God the spirit of prayer.
Prebendary Eardley-Wilmot.
Illustration
(1) An arrow, if it be drawn up but a little way, goes not far, but if it be pulled up to the head it flies swiftly and pierces deep. Thus prayer, if it be only dribbled forth from careless lips, falls at our feet; but if in the strength of ejaculation and strong desire, it sends it to heaven and makes it pierce the clouds. It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they be; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor their geometry, how long they be; nor their music, how sweet their voice may be; nor their logic, how argumentative they be; nor yet their method, how orderly they be; nor even their divinity, how good their doctrine may be, which God cares for: but it is the fervency of spirit which availeth much.
(2)Be not afraid to pray. To pray is right.
Pray if thou canst with hope,
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay;
Pray in the darkness if there be no light.
Far is the time, remote from human sight,
When war and discord on the earth shall cease;
Yet every prayer for universal peace
Avails the blessed time to expedite.
Whateer is good to wish, ask that of Heaven,
Though it be what thou canst not hope or see.
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven
Forbid the spirit so on earth to be.
But if for any wish thou darest not pray,
Then pray to God to cast that wish away!
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6:6
The servants of the Lord may offer either private or public prayers in lawful service to Him. Both kinds should be considered in connection with this chapter. But it is improper to pretend to be offering a private prayer and yet do it in a way to attract attention. This verse means that if a disciple actually means his prayer to be private he should seek a private place to offer it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 6:6. Shows the proper way, and the injunction is made more personal: Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. The little room on the housetop of an Eastern dwelling, used for such purposes. Thy implies that the place is one where the person can secure privacy.
Shut thy door. This extends the idea of privacy and solitude. Private prayer, which is exclusively referred to here, is not to be performed in public places. The closet may be sought and the door shut in a Pharisaical spirit; but this command is to be obeyed; if possible, literally, since our Lords example teaches the importance of retirement. Actual solitude may be impossible, but even in the midst of a crowd we may be alone with God. How often the duty of secret prayer should be statedly performed is of course not mentioned. A prayerful spirit will multiply both opportunities and desires for the exercise; while prudence, not law, calls for stated times.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 6
Closet; any place of retirement.