Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 6:7
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
7. use not vain repetitions ] It is not the length of time spent in prayer or the fervent or reasonable repetition of forms of prayer that is forbidden, but the mechanical repetition of set words, and the belief that the efficacy of prayer consists in such repetition. The word itself lit. means to stammer, then to “repeat uselessly.”
as the heathen ] The Jews also had a saying, “Every one that multiplies prayer is heard.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Use not vain repetitions – The original word here is supposed to be derived from the name of a Greek poet, who made long and weary verses, declaring by many forms and endless repetitions the same sentiment. Hence, it means to repeat a thing often; to say the same thing in different words, or to repeat the same words, as though God did not hear at first. An example of this we have in 1Ki 18:26; They called on Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us! It may serve to illustrate this passage, and to show how true is the description here of prevailing modes of prayer, to refer to the forms and modes of devotion still practiced in Palestine by the Muslims. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book) gives the following description of what actually occurs: See those men on that elevated terrace. One has spread his cloak, other their Persian rugs toward the south. They are Muslims, preparing to say prayers – rather perform them, in this most public place, and in the midst of all this noise and confusion.
Let us stop and watch the ceremony as it goes on. That man next us raises his open hands until the thumbs touch the ears, exclaiming aloud, Allah-hu-akbar – God is great. After uttering mentally a few short petitions, the hands are brought down and folded Together near the girdle, while he recites the first chapter of the Koran, and two or three other brief passages from the same book. And now he bends forward, rests his hands upon his knees, and repeats three times a formula of praise to God most great. Then, standing erect, he cries Allah-hu-akbar, as at the beginning. Then see him drop upon his knees, and bend forward until his nose and forehead touch the ground directly between his expanded hands. This he repeats three times, muttering all the while the same short formulas of prayer and praise. The next move will bring him to his knees, and then, settling back upon his heels, he will mumble over various small petitions, with sundry grunts and exclamations, according to taste and habit. He has now gone through one regular Rek’ah; and, standing up as at the first, and on exactly the same spot, he will perform a second, and even a third, if specially devout, with precisely the same genuflections.
They are obliged to repeat some expressions thirty times, others many hundred times. Would that these remarks did not apply to nominal Christians in this land as well as to Muslims!
The heathen do – The original word is that which is commonly translated Gentile. The world was divided into two parts, the Jews and the Gentiles; that is, in the original, the nations, the nations destitute of the true religion. Christ does not fix the length of our prayers. He says that we should not repeat the same thing, as though God did not hear; and it is not improbable that he intended to condemn the practice of long prayers. His own supplications were remarkably short.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 6:7-8
But when ye pray.
Prayer forbidden
I. Let us endeavour to explain the nature of the evils here forbidden.
1. Vain repetitions.
2. Much speaking.
3. Undue length.
II. The reason on which the admonition is founded.
1. The condition supposed-a needy one-hence they pray.
2. The privilege afforded-we may ask for supplies.
3. The omniscience declared.
4. The argument which this perfection of the Almighty supplies. Hence prayer like the heathen unnecessary. (J. E. Good.)
Brief prayers best
Precious things lie in small compass Not length but strength is desirable. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A vial made of gold is more precious than a brazen urn, or an earthenware pitcher.. (T. Stevenson.)
On prayer
Let all examine themselves as to whether they have prayed aright, and whether their prayers have done them good.
I. Are your minds made more spiritual by your prayers to God, the Father of Spirits?
1. Are you raised above the petty concerns of this world?
2. Do you feel your souls enlarged in universal love and charity?
3. Can you trust God more confidently?
4. Do your prayers make you more just and merciful?
II. Closely examine yourselves, every one of you, as to whether your prayers give you a taste of such pleasure in God, and in holiness and goodness, as to make you desire to be better acquainted with them.
1. Is your care for this world daily suppressed and deadened?
2. Are your thoughts at rest in God, and in His love?
3. Are your hearts set upon rectifying all disorders in your souls?
4. Is it the highest boon we can ask of God, that we may be thoroughly and universally good? Then it is certain our prayers have been truly devout, and highly acceptable to God; which if we do not yet feel, let it not discourage but quicken our spirits to more frequent and fervent prayer. (Symon Patrick, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Use not vain repetitions] , Suidas explains this word well: “, 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 fervour. See Da 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 Clarke on Mt 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 splendour 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:-
[——————–Arabic——————–]
[——————–Arabic——————–]
[——————–Arabic——————–]
[——————–Arabic——————–]
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, c.
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, c.
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, c. 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 , like the hypocrites. Unmeaning words, useless repetitions, and complimentary phrases in prayer, are in general the result of heathenism, hypocrisy, or ignorance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It appeareth from hence, and from what followeth also, that the praying here spoken of is vocal prayer; not the mere homage which the heart payeth to God, by a recognition of him as the fountain of all good, and our secret desires that God would supply our wants, but the expression of those desires by the words of our mouths, which is that duty which the Scripture generally calleth prayer, and is most certainly a duty incumbent on every person. Nor are repetitions of the same requests in prayer, or much speaking, ( that is, praying to some length of time), here absolutely forbidden: our Saviour before his passion prayed thrice for the same thing within a short compass of time, (though he did not use the same words), and, Luk 6:12, he continued all night in prayer to God. But that which is here forbidden, is an opinion of being heard for over long prayers, and using vain repetitions, as the priests of Baal continued from morning to night crying, O Baal, hear us! O Baal, hear us! as if their god had been asleep, or gone a journey, as the prophet mocketh them, 1Ki 18:26,27. Repetitions are then vain, when they are affected, and flow from some irreverent thoughts we have of God; not when they are as it were forced from the heat and intention of our affections. The like is to be said of much speaking in prayer. Long prayers are not to be condemned, but the affectation of them is, and long prayers upon pretences and designs are: but when the mind is attent, and the affections fervent, length of prayer is no fault, especially upon solemn occasions, when we come not to ask a particular mercy at the hand of God, nor for a particular person or family. But repetitions after the manner of heathens are condemned, as proceeding from irreverent thoughts of God, as if he did not know what things we have need of, or were, like a man, to be prevailed upon by a multitude of words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. But when ye pray, use not vainrepetitions“Babble not” would be a better rendering,both for the form of the wordwhich in both languages is intendedto imitate the soundand for the sense, which expresses not so muchthe repetition of the same words as a senseless multiplication ofthem; as appears from what follows.
as the heathen do: for theythink that they shall be heard for their much speakingThismethod of heathen devotion is still observed by Hindu and Mohammedandevotees. With the Jews, says LIGHTFOOT,it was a maxim, that “Every one who multiplies prayer is heard.”In the Church of Rome, not only is it carried to a shameless extent,but, as THOLUCK justlyobserves, the very prayer which our Lord gave as an antidote to vainrepetitions is the most abused to this superstitious end; the numberof times it is repeated counting for so much more merit. Is not thisjust that characteristic feature of heathen devotion which our Lordhere condemns? But praying much, and using at times the same words,is not here condemned, and has the example of our Lord Himselfin its favor.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,…. Saying the same things over and over again,
as the Heathens do, as the worshippers of Baal, from morning till noon, 1Ki 18:26. This our Lord observes, to dissuade from such practices, because the Gentiles, who were odious to the Jews, used them, and the Jews were guilty of the same; had they not, there would not have been any need of such advice:
for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking; as did the Jews, who, under pretence of “long prayers”, devoured widows’ houses; and with whom it is an axiom, that “everyone
, that multiplies prayer is heard” h; and whoever prolongs his prayer, his prayer does not return empty; and he that is long in prayer, his days are prolonged i: and, according to their canons, every day a man ought to pray eighteen prayers. Moreover, their prayer books abound in tautologies, and in expressing the same things in different words, and by a multiplicity of them.
h T. Hieros. Taaniot, fol. 67. 3. i Zohar in Exod. fol. 104. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Use not vain repetitions ( ). Used of stammerers who repeat the words, then mere babbling or chattering, empty repetition. The etymology is uncertain, but it is probably onomatopoetic like “babble.” The worshippers of Baal on Mount Carmel (1Ki 8:26) and of Diana in the amphitheatre at Ephesus who yelled for two hours (Ac 19:34) are examples. The Mohammedans may also be cited who seem to think that they “will be heard for their much speaking” ( ). Vincent adds “and the Romanists with their paternosters and avast.” The Syriac Sinaitic has it: “Do not be saying idle things.” Certainly Jesus does not mean to condemn all repetition in prayer since he himself prayed three times in Gethsemane “saying the same words again” (Mt 26:44). “As the Gentiles do,” says Jesus. “The Pagans thought that by endless repetitions and many words they would inform their gods as to their needs and weary them (‘fatigare deos‘) into granting their requests” (Bruce).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Use vain repetitions [] . A word formed in imitation of the sound, battalogein : properly, to stammer; then to babble or prate, to repeat the same formula many times, as the worshippers of Baal and of Diana of Ephesus (1Ki 18:26; Act 19:34) and the Romanists with their paternosters and aves.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But when ye pray use not vain repetitions,” (proseuchomenci de me battalogesete) “Yet while you are praying do not utter empty words,” vainly, idiotically, repeating the same thing as if God were deaf, dumb, or slow hearing what you have to say. Such is called “tautology,” meaningless babble, for which account must be given, Mat 12:36.
2) “As the heathen do:” (hosper hoi ethnikoi) “As the Gentiles or heathen do,” as illustrated by the babbling, repeated idle, empty prayers of Baal’s heathen false prophets, 1Ki 18:26-29; Act 19:34. Repeated muttering of the same syllables, sounds, or words was a form of pagan worship.
3) “For they think that they shall be heard,” (dokousin gar hoti eisakousthesontai) “Because they think or have the notion that they will be heard;” It is vain repeatedly to pray for something that is not in the will of the Lord. Paul did it regarding a “thorn in the flesh,” 2Co 12:8-9. When he recognized the will of the Lord, after his third intercession to God on the matter, like Jesus in Gethsemane, he accepted it.
4) “For their much speaking.” (en te polulogia auton) “In their multitude of rambling incoherency,” or in their mass verbosity, their stretched out prayers. But multiplied words earnestly uttered, repeatedly uttered, coming from wrong motives, constitute vain repetition and vain praying. When Jesus had prayed three times regarding His coming suffering, He was then strengthened to endure, not avoid, the cross and its shame, Mat 26:39-44; Heb 12:1-2. Pagans thought that by long prayers they would weary their gods into granting their requests.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. Use not vain repetitions He reproves another fault in prayer, a multiplicity of words. There are two words used, but in the same sense: for βαττολογία is “a superfluous and affected repetition,” and πολυλογία is “unmeaning talk.” Christ reproves the folly of those who, with the view of persuading and entreating God, pour out a superfluity of words. This doctrine is not inconsistent with the praises everywhere bestowed in Scripture on earnestness in prayer: for, when prayer is offered with earnest feeling, the tongue does not go before the heart. Besides, the grace of God is not obtained by an unmeaning flow of words; but, on the contrary, a devout heart throws out its affections, like arrows, to pierce heaven. At the same time, this condemns the superstition of those who entertain the belief, that they will secure the favor of God by long murmurings. We find Popery to be so deeply imbued with this error, that it believes the efficacy of prayer to lie chiefly in talkativeness. The greater number of words that a man mutters, the more diligently he is supposed to have prayed. Long and tedious chanting also, as if it were to soothe the ears of God, continually resounds in their cathedrals.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Use not vain repetitions.The Greek word has a force but feebly rendered in the English. Formed from a word which reproduces the repeated attempts of the stammerer to clothe his thoughts in words, it might be almost rendered, Do not stutter out your prayers, do not babble them over. The words describe only too faithfully the act of prayer when it becomes mechanical. The devotion of the rosary, in which every bead is connected with a Pater Noster or an Ave Maria, does but reproduce the eighteen prayers of the Rabbis, which they held it to be an act of religion to repeat. On the other hand, it is clear that the law of Christ does not exclude the iteration of intense emotion. That is not a vain repetition; and in the great crisis of His human life our Lord Himself prayed thrice using the same words (Mat. 26:44). How far our use of the Lords Prayer, or of the Kyrie Eleison of our Litanies, is open to the charge of vain repetition is another question. It is obvious that it may easily become so to any mechanical worshipper of the Pharisaic type; but there is, on the other side, an ever-accumulating weight of evidence from really devout souls, that they have found it helpful in sustaining the emotion without which prayer is dead.
As the heathen do.We know too little of the details of the ritual of classical heathenism to be able to say how far the charge of vain repetition applied at this time to them. The cries of the worshippers of Baal from morning even until noon (1Ki. 18:26), the shouts of those of Artemis at Ephesus for the space of two hours (Act. 19:34), may be taken as representative instances.
Their much speaking.This thought was the root-evil of the worship of the heathen or the Pharisee. It gave to prayer a quantitative mechanical force, increased in proportion to the number of prayers offered. If fifty failed, a hundred might succeed. But this assumed that the object of prayer was to change the will of God, or to inform Him of what He did not know before, and our Lord teaches usas, indeed, all masters of the higher life have taughtthat that assumption vitiates prayer at once.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Vain repetitions The second caution in regard to prayer. Vain repetition, in the Greek, battologia. The word is derived by an ancient lexicographer from Battus, a poet, who composed hymns full of repetitions. More probably, however, the word is made from the sound, like such words as tattle and clatter. The repetitions of a fervent heart are not condemned; but the parrot-like recitation of heartless phrases, as if the mere saying of them over would be a merit. So the Papists prescribe Pater Nosters to be repeated, and beads to be counted. Of the repetitions of modern Orientals, Dr. Thomson says: “They are obliged to repeat some expressions thirty times; others many hundred times. Would that these remarks did not apply to nominal Christians in this land as well as to Moslems!” Much speaking Instead of sincere speaking. Our Saviour is not condemning perseverance in prayer. On the contrary, he often prayed himself all night. As the heathen do Our Lord will deal with heathenism in a later part of the discourse. But, alas! there is much of heathenism in Judaism.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And in praying do not use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do,
For they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.”
In praying they are not to ‘use vain repetitions.’ This might literally be translated, ‘do not babble’ (but the word is a rare one and its exact meaning is not known). The word is battalogeo. It may reflect the Hebrew word ‘batel’ meaning vain or idle. Or it may reflect the Greek root ‘batt’ meaning ‘stuttering’. Taken with logeo it could therefore mean speaking vainly or idly, or going on and on in a fairly meaningless way. But in compound words as here logein can mean ‘to gather’. Thus it may signify a gathering together of vain or babbling words. The point being made is that prayers that go on and on for their own sake, or are completely repetitive, possibly even including some kind of formulae for persuading the deity to respond, but have no heart in them, will achieve nothing from God. This would include unthinking repetition of prayers by rote, or with a prayer wheel or other aid. It does not, however, discourage the practise of writing out our prayer and laying it before God. It is not a question of method, but of genuineness and motive. Such aimless prayers, says Jesus, achieve nothing. What matters it that the prayer comes from the heart and is genuine, and furthermore that it comes from those whose hearts are right.
The point being made here is that because they are now disciples of Jesus, and have repented and come under the Kingly Rule of God, they can come to God as their Father. Prayer has suddenly become a more vital thing. And no child should see itself as needing to force itself on its father’s attention by constant babbling and endless persistence. Rather the child should be straight and to the point. And that being so, that should also be the approach of the disciples to their a heavenly Father.
The Gentiles, and many Jews also, were seen as knowing no better. They did not know God as their Father in this personal way. They were not in any genuine relationship with Him. Thus they saw God as Someone far off and inaccessible who had to be persuaded and bribed, Someone Who had to be constantly harassed until He gave way. They did think that they could wear God down, or somehow persuade Him to do their will, often by using techniques. For their conception of God was such that they knew no other way to go about it. In contrast the disciple knows that God is now his Father in Heaven, and that he can therefore approach Him as such. He knows that he does not need to speak a lot, and that he does not need to go on and on at God, but that God is ready to listen to him. And he also recognises that He must remember who God is. So he does not rush in with rash words. He remembers that, ‘God is in Heaven, and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few’ (Ecc 5:2).
But that is not to say that he does not spend much time in prayer. Jesus Himself certainly did, and He prayed long and hard (Luk 6:12). Nor was He afraid to repeat His essential prayers (Mat 26:39-44). The difference lay in His purpose in praying, the fullness of heart that lay behind His praying, His readiness to listen, and in what He hoped to achieve. In Jesus’ case the aim was to establish His Father’s will and then to do it. It was in order at all times to maintain close fellowship with His Father. He had not the slight intention of ‘wearing Him down’ or trying to persuade Him against His will, or of ‘getting what He wanted’ by badgering Him. Rather He wanted to spend time with His Father, and discover His will, and do it. And that is what our aim should be too.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
How Not To Pray (6:7-9a).
Having gone quietly and secretly into a private room the next question was as to what kind of praying to avoid. The point being made here is that the prayers of most men are useless, and accomplish nothing, simply because when they pray it is not a question of genuinely speaking with God. To them God is just a convenience store. Their aim is simply to get what they want. And they rather think that by repeating themselves and going on and on in prayer they will somehow persuade God to give them what they want. So they ‘babble’ on. They somehow feel that they will earn God’s reply by the length of time that they continue in prayer, and by how often they repeat their request. Their idea is that if they keep it up long enough they will surely eventually have earned a satisfactory reply. They think by such methods to persuade Him to do what they ask. Jesus stresses that His disciples must not think like that at all. For they must remember that they are speaking to a Father Who knows what their needs are before they ask Him, and will cater for them as necessary (Mat 6:26; Mat 6:30).
He is not discouraging long prayers. Only long prayers for the wrong things and with the wrong motive. Long prayers made with the hope of their length somehow persuading God to do something selfish are discouraged, but long prayers of someone whose aim is simply to have loving fellowship with God are a different matter. Once He has made the point He will then go on to point out what they should be praying for all the time.
Analysis of Mat 6:7-9 a.
a
b B For they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
c C Do not therefore be like them,
b D For your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.
a E After this manner therefore pray you.”
Note that in ‘a’ they are to avoid vain repetitions, and in the parallel they are to pray as Jesus shows them to pray. In ‘b’ the non-disciples think that they will be heard because of their constant repetition, and in the parallel the disciples are reminded that such is unnecessary because their Father already knows their needs. In ‘c’ and importantly they are not to be like the Gentiles. Thus while they are to avoid being like the more ostentatious Scribes and Pharisees, it is equally necessary that they do not pray like the Gentiles. Their way of praying must rather be that of a true disciple.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A lesson in regard to the form of prayer:
v. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. The chief characteristic of the prayers in heathen worship is a gabbling or babbling, a repetition without end of the same forma of words, 1Ki 18:26; Act 19:34. Such customs were familiar to the Jews as well as to the Galileans, on account of the mixed population and the presence of strangers in their midst. The idea supporting such meaningless repetitions seems to have been that the very flood of words should argue for the sincerity of the worshiper and practically weary the gods into complying with their wishes.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 6:7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions The original word , is derived from one Battus, who was a great babbler. (see Ovid’s Metamorph. 2. ver. 688.); and signifying “to use a vain multiplicity and repetition of words.” See Mintert, Beza, and Hammond. The word is very applicable to the devotions of the Heathens. See 1Ki 18:26. Act 19:34. The vain repetition which Christ here forbids his disciples to use in their prayers, is plainly such as proceeded from an opinion that they were to be heard for their much speaking, after the manner of those Heathens: this opinion implying a denial either of the power, or the knowledge, or goodness of him whom we worship, is highly injurious to him; and therefore repetitions in prayer flowing from it, are culpable; but repetitions proceeding from a deep sense of our wants, and which express a vehement desire of the divine grace, Jesus by no means prohibits; for he himself made use of such repetitions in his agony, when he prayed three several times with exceeding vehemence; yet, as St. Matthew remarks, using still the same words: and indeed nothing is more beneficial, than to persevere as long as possible in the same act of desire, and to renew it again and again with fresh zeal and intenseness. This is what our Lord both taught and practised. But to repeat words without intending, or meaning them, is certainly a vain repetition; and therefore we must be extremely careful in our prayers to mean what we say, and to say only what we mean from the very bottom of our hearts. The vain and heedless repetitions, which we are here warned against, are a most dangerous, yet very common error, which has long been the reproach of Christendom, and is the principal cause why so many, even of those who still profess religion, are a disgrace to it: and how is it possible they should be otherwise, while they want the reality of all true religion, an inward devotion? See Heylin.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 6:7 . ] indicating a transition to the consideration of another abuse of prayer.
] (Simplic. ad Epict . p. 340) is not to be derived, with Suidas, Eustathius, Erasmus, from some one of the name of Battus (passages in Wetstein), who, according to Herod. v. 155, was in the habit of stammering, but, as already Hesychius correctly perceived ( ), is to be regarded as a case of onomatopoeia (comp. as a nickname of Demosthenes, , , ), and means, properly speaking, to stammer , then to prate, to babble , the same thing that is subsequently called . B have the form .; see Tisch. 8.
] Whose prayers, so wordy and full of repetitions (hence, fatigare Deos), were well known. Terent. Heautont. v. i. 6 ff. In Rabbinical writers are found recommendations sometimes of long, sometimes of short, prayers (Wetstein). For an example of a Battological Jewish prayer, see Schoettgen, p. 58 f., comp. Mat 23:15 ; and for disapproval of long prayers, see Ecc 5:1 , Sir 7:14 .
] in consequence of their much speaking; they imagine that this is the cause of their being heard. As to the thing, consider the words of Augustine: “Absit ab oratione multa locutio, sed non desit multa precatio, si fervens perseveret intentio;” the former, he adds, is “rem necessariam superfluis agere verbis,” but the multum precari is: “ad eum, quem precamur, diuturna et pia cordis excitatione pulsare” (Ep. 130. 20, ad probam).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Ver. 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions ] Babble not, bubble not, saith the Syriac, as water out of a narrow mouthed vessel. Do not iterate or inculcate the same things odiously et ad nauseam, as Solomon’s fool, who is full af words (saith he); and this custom of his expressed , in his vain tautologies. a “A man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell?” Ecc 10:14 . Such a one also was that Battus (to whom the Evangelist here hath relation), an egregious babbler. b In common discourse it is a sign of weakness to lay on more words upon a matter than needs must: how much more in prayer! Take we heed we offer not the sacrifice of fools; God hath no need of such, 1Sa 21:15 ; cf. Psa 5:5 . He “is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few,” Ecc 5:2 . Prayers move God, not as an orator moves his hearers, but as a child his father (“your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” Mat 6:8 ). Now a child is not to chat to his father, but to deliver his mind, humbly, earnestly, in few, direct to the point. St Peter would have men to be sober in prayer, that is, to pray with due respect to God’s dreadful majesty, without trifling or vain babbling, 1Pe 4:7 . He that is fervent in spirit, prays much, though he speak little, as the publican, Luk 18:13 , and Elijah, 1Ki 18:36 . But as a body without a soul, much wood without a fire, a bullet in a gun without powder, -so are words in prayer without spirit. Now long prayers can hardly maintain their vigour, as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused. The strongest hand long extended will languish, as Moses’ hand slacked against Amalek. It is a praise proper to God, to have “his hand stretched out still,” Isa 9:12 . Our infirmity suffers not any long intention of body or mind. Our devotion will soon lag and hang the wing: others also that join with us may be tired out, and made to sin by weariness and wanderings. In secret indeed, and in extraordinary prayer with solemn fasting, or so when the heart is extraordinarily enlarged, our prayers may and must be likewise. Solomon prayed long at the dedication of the Temple, so did those godly Levites. Neh 9:5-38 Our Saviour prayed all night sometimes, “and rising up a great while before day, he went apart and prayed,” Mar 1:35 . Of Luther it is reported that he spent constantly three hours a day in prayer, and three of the best hours, and fittest for study. c It was the saying of a grave and godly divine, that he profited in the knowledge of the word more by prayer in a short time than by study in a longer. That which our Saviour condemneth, is needless and heartlessly repetitious, unnecessary digressions, tedious prolixities, proceeding not from heat of affection or strength of desire (for so the repetition of the self-same petition is not only lawful, but useful, Dan 9:17-18 Mar 14:39 ; Psa 142:1 ; Psa 130:6 ), but either out of ostentation of devotion, as Pharisees, or the opinion of being heard sooner, as heathens, when men’s words exceed their matter, or both words and matter exceed their attention and affection. See that these be matches, and then pray and spare not.
For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking ] As Orpheus in his hymns, and other pagans; calling, as the mariners in Jonah, “every man upon his God;” and lest they should not hit the right, closing their petitions with that Diique Deaeque omnes, to all gods and goddesses. And since this was the folly and fault of pagans, so is it also still of the Papists, whom the Holy Ghost calleth heathens, with whom they symbolize, as in many things else, so in their battologies or vain repetitions: which are so gross that the devil himself (had he any shame in him) might well be ashamed of them. d In their Jesus Psalter (as they call it) there are fifteen of these prayers: “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, have mercy on me. Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, help me. Jesu, Jesu, give me here my purgatory.” Every of these petitions are to be ten different times at once said over for a task. So on their church and college doors, the English fugitives have written in great golden letters, Iesu, Iesu, converte Angliam, Fiat, Fiat. Jesus, Jesus convert the English, Do it, do it. These be their weapons, they say, prayers and tears. But the truth is, the Jesuits (the pope’s blood hounds) trust more to the prey than to their prayers; like vultures, whose nests, as Aristotle saith, cannot be found, yet they will leave all games to follow an army, because they delight to feed upon carrion. Their faction is a most agile sharp sword, whose blade is sheathed at their pleasure in the bowels of every commonwealth, but the handle reacheth to Rome and Spain. They strive under pretence of long prayers and dissembled sanctity, which is double iniquity ( simulata sanetitas duplex iniquitas ), to subdue all to the pope, and the pope to themselves. Satan, they say, sent Luther, and God sent them to withstand him. But that which Vegetius (i. 24) said of chariots armed with scythes and hooks, will be every day more and more applied to the Jesuits; “at first they were a terror, afterwards a scorn.”
a . ‘ , In multiloquio stultilofuium.
b – sub illis
Montibus inquit erunt, et erant sub montibus illis.
Risit Atlantiades, et me mihi perfide prodis?
Me mihi perfide prodis? ait. Ovid, Met. 2. 203.
c Nullus abit dies quirt ut minimum tres horas, easque studiis aptissimas, in orationem ponat.
d Gentes sunt Antichristus cum suis asseclis. Pareus. Battologiae Pontificiae vel Satanam ipsum pudeat. Beza.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7. ] a word probably without any further derivation than an imitation of the sounds uttered by stammerers, who repeat their words often without meaning ( , Hesych [56] ). Suidas, Eustath [57] , and others, supposed it derived from a certain stammering Battus, Herod. iv. 155. But the name of this Battus seems to have been given from the circumstance; , . We have and its derivatives with the same signification; and schines called Demosthenes ( . p. 288. 17 Bekker). Hence the sense has generally been held to be, ‘ do not make unmeaning repetitions .’ But most of the Fathers (see the passages in Thol., and in Suicer sub voce) understand by ., the praying (so Greg. Nyss [58] ), or , , (Orig [59] ), or . : &c. Taking the word in its largest meaning, that of saying things irrelevant and senseless , it may well include all these.
[56] Hesychius of Jerusalem, cent y . vi.
[57] Eustathius, Bp. of Antioch, 323
[58] Nyssa, Gregory, Bp. of, 371
[59] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
] ‘Prece qua fatigent virgines sanct minus audientem carmina Vestam?’ Hor. Od. i. 2. 26. ‘Nisi illos (Deos) tuo ex ingenio judicas, Ut nil credas intelligere nisi idem dictum est centies.’ Ter. Heaut. Mat 6:1 . What is forbidden in this verse is not much praying, for our Lord Himself passed whole nights in prayer: not praying in the same words , for this He did in the very intensity of His agony at Gethsemane; but the making number and length a point of observance , and imagining that prayer will be heard, not because it is the genuine expression of the desire of faith, but because it is of such a length, has been such a number of times repeated. The repetitions of Paternosters and Ave Marias in the Romish Church, as practised by them, are in direct violation of this precept; the number of repetitions being prescribed , and the efficacy of the performance made to depend on it . But the repetition of the Lord’s Prayer in the Liturgy of the Church of England is not a violation of it, nor that of the Kyrie Eleison, because it is not the number of these which is the object, but each has its appropriate place and reason in that which is preeminently a reasonable service. Our Lord was also denouncing a Jewish error. Lightfoot quotes from the Rabbinical writings, ‘Omnis qui multiplicat orationem, auditor.’ Hor. Hebr. in loc. Augustine puts admirably the distinction between much praying and much speaking: ‘Absit ab oratione multa locutio; sed non desit multa precatio, si fervens perseverat intentio. Nam multum loqui, est in orando rem necessariam superfluis agere verbis; multum autem precari, est ad eum quem precamur diuturna et pia cordis excitatione pulsare. Nam plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam sermonibus agitur; plus fletu, quam affatu.’ Ep. cxxx. 10 (20), vol. ii. And Chrysostom, in one of his finest strains of eloquence, comments on this verse: , , , , . Hom. xix. 3, p. 248. Those who have the opportunity should by all means read the whole passage, which is too long for insertion in a note.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 6:7-15 . Further instruction in prayer . Weiss (Mt.-Evan.) regards this passage as an interpolation, having no proper place in an anti-Pharisaic discourse. Both the opinion and its ground are doubtful. As regards the latter, it is true that it is Gentile practice in prayer that is formally criticised, but it does not follow that the Pharisees were not open to the same censure. They might make long prayers, not in ignorance, but in ostentation (Lutteroth), as a display of devotional talent or zeal. But apart from the question of reference to the Pharisees, it is likely that prayer under various aspects formed one of the subjects of instruction in the course of teaching on the hill whereof these chapters are a digest.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 6:7 . : a . in N. T., rarely used anywhere, and of doubtful derivation. Some (Erasmus, e.g. ) have thought it was formed from Battus, the stammerer mentioned by Herod. (iv. 155), or from a feeble poet of the name who made long hymns full of repetitions (Suidas, Lexicon), but most now incline to the view that it is onomatopoetic. Hesychius (Lex.) takes this view of the kindred word ( ). It points to the repetition without end of the same forms of words as a stammerer involuntarily repeats the same syllable, like the Baal worshippers shouting from morning till noon, “O Baal, hear us” (1Ki 18:26 , cf. Act 19:34 , “Great is Diana of the Ephesians”). This repetition is characteristic of Pagan prayer, and when it recurs in the Church, as in saying many Aves and Paternosters, it is Paganism redivivus. , the second of three references to Pagans (Mat 5:47 , Mat 6:32 ) in the Sermon on the Mount, not to be wondered at. The Pagan world was near at hand for a Jew belonging to Galilee with its mixed population. Pagan customs would be familar to Galileans, and it was natural that Jesus should use them as well as the theory and practice of scribes and Pharisees, to define by contrast true piety. , epexegetical of . The Pagans thought that by endless repetitions and many words they would inform their gods as to their needs and weary them (“fatigare deos”) into granting their requests.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
use not vain repetitions = repeat not the same things over and over; explained in last clause. Greek. battologeo. Occurs only here.
heathen = Gentiles. Greek. ethnikos. Occurs only here, and Mat 18:17.
for = in. Greek. en.
much speaking. Greek. polulogia. Occurs only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7. ] a word probably without any further derivation than an imitation of the sounds uttered by stammerers, who repeat their words often without meaning ( , Hesych[56]). Suidas, Eustath[57], and others, supposed it derived from a certain stammering Battus, Herod. iv. 155. But the name of this Battus seems to have been given from the circumstance; , . We have and its derivatives with the same signification; and schines called Demosthenes ( . p. 288. 17 Bekker). Hence the sense has generally been held to be, do not make unmeaning repetitions. But most of the Fathers (see the passages in Thol., and in Suicer sub voce) understand by ., the praying (so Greg. Nyss[58]), or , , (Orig[59]), or . : &c. Taking the word in its largest meaning, that of saying things irrelevant and senseless, it may well include all these.
[56] Hesychius of Jerusalem, centy. vi.
[57] Eustathius, Bp. of Antioch, 323
[58] Nyssa, Gregory, Bp. of, 371
[59] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
] Prece qua fatigent virgines sanct minus audientem carmina Vestam? Hor. Od. i. 2. 26. Nisi illos (Deos) tuo ex ingenio judicas, Ut nil credas intelligere nisi idem dictum est centies. Ter. Heaut. Mat 6:1. What is forbidden in this verse is not much praying, for our Lord Himself passed whole nights in prayer: not praying in the same words, for this He did in the very intensity of His agony at Gethsemane; but the making number and length a point of observance, and imagining that prayer will be heard, not because it is the genuine expression of the desire of faith, but because it is of such a length, has been such a number of times repeated. The repetitions of Paternosters and Ave Marias in the Romish Church, as practised by them, are in direct violation of this precept; the number of repetitions being prescribed, and the efficacy of the performance made to depend on it. But the repetition of the Lords Prayer in the Liturgy of the Church of England is not a violation of it, nor that of the Kyrie Eleison, because it is not the number of these which is the object, but each has its appropriate place and reason in that which is preeminently a reasonable service. Our Lord was also denouncing a Jewish error. Lightfoot quotes from the Rabbinical writings, Omnis qui multiplicat orationem, auditor. Hor. Hebr. in loc. Augustine puts admirably the distinction between much praying and much speaking: Absit ab oratione multa locutio; sed non desit multa precatio, si fervens perseverat intentio. Nam multum loqui, est in orando rem necessariam superfluis agere verbis; multum autem precari, est ad eum quem precamur diuturna et pia cordis excitatione pulsare. Nam plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quam sermonibus agitur; plus fletu, quam affatu. Ep. cxxx. 10 (20), vol. ii. And Chrysostom, in one of his finest strains of eloquence, comments on this verse: , , , , . Hom. xix. 3, p. 248. Those who have the opportunity should by all means read the whole passage, which is too long for insertion in a note.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 6:7. , use not vain repetitions) Gattaker has collected from antiquity many persons called Battus, celebrated for their stammering, and thence for their frequent repetition of the same word (tautologia), and deriving their name from that circumstance. Hesychius[251] renders by (idle talking), (unseasonable talking): he says, appears to me to be derived from an imitation of the voice, etc., and he explains by .[252] It is clear, therefore, that means the same here which (much speaking) does immediately afterwards, sc. when the same things are repeated over and over again, as is the case with stammerers, who endeavour to correct their first utterance by a second.- , as the heathen do) In all things the practice of hypocrites is to be avoided, in prayer that also of the heathen.- , in their much speaking) i.e. whilst they say many words. They think that many words are required to inform their deities what they want of them, so that they may hear and grant their requests, if not at the present, at some future time. Cf. on the other hand, your Father KNOWETH, etc., Mat 6:8. The same word, (much speaking) occurs in the S. V. of Pro 10:19. Ammonius[253] says, is one who utters many words concerning few things, , one who utters many words concerning many things. Christ commands us to utter few words, even when praying for many things; see Mat 6:9-13.-, shall be regarded. The Hebrew , to answer, is rendered by the LXX. . God answers substantially;[254] see ch. Mat 7:7.
[251] Hesychius. There were several distinguished men of this name. The individual here intended was a celebrated grammarian and lexicographer of Alexandria, who lived somewhere about the fourth century.-(I. B.)
[252] signified either originally stuttering, or derivatively idle prating: , silly talk, nonsense, foolery. It is used also in the plural. The kindred adjective is rendered tattlers in 1Ti 5:13, and the cognate participle , prating in 3Jn 1:10 by the Eng. Ver.-(I. B.)
[253] Ammonius the grammarian must not be confounded with the author of the Ammonian Sections. He was a native of Alexandria, and flourished in the fourth century. The work here alluded to is his treatise De differentia dictionum.-(I. B.)
[254] In the original Deus respondit solide.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
use: 1Ki 18:26-29, Ecc 5:2, Ecc 5:3, Ecc 5:7, Act 19:34
repetitions: Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42, Mat 26:44, 1Ki 8:26-54, Dan 9:18, Dan 9:19
the heathen: Mat 6:32, Mat 18:17
Reciprocal: Job 35:13 – God Isa 1:15 – make many prayers Jer 10:3 – customs Mar 7:7 – in vain Mar 12:40 – long Mar 14:39 – he went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:7
Vain repetitions is explained in the lexicon to mean saying the same things over and over again for the sake of taking up time, or for the purpose of making a favorable impression. Heathen is from ETHNIKOS which Thayer defines, “3. in the New Testament savoring of the nature of pagans, alien to the worship of the true God, heathenish.” Much speaking means the same as vain repetitions as to its motive. Many prayers of disciples of Christ today have unnecessary phrases that would come under the disapproval of Jesus. Our prayers should be brief and simple and made to pertain to the occasion that caused the prayer to be called for.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
[ROSARY, a chaplet of roses or beads used as an aid to memory in the repeating of prayers, as the Paternosters and Ave Marias. There are various patterns in use; one is a rosary of fifty-five beads, fifty small ones for the Ave Marias, separated into groups of ten by five large ones to mark Paternosters. Hindus, Mohammedans, and Buddhists all employ the rosary. The name is also given to a series of prayers (“Rosary of the Blessed Virgin”) consisting of fifteen decades, comprising fifteen paternosters and doxologies, and 150 Ave Marias, divided into three parts. — Universal Standard Encyclopedia
ROSARY. Part of the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church is the rosary, fifteen groups or series of prayers, each series consisting of a Paternoster (Lord’s Prayer), ten Aves (salutes to the Virgin Mary), and a Gloria. The string of beads used in counting the prayers is also called a rosary. It is symbolic, for the large beads stand for Paternosters (Our Father’s) and Glorias, and the small beads for Aves (Hail Mary’s), while the crucifix on the pendant symbolized the Apostles’ Creed. The groups of beads are “decades”; generally only five decades are said at one time. Instead of a large bead at the end and at the beginning of each decade, only one bead is used to represent the Gloria and the Paternoster. During the telling of the beads in each decade, the worshiper meditates on one of the fifteen mysteries of the life and death of Christ.
In the Greek Church, the monks, and not the lay members of the congregation, recite their prayers with the rosary, which is composed of a hundred beads of equal size. In the Russian Church, the rosary consists of 103 beads which are divided into groups by four larger ones, representing the Evangelists. Rosaries are also used by Buddhists and Mohammedans. — The Wonderland of Knowledge Encyclopedia, 1965]
[Use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do] see the civil battology [vain repetitions] of the heathen in their supplications: “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 condemned to the lion. Hear us, Caesar. Let the false accusers be condemned to the lion. Hear us, Caesar,” etc.
“Antoninus the pious, the gods keep thee. Antoninus the merciful, the gods keep thee. Antoninus the merciful, the gods keep thee.” See also Capitolinus, in the Maximini.
Those words savour of vain repetition in prayer, 1Ki 18:26; “The priest of Baal called upon the name of Baal from morning to noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.”
After the same manner almost as the heathen mixed vain repetitions; in their prayers, did the Jews in their using divers words importing the same thing; not repeating, indeed, the same thing in varied phrases; which appears sufficiently to him that reads their liturgies through, as well the more ancient as those of a later date. And certainly the sin is equally the same in using different words of the same thing, as in a vain repetition of the same words; if so be there were the same deceit and hypocrisy in both; in words only multiplied, but the heart absent.
And in this matter the Jew sinned little less than the heathen. For this was an axiom with them, Every one that multiplies prayer is heard. Christ, therefore, does not so much condemn the bare saying over again the same petitions, either in the same words, or in words of the same import (for he himself spake the same things thrice, when he prayed in the garden), as a false opinion, as if there were some power, or zeal, or piety, in such kind of repetitions; and that they would be sooner heard, and more prevail with God. While he strikes the heathen, he strikes the Jews also, who laboured under the same phrensy: but there is mention only of the heathen, partly because this savoured rather of heathen blindness than of the profession of true religion, which the Jews boasted of; partly, and especially, that he might not condemn the public prayers of the Jews without cause, in which they sinned not at all by using synonymous expressions, if it were done out of a pious and sincere heart.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 6:7. But when ye pray. The plural form is resumed, and continued throughout the Lords prayer; this probably extends the application to public prayer.
Use not vain repetitions. The correct sense of the Greek word (lit, to speak stammeringly) is given in our English version, although all senseless and irrelevant expressions are included.
The heathen, i.e., the individual Gentiles. Comp. the repetitions of the priests of Baal (1Ki 18:26), of the mob at Ephesus (Act 19:34). The same usage prevails largely among the adherents of all false religions. There may be vain repetitions of the Lords Prayer, which immediately follows. Hence Luther calls it the greatest martyr. What is forbidden here is not much praying, not praying in the same words (the Lord did both); but the making number and length a point of observance(Alford).
For they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. A second error; the first seeking to gain merit before men; this, attempting to gain merit before God. Prayer, not a magical charm, but a reasonable service. Much speaking not much praying; vain repetition of heathen origin; merely external worship leads to senseless and sinful worship.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
A vain-glorious ostentation in prayer was condemned by our Saviour in the former verse; here a vain-glorious multiplicity of words, by idle tautologies and impetinent repetitions, is condemned also; after the manner of the heathens, who expected to have their prayers granted by God, for the multiplicity of words used by themselves.
Hence note, That a Christian’s business in prayer being not to inform God (for he knoweth what things we need before we ask him) nor yet to move and persuade God (for he is our Father) it certainly argues an undue apprehension of God, when we lengthen out our prayers with vain repetitions and a multitude of words.
Yet note, 1. That it is not all repetition of the same words in prayer which Christ here condemns, for he himself prayed thrice, using the same words, that the cup might pass from him.
Nor, 2. Are we to apprehend that prayers continued to a considerable length are forbidden by Christ; for Solomon’s prayer was such, 1 Kings 8. In Neh 9:1-23, it is said, the people confessed, and worshipped for three hours; Christ continued in prayer all night; and the church, Acts 7, made prayers without ceasing for St. Peter’s enlargement.
And we read of St. Paul’s praying night and day, 1Th 3:10, and of his commanding the churches to be instant in prayer, and to continue in prayer. But Christ here condemns prayers lengthened out upon an apprehension that we shall be heard by our much speaking, or can move God by arguments, whilst we continue in our sins. (Dr. Whitby)
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 6:7-8. When ye pray, use not vain repetitions A multiplicity of words without meaning, or uttered without seriousness, reverence for God, sincerity, or faith. The original word, , is derived from , a stutterer, or foolish talker, and , speech. The former word was the name of a certain prince of the Cyrenans, who was a stammerer, and also of a babbling foolish poet, who frequently repeated the same things, and whose rhapsodies were full of tautologies. Our interpretation of the words, Use not vain repetitions, Dr. Campbell thinks is too confined, and does not include all that is meant to be signified by our Lords expression, which, he says, comprehends every thing, in words, that may justly be called vain, idle, or foolish. The word , much speaking, applied to the same fault in the latter part of the verse, is a further elucidation of its meaning. As the heathen do When invoking their false gods: for they think they shall be heard In the prayers which they address to them; for their much speaking Thus we find the priests of Baal crying from morning till noon, O Baal, hear us. Hence it appears, partly at least, what the repetitions were which Christ forbade his disciples to use in their prayers, namely, such as proceeded from an opinion that they should be heard for their much speaking, after the manner of the heathen. This opinion, implying a denial of the power, or the knowledge, or the goodness of God, is highly injurious to him; and therefore repetitions in prayer, flowing from it, are highly culpable, as also is the repeating of any words without meaning them, or the expressing in words any petitions or thanksgivings which do not proceed from the heart. Therefore, we should be extremely careful, in all our prayers, to mean what we say, and to desire what we ask, from the very bottom of our hearts. The vain and heathenish repetitions which we are here warned against, are very common, and a principal cause why so many who profess religion are a disgrace to it. Indeed, all the words in the world, however well chosen and uttered in prayer, are not equivalent to one holy desire; and the very best prayers are but vain repetitions, if they are not the language of the heart. But let it be observed, on the other hand, that repetitions proceeding from a deep sense of our wants, and a vehement desire of divine grace, and the spiritual blessings flowing therefrom, or connected therewith, are by no means prohibited here by the Lord Jesus, otherwise indeed he would condemn his own practice, Mat 26:39-44. For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask him We do not pray to inform God of our wants. Omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed of any thing which he knew not before: and he is always willing to relieve them. The chief thing wanting is, a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace and blessing. Consequently, one great office of prayer is to produce such a disposition in us; to exercise our dependance on God; to increase our desire of the things we ask for; to make us so sensible of our wants, that we may never cease wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 7
Vain repetitions; long prayers full of sameness and repetition, and made through ostentation or spiritual pride. Protracted seasons of devotion, in extraordinary emergencies, or in seasons of great trial or suffering when the soul is earnest and sincere are not condemned. Our Savior himself sometimes spent the night in prayer.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
6:7 But when ye pray, use not {c} vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
(c) Long prayers are not condemned, but vain, needless, and superstitious ones.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus digressed briefly to give a further warning about repetitious prayer (Mat 6:7-8) and a positive example of proper prayer (Mat 6:9-15). Jesus’ disciples can fall into prayer practices that characterize the pagans. Jesus Himself prayed long prayers (Luk 6:12), and He repeated Himself in prayer (Mat 26:44). These practices were not the objects of His criticism. He was attacking the idea that the length of a prayer makes it efficacious. Pagan prayer commonly relies on length and repetition for effectiveness, the sheer quantity of words.
Jesus’ disciples do not need to inform their omniscient Father of their needs in prayer. He already knows what they are. Why pray then? Jesus did not answer that question here. Essentially we pray for the same reasons children speak to their parents: to share concerns, to have fellowship, to obtain help, and to express gratitude, among other reasons.