Seated prayer

In my From Silence to Song , I highlight the fact that David sits in prayer before Yahweh at the ark-tent. David is enthroned along with Yahweh, a hint of what will come with David’s greater Son.

Nehemiah provides another example. When he hears about Jerusalem’s ruins, he sits, weeps, and fasts “before the God of heaven” (1:4). He too has a position of authority before Yahweh.

It is, moreover, a temple scene, implicitly at least. Nehemiah calls on Yahweh’s ear and eyes to hear and see the prayer that he offers (1:6). That language comes straight from the temple dedication scene in 1 Kings 8, where Solomon asks Yahweh’s eyes and ears to be attentive to the prayers offered toward the temple, and 1 Kings 9, where Yahweh promises to place His name, eyes and ears at the temple.

In Nehemiah’s time, the temple is in ruins, but still his prayer is effective, as he sits enthroned before Yahweh and prayers toward the crucified house where Yahweh’s Name dwells.