One day, I got curious about Nehemiah’s prayer. I searched an online Bible for the phrase: “great and awesome God.” It’s a phrase Nehemiah uses at the beginning of his confessional prayer, the prayer he prays for months. I discovered that he wasn’t original. The phrase had been used before.

“Why were you looking at my words?” Nehemiah asked. He had been sitting in his chair in the corner of my office while I was searching.

I thought about it. “I’m not sure. Something about the phrase sounded familiar. For a while I thought it was like ‘the great and powerful Oz’. But that wasn’t it. When I went looking, I found that Daniel started a prayer almost the same way. Did you know about his prayer when you were praying?”

“The prayer in what you call Daniel 9?” Nehemiah asked. He looked out the window. “It would have been so much easier for us to have chapter and verse numbers. We just memorized everything.”

[NOTE: Though we think of the chapters and verses and headers as part of “the Bible”, they are not part of the original writings. Verses and chapters were added for convenience in study, but they can interfere in tracking a thought. And the headings? Those are added by editors of various versions. They are the most basic version of commentary on the text. But they are not the text.]

“But did you memorize Daniel’s prayer?” I was persistent. Nehemiah just looked at me.

“Here’s why I’m asking. Your prayer sounds very much like Daniel’s prayer. You are both calling out to ‘the great and awesome God.’ You both describe him as the God ‘who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments.’ The exact same words. [NOTE: see Daniel 9:4 and Nehemiah 1:5.]  I want to know if everyone talked to God that way. I want to know if that phrasing should be a formula for us. I want to know whether you and Daniel were part of a Jewish civil service prayer and Bible study group.”

Nehemiah smiled slightly. “Why do you ask that, in particular?”

+++

More tomorrow

+++

Reflecting on Nehemiah 1. Taken from A Great Work: A Conversation with Nehemiah for People (Who Want to Be) Doing Great Works.