SEVERINO CELESTINO DA SILVA
The main objective of the prayer should be to highlight our humbleness facing the greatness of God.
We are used to pray with the objective of always asking something for God. It is common for us to pray asking God for something personal, forgetting the general needs of those who surround us.
On the question 659 from The Spirits' Book the spiritual benefactors inform that three things can be proposed to himself via prayer: to praise, to ask, and to thank.
Siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. It qualifies four types of prayer: Adoration (Worshipping God), Confession (Sorry For Your Sins), Thanksgiving (Thank You To God), and Supplication (Asking For Our Needs And The Needs Of Others). The Supplication Prayer, as it can be seen, is only one of the different types of prayer according to the Siddur. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: ??? ???? ?????) is an abjad offshoot of the ancient Semitic alphabet, identical to the Phoenician alphabet. At the very least it dates to the 10th century BCE. It was used as the main vehicle for writing the Hebrew language by the Israelites, both Jews and Samaritans. The Hebrew verb lehitpalel – to pray – doesn’t mean to ‘implore’ to God, as many would say. It comes from the Hebrew radical “palel” which means “to judge”. Therefore, “lehitpalel” (to pray) could also be translated as “to judge you”.
Let’s not forget Jesus was Jewish. In accordance with his Jewish condition, He teaches us the Sermon on the Mount. It is contained in the Gospel of St. Matthew; the Sermon on the Mount is a compilation of Jesus' sayings, epitomizing his moral teaching. The sermon also contains the Lord's Prayer.
Jesus starts by orientating us how to pray; not simply for the purpose of being seen to pray. He recommends us to go to our room, close the door and pray to God in secret, as He can see everything and will reward us in secret. Jesus also teaches us it’s not necessary to just repeat words or pray it out loud. God knows what is necessary for us, and also what we deserve to get in return.
Here we present you with The Lord's Prayer translated directly from the Hebrew text. This will enable you to compare the difference between the Greek and Latin translations.
This Hebrew text was extracted from the New Testament from the “Society for Distributing the Holy Scriptures to the Jews”- London.
Here we present some explanations referred to the text translated; we can then compare it with the traditional text.
Our Father = Jesus teaches us with humbleness how we should address to God. Please notice He doesn’t say “My Father”, but “Our Father”. Our Father means the Father of all, as we are all in the same level. We pray as if we are asking on behalf of everyone; not just ASKING for “Me”. Jesus orientates us to be humble when addressing to God.
Our Father who art in heaven: God is everywhere; He is the Creator of the Universe, Heavens and also Earth. He is not just the Creator of a restricted geographical region. You could say instead: “Our Father who is from Heaven” but never Our Father, who is in Heaven.
Hallowed be thy name: we could say hallowed is Your name; or hallowed Your name will be in Earth. We can’t say hallowed be thy name since God is the Supreme Intelligence-First Cause of all things. God is infinite in His perfections; hence God is already a saint whether we wish God to be or not. The Hebrew verb kidesh means to Sanctify; to Consecrate. This is an incomplete definition, since it gives the idea that God will be considered Holly; He will be Consecrated. As for God there is not past, present or future, it would be best to use the sentence hallowed is Your name. The expression – Itkadash shmchá – means “Holly is Your Great Name”, which is contained at Kaddish (???? Aramaic: "holy"). This is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service; that the central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. The term "Kaddish" is often used to refer specifically to "The Mourners' Kaddish", said as part of the mourning rituals in Judaism in all prayer services as well as at funerals and memorials.
Thy kingdom come: It’s important to highlight that this expression does not mean Let your kingdom come to us. Here Jesus teaches us that the Divine Kingdom will come to everyone indistinctively: animals, plants, birds, fishes, all living beings; NOT just human beings. The more we progress, the more His laws will be put into practice in the world; which means the kingdom of God will be present. With these laws, justice and peace could be established, and all living beings could help each other instead of causing mutual harm as it happens now.
As stated in the Gospel: The day will come when according to Your promise, all will practice these laws. Then incredulity will have disappeared; all will recognize in You the Supreme Lord of all things and the reign of Your laws will herald Your Reign here on Earth. The kingdom will come but it requires the practice of His laws.
“He wants to establish His kingdom and hurry the advent of His Consecrated one”. This is another expression which is part of the Kaddish. This seems to have been used by Jesus in order to identify Him as the CONSECRATED. In Hebrew, this means THE MESSIAH, HAMASHIÁCH - (axyiHAmah).
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: it could be more correct to say Your wish will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. He is the source of all wisdom and without Him Man can do nothing. His wish is supreme and irreversible. God is unchangeable; since the Creation of the World, He had already established the laws which rule the universe. Those who decide to go against His Divine laws will deal with the consequences of his choices in the future.
Give us this day our daily bread: it would be more appropriate to state Give us this day our share of the bread. Once we use the sentence Give us this day our daily bread, it could be argued that we are asking for the entire amount of bread we will be eating during our days today. God is the One who knows what we need. He also knows what we should receive; plus what we deserve. Let’s recall Jesus’ words: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (Mathew 6: 25-26). The Hebrew text talks about the share of the bread (lechém chuknu). Therefore, we should only as for the share we deserve; the one God decided to give us, as a gesture of humbleness. If we only receive our share, there will be more for the ones who don’t have any bread; or the necessary conditions to maintain their physical body.
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: it would be more appropriate to state Forgive our imperfections as we forgive the imperfections of others. Here our forgiveness for our imperfections come as a natural effect from the forgiveness from others: this is the law of cause and effect. It is a natural harvest from our seeding. This is the meaning of the passage which has been described in Mathew 6: 14 – “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” God doesn’t reward or punish; each one will harvest what seeded previously.
We can be sure that, once we reach moral perfection, no one will own anything to anything. We will all be in harmony as we have reached a higher level of progression.
“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth; you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” (Mathew 5:25-26.)
Lead us not into temptation: this is different from Lead us not handed into affliction. The Hebrew expression “lidei massá” means to the hands of probation/affliction. The Hebrew word which is applied into the text is “massá”, which means test, probation/affliction; not temptation. This word is also found in Genesis 22:1, when Abraham was tested. God doesn’t just test Abraham when He asked him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. God wasn’t testing Abraham but the people of Israel. There are some tests which were set up by God to be found in: Exodus 15:25; 17:7; 20:20; Deuteronomy 6:16; 13:4; 33:7; Jo Chapter 1 and 2; Matthew 4:1-11 (The Temptation of Jesus).
It’s not easy to go through tests, which is why Jesus teaches us to ask God for as much assistance as possible. He also taught us to ask God not to abandon us when we are going through probations/afflictions; which means not being left to our own luck.
but deliver us from evil: it would be more appropriate to state Because we will redeem from evil. If we have the assistance of Iahveh during these probations, we will for sure redeem from evil. The expression “hatsilenu min-hará” means to redeem from evil or to free ourselves from evil. Hence, it could be interpreted if we ask for Iahveh’s assistance during our probations and He stays with us through our synchronization, we will be able to overcome evil.
Amen – amen is a Hebrew word which is communal response to be recited at certain points during the prayer service. It is recited communally to affirm a blessing made by the prayer reader. It means I wish this will be fulfilled. Let it happen according to your wish. So be it.
Source: www.febnet.org.br
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.