2577 From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,23 Moses drew strength and determination for his intercession. He does not pray for himself but for 210 the people whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for ~hem during the battle with the Amalekites and prays to obtain 2635 healing for Miriam.24 But it is chiefly after their apostasy that oses ‘stands in the breach’ before God in order to save the copie.25 The arguments of his prayer — for intercession is also a ysterious battle — will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors mong the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is 214 erefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he ust remember his marvellous deeds, since his glory is at stake, d he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.

David and the prayer of the king

578 The prayer of the People of God flourishes in the shadow of od’s dwelling place, first the ark of the covenant and later the emple. At first the leaders of the people — the shepherds and the rophets — teach them to pray. The infant Samuel must have arned from his mother Hannah how ‘to stand before the LORD’ d from the priest Eli how to listen to his word: ‘Speak, LORD, for our servant is iistening.~2ó Later, he will also know the cost and nsequence of intercession: ‘Moreover, as for me, far be it from e that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you;
d I will instruct you in the good and the right way.’27 79 David is par excellence the king ‘after God’s own heart’, the 709 epherd who prays for his people and prays in their name. His bmission to the will of God, his praise and his repentance, will be model for the prayer of the people. His prayer, the prayer of od’s Anointed, is a faithful adherence to the divine promise and 436 presses a loving and joyful trust in God, the only King and ord.28 In the Psalms David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the first ophet ofJewish and e. The prayer of Christ, the e Messiah and Son of David, will reveal and fulfil the meaning this prayer. 8o The Temple of Jerusalem, the house of prayer that David 583 anted to build, will be the work of his son, Solomon. The prayer the dedication of the Temple relies on God’s promise and venant, on the active presence of his name among his People,