Is there an example in the Bible of a human ever praying [a prayer] to someone other than one assumed to be God/god?
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As far as the Hebrew הִתְפַּלֵּל (hitpallēl) goes, I’m pretty sure1 the only example of prayer clearly directed at people (rather than God/gods) is Isaiah 45:14, which doesn’t come across as "pray" in most translations I’ve looked at, presumably because the idea is troubling.
Thus says the LORD:
“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours;
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you (אֵלַיִךְ יִֽשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ)
They will plead with you (אֵלַיִךְ יִתְפַּלָּ֔לוּ), saying:
‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
no god besides him.’” (ESV)
The phrase "plead with you" uses the verb/stem of interest (hitpallēl) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel = "to", here in its emphatic form), which standardly identifies the object of prayer. The object ("you") is feminine singular and thus probably refers to Jerusalem rather than Israel (which is consistently referred to using masculine pronouns) or (more problematic still) Cyrus. The semantically related verb יִשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ (yištaḥăwwû = "they will bow down") - makes it all the more jarring.
There is another set of occurrences of this same verb + preposition pair (hitpallēl ʾel) that is usually translated differently but involves precisely the same Hebrew construction. This is exemplified by 1 King 8:29 // 2 Chr 6:20:2
that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place (yitpallēl....ʾel–hammāqôm)
Here, as in other similar examples 1, hammāqôm ("this place") refers to the temple. The preposition generally translated "toward" is ʾel, the same word used to denote the recipient of prayer elsewhere.
With regard to the Greek terms, both the noun προσευχὴ and the verb προσεύχομαι are applied exclusively to the religious sphere throughout both the LXX and the NT. This distinguishes the term from εύχομαι, a more common word outside of Jewish literature where it often carries a sense of "to vow".3
1. "Pretty sure" because this is drawn from David Clines’ Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, which comprehensively catalogues the objects of this verb + preposition combination in the entire corpus of known Classical Hebrew.
2. The notation // indicates parallel passages. See also: 1 King 8:30 // 2 Chr 6:21; 1 King 8:35 // 2 Chr 6:26; 1 King 8:42 // 2 Chr 6:32.
3. Heinrich Greeven. "εύχομαι". Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Ed. Gerhard Kittel, trans. Geoffrey Bromiley. Eerdmans, 1964.
Upvote:-2
1 Samual 28:15
And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams:therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy.
Saul, asking a pitition from Samuel, against the will of God and out of desperation. It is clear, that the dead hear him, and that he is making a pitition to Samuel.
Luke 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Mary speaks to an Angel.
Luke 1:18
And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years Zacharias speaking to an angel asking a question and recieving an answer.
He is not speaking to God, or the Creator, he is asking a petition a request from an angel.
1 king 2:19-21 Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand. Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother:for I will not say thee nay. And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife
Bathshaba making a pitition to Solomon
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