📖 Biblical Definition
"Looking toward Jerusalem" was Daniel’s exile posture of prayer: "his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime" (Daniel 6:10) — even after the king’s decree forbade it on penalty of death. Solomon had instructed the people at the temple dedication: if exiled, "if they pray toward their land... and toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name: Then hear thou their prayer" (1 Kings 8:48-49). Daniel did so even at risk of the lions’ den — and the LORD shut the lions’ mouths. The Christian’s prayer is now oriented toward the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Composite.) The directional posture of prayer toward the place of God's appointed temple.
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Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:46-50) commanded Israel, when in exile, to pray toward the city, the land, and the house God had chosen for His name. Daniel was obeying the prayer of Solomon.
The motion is more than direction; it is loyalty. The exile prays toward home; the saint prays toward the city he is heading to.
📖 Key Scripture
Daniel 6:10 — "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day."
1 Kings 8:48 — "And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul... and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name."
Psalm 5:7 — "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple."
Hebrews 12:22 — "But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christians pray in many directions and toward no city; Daniel's loyalty — window open toward the temple in defiance of decree — has been quietly forgotten.
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Daniel's opened window in Daniel 6:10 is one of the great acts of public prayer in Scripture. The decree forbade it; the lions awaited it; he opened the window anyway and prayed three times a day, toward Jerusalem.
Christians no longer pray toward the earthly Jerusalem; we pray toward the heavenly one (Heb 12:22). But the loyalty of orientation remains. The household and the saint pray with their face turned toward a city — the city of God, where Christ is. Decree or no, the window stays open.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The motion combines Hebrew verbs of looking, kneeling, and praying with the place-name of Jerusalem.
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H3766 — כָּרַע (kara) — to bow, kneel; the verb of Daniel's threefold daily kneeling.
Note: Daniel's direction (Jerusalem) and frequency (three times daily) become the standard pattern of post-exilic prayer; the synagogue inherits both.
Usage
"Daniel prayed toward a ruined city; we pray toward a coming one."
"Open the window even when the decree closes it."
"Three times a day — the rhythm sustained the man, the man sustained the rhythm."