GEN466 The nature of Jewish prayer is partly disclosed by the terms employed in Hebrew for prayer. The most general word is Tephillah, from the root palal (Psalm 106:30), to intervene, to interpose, connoting also the idea of arbitration and judgment as well as of intercession in prayer. Goldziher accordingly took the original meaning of Tephillah to be “Invocation of God as judge.” Hastings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, X, p. 191. It is a form of judgment to which a person subjects himself in the presence of God. This meaning may be accounted for by the circumstance that the earliest prayers of Israel were offered in conjunction with the sacrifices, the acceptance of which was deemed to conditional, depending upon the worthiness, purity, and guiltlessness of the worshipper.  Cain’s sacrifice was rejected [this verse].   COHON 317