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The Oxford American Dictionary (Source: Dictionary on the Apple Macintosh) defines worship as follows (abbreviated):
worship
noun
the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity
• the acts or rites that make up a formal expression of reverence for a deity; a religious ceremony or ceremonies.
• adoration or devotion comparable to religious homage, shown toward a person or principle
verb
show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites
• treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity
• take part in a religious ceremony
Some of the synonyms for worship in the thesaurus (source: Mac Dictionary) include (abbreviated):
worship
noun
1 REVERENCE, veneration, adoration, glorification, glory, exaltation; devotion, praise, thanksgiving, homage, honor.
2 SERVICE, religious rite, prayer, praise, devotion, religious observance.
3 ADMIRATION, adulation, idolization, lionization, hero-worship.
verb
REVERE, reverence, venerate, pay homage to, honor, adore, praise, pray to, glorify, exalt, extol; hold dear, cherish, treasure, esteem, adulate, idolize, deify, hero-worship, lionize.
These are very broad meanings. A "feeling" or "expression" allows almost anything to be called worship if the one feeling or expressing intends it to be worship. This situation is not unlike the meaning of art, for which the most general meaning might be "the self-expression of the individual artist who creates it." Is there some overlap between the contemporary understandings of worship and art?
art
noun
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination... producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
A Google search on a word can sometimes provide a good illustration of what a word means in our culture. The first link in the search results for worship is a Wikipedia article. One sentence from the article further illustrates the wide scope of activities included our contemporary understanding.
Expressions of worship vary between faiths but typically include one or more of the following: prayer; sacrifice; rituals; meditation; holidays, festivals; sacraments; pilgrimages; participatory or observed music or singing; dance; dining; fasting; public readings; listening to a public talk or sermon; the construction of temples or shrines; the creation of idols of the deity; private acts of devotion.
The fourth search result is this link to Google Images. This is how the link looks.
Following is a sample from the first page of Google Images results for worship. On the first page of 18 pictures, 13 of them are of people standing with their arms raised, several of them with the sky or a sunset or sunrise as the background. One of them is a picture of an electric guitar. Several of them appear to be pictures of a musical performance. My purpose for this study is to determine the Biblical meaning of the word worship. It isn't my intention to be critical of "prayer", "public readings", "sermons", or any of the other activities listed or depicted. Rather I am trying to determine, when we encounter the word worship in the bible, whether we are understanding it as it was originally intended.
The following two pictures are from the Wikipedia article on Christian Worship.
It is apparent that a wide range of activities are considered worship in our culture. Is worship simply any form of self-expression toward God? Or is it more specific then that? How is the word worship used in the Bible? Today, I will limit the study to the first uses of this word in the Old Testament.
The following analysis is taken from Accordance Bible Software. It is an analysis of the word worship as used in the King James Version and the Hebrew words that it translates. There are 118 instances of these words and they occur in 115 verses. Here is a summary table; the format is: transliteration, Hebrew, Strong's Number and count.
No Hebrew: 1 timeThe complete analysis from Accordance follows (with a slightly different transliteration):
s'gid (סגד) H5457: 12 times
avad (עבד) H5647: 5 times
atstav (עצב) H6087: 1 times
shachah (שחה) H7812: 99 times
Total number of verses = 115We can see from this analysis that the majority of instances (99 of 118) of worship in the KJV Old Testament are translations of the word shachah (שחה). This word will be the focus of the rest of this study.
(total number of verses displayed = 115)
worship (118 total words)
worship = 64
H5457 cgid סגד = 8
H6087 ‘atsab עצב = 1
H7812 shachah שחה = 54
(No Key number) = 1
worshipped = 41
H5457 cgid סגד = 2
H7812 shachah שחה = 39
worshippers = 5
H5647 ‘abad עבד = 5
worshippeth = 5
H5457 cgid סגד = 2
H7812 shachah שחה = 3
worshipping = 3
H7812 shachah שחה = 3
Gesenius's Lexicon as it is found in Blue Letter Bible, has this definition for shachah:
(1) To bow oneself down
(2) To sink down, to be depressed
Hiphil— to depress
Hithpalel—
(1) To prostrate oneself before any one out of honour. Those who used this mode of salutation fell on their knees and touched the ground with the forehead... and this honour was not only shown to superiors, such as kings and princes,... but also to equals.
(2) In worshipping a deity
(3) To do homage, to submit oneself
Gen 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.We can say the same thing about Lot in Genesis 19. It does not make sense to try to interpret the text in any other way than a physical bow. The "face toward the ground" makes it especially difficult to choose an abstract or mental interpretation over a physical one.
Gen 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground (Hebrew: וישתחו אפּים ארצה / va-yishtachu apayim artsah )
In the next example, we encounter the first use of the word translated in the KJV as worship. It is the story about the sacrifice of Isaac. Any of the more abstract interpretations— a feeling or expression of reverence— would work in this text, but the more concrete bow down would also work.
Gen 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship (Hebrew: ונשתחוה / v'nishtachveh ), and come again to you.The next example does not allow for an abstract interpretation; Abraham is bowing to ordinary people.
Gen 23:7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.... 12 And Abraham bowed down himself (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) before the people of the land.In the next text, from Genesis 24, Abraham's servant goes to Nahor to find a wife for Isaac. The three instances in this chapter are all translated as worshipped in the KJV. The first two instances are preceded by the verb qadad (קדד – Strong's H6915) which means "to bow down." The third instance, in the phrase "worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth", does not actually have "bowing himself" in the Hebrew text; it is exactly the same Hebrew words as used in Genesis 18:2 and the extra "bowing himself" is redundant. If this text was translated consistently with 18:2, it would be translated as "when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself toward the ground to the LORD."
Gen 24:26 And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) the LORD.... 48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped (Hebrew: ואשתחוה / va-eshtachave) the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son.... 52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.In Genesis 27, Isaac blesses Jacob. In this text, the translators have chosen to retain the physical bow down rather than the more abstract worship even though nations is an abstract subject.
Gen 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down (Hebrew: וישתחו / v'yishtachu) to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.In Genesis 33, Jacob meets Esau. Here, the Hebrew text is translated as a physical bow. In 33:3, the Hebrew words are identical to 24:52 which is translated as worshipped.
Gen 33:3 And he [Jacob] passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground (Hebrew: וישתחו ארצה / va-yishtachu artsah) seven times, until he came near to his brother.... 6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves (Hebrew: ותשתחוין / va-tishtachavena).... 7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves (Hebrew: וישתחוו / va-yishtachavu): and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves (Hebrew: וישתחוו / va-yishtachavu).We can already see a pattern; when the object of the verb is a person, it is translated as bowed, but when the object is God, it is translated as worship, even though the Hebrew words are the same for both people and God. The KJV translators undoubtedly had good intentions and desired to show God higher honor than what is given to human beings, but in doing so, they have cut the language loose from a concrete concept and the result is that the meaning can more easily drift with the passage of time. In these examples, when God is the object, the Hebrew could have been translated with the more concrete bowed down rather than with worship with the benefit that the meaning would have been more stable.
In Genesis 37, Joseph dreams about sheaves and the sun, moon and stars making "obeisance" to him. The Hebrew text uses the same shachah verb that we have seen in the previous examples; this is the same word that is translated as worship 99 times in the KJV.
Gen 37:5 KJV And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance (Hebrew: ותשתחוין / va-tishtachavena) to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance (Hebrew: משתחוים / mishtachavim) to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down (Hebrew: להשתחות / l'hishtachavot) ourselves to thee to the earth?A few chapters later, Joseph's dream comes true. His brothers actually bow down before him. The Hebrew in these texts has the same shachah verb that we have been looking at previously.
Gen 42:6 KJV And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down (Hebrew: וישתחוו / va-yishtachavu) themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
Gen 43:26 KJV And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed (Hebrew: וישתחוו / va-yishtachavu) themselves to him to the earth.
Gen 43:28 KJV And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu).
There are three more instances of shachah in Genesis.
Gen 47:31 KJV And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) upon the bed’s head.
Gen 48:12 KJV And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself (Hebrew: וישתחו / va-yishtachu) with his face to the earth.
Gen 49:8 KJV Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down (Hebrew: ישתחוו / yishtachavu) before thee.
Most of the texts in Genesis that use shachah are obviously about a physical bowing down rather than a more abstract reverence, veneration, or adoration. Of the 21 verses in Genesis using the word shachah, only four of them (Gen. 22:5, 24:26, 24:48, 24:52) are about bowing down (worshipping) to God. It looks like some semantic change has happened with this word; most likely its original meaning was exclusively the bowing down and then through widening or generalization it came to include a more general meaning of "to do homage" or "to submit oneself." On the other hand, the English word worship seems to have undergone some narrowing or specialization. Following is a description of the etymology of worship from Wikipedia. The general sense of respect that the word once meant has now been narrowed so that it is less frequently used for non-religious contexts.
Worship is etymologically derived from Old English words meaning "worth-ship". Giving worth to something. In its older sense in English of worthiness or respect (Anglo-Saxon, worthscripe), worship may on occasion refer to an attitude towards someone of immensely elevated social status, such as a lord or a monarch.
We can always infer abstractions such as reverence or devotion from concrete language such as bow down, but we don't necessarily think of the concrete if we start with the abstraction. There is nothing wrong with reverence, devotion or adoration of God, but have we lost something if we use abstract rather than concrete language? If it is true, as I am suggesting, that shechah— the word translated as worship— originally had the concrete meaning of bowing down, are we opening ourselves up to misunderstanding when we use a very general and abstract word (worship) to translate it? Would we have a better understating of these texts if we had an English Bible that translated this word using concrete language? There is little that we can do about Bible translations, but we can do the following:
- We can study the topic further to determine if concrete language—bow down— makes sense in other texts, if we use it to translate the Hebrew word shachah.
- We can keep the concrete meaning of bowing down in mind when we read the word worship in the Bible.
- We can make an effort to use more specific and concrete language in place of the word worship in our speaking and writing. Look for appropriate language that is more specific, for example: bow down, prayer, psalms, hymns, singing, bible reading, or sermon.
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