What Does the Bible Mean When it Speaks of Worship?
Throughout the bible, we find the word “worship” being used. But do we really know what it means to worship? (How would some of you describe what worship is?)
Let’s begin by taking a look at a couple of definitions of the word “worship”. And I’ll be using Strong’s Concordance of bible words for these definitions.
In the old testament, there’s a word that’s pronounced “shah-khah”, and it’s used about 172 times. There’s another word that’s used 12 times, but they both mean the same thing. Now I don’t know if anyone is interested in bible trivia, but the word that’s used 12 times, is only found in the book of Daniel. The main difference between the two words isn’t their meaning, but rather, it’s the origin. The first word, used so many times throughout the old testament is an ancient Hebrew word. But the word used only in the book of Daniel, is a Chaldean word, which is a slightly different language. Does anyone have an idea of why Daniel would have used this Chaldean word, instead of the ancient Hebrew word?
I wonder if it’s because Daniel spent his entire adult life in Babylon while the Jews were in captivity there, and Babylon was the capital of the Chaldean empire?
But anyhow, the basic meaning of both of these words, is.. “to prostrate oneself in homage”. To prostrate oneself means to lay flat on the ground, stretched out, and face down. It’s typically associated with an act of submission and reverence.
But what does it mean to prostrate oneself “in homage”. What does “homage” mean? Well, “homage” means.. “honor, and reverence, and respect, and esteem”. It can also refer to the “recognition” of one’s right, to great respect and honor. And of course, who has a better “right” to respect and honor, besides God? But there’s something more to homage, besides just the idea, or even the mental recognition of honor and respect and reverence.
Listen to this short but concise definition of the word “homage”.. “Special honor and respect, shown publicly”. And so true homage, is a public display of the honor and respect and reverence that you have for someone. Here’s an example of how the word could be used.. “they paid homage to the great poet, by reciting his famous poems”. You see, if you pay homage to someone, you DO something in respect to them. It’s not just a feeling of respect or reverence, it’s showing of that respect and reverence.
And here’s another explanation. or example of that.. “To pay homage to someone, you can honor them through meaningful actions, like dedicating a memorial, or supporting a cause they care about, or sharing their stories and memories.” What comes to mind with that last part about sharing stories and memories? (Funerals?)
What other ways can you think of to pay homage to someone? (name some ways..)
Ok, let’s look at a couple more aspects of the definition of the word “worship”. The first one was “to prostrate oneself in homage”. But it also means.. “To bow down, or to crouch”. And those two things seem to be closely related to the idea of prostrating oneself. But listen to this next part of the definition.. “to humbly beseech, (that sounds a lot like prayer) And how about this.. “to do, or to make obeisance, and to do reverence”
Now hers’s a question for you. What is “obeisance” ? Is obeisance the same thing as obedience? Both words come from the same root word, and you’d have to say that they’re related, but they’re not the same. Here’s a description of the difference.. “Obeisance is a physical act, or an outward expression of submission and respect, like a bow or a curtsy. While obedience is the act of following commands or obeying rules, which may or may not be accompanied by a physical gesture. While both terms relate to submission, obeisance focuses on the display of deference, (or you might say the display of reverence), whereas obedience focuses on the action of complying with commands or rules.”
This next definition kind of highlights the difference.. “Obeisance is a gesture of deference or homage, such as a bow or curtsy, showing a person’s willingness to acknowledge another’s higher status or importance.”
Let’s look at just a few old testament verses that use the word “shah-khah”..
First let’s read Genesis 18, verses 1 & 2. And I believe this is the first time the word is used in the scriptures.. “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, (this is talking about Abraham) as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.” And so in this verse, as is the case with many, many verses in the old testament, the word “shah-khaw” doesn’t always refer to what we would refer to as “worship” today. Many times in the bible, that word simply refers to showing honor and respect to someone, but not necessarily giving homage to them.
Next let’s read Genesis 24, verse 26.. “Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, ” Now that’s an interesting verse because it uses the words “bowed down” and the word “worshipped”. But the word translated as “bowed down” is a different word than the word “worship”. It does mean to bow the head or the upper body in deference to someone, but it doesn’t carry the idea of showing homage. And so in that verse, the man was outwardly bowing, but you might say that he was also inwardly bowing, as he showed homage to God. So I think it’s interesting how those two words are used together like that, and they’re used several times in the scriptures, in combination like that.
Now, just as a matter of bible trivia, does anyone know what story was being told in Genesis chapter 24? (Read from verse 1 to find out) (This is when Abraham sent his servant back to his home land to find a wife for his son Isaac) He sent him to Haran. See Genesis 11:31 and 12:4.
Now here’s another verse for us to consider. It’s Genesis 22, verse 5.. “Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And what story was being told in this chapter? (Again, read from verse 1 to find out)
But let’s talk about what Abraham said to his men.. “..I and the boy will go over there and worship..” And let’s talk about how that word “worship” is being used in this verse. What exactly was Abraham going over to that mountain to do? (He was going over there to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, wasn’t he) And so how does Abraham’s act of sacrificing his son, equate to “worship”?
When Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, was he giving homage to God?
Can you draw an analogy between that and what we do today when we assemble ourselves together for “worship”?
Is our obedience to God, in praying to Him, and in partaking of the Lord’s supper, and in singing spiritual songs, and in giving, and in preaching His word; Are those things a public display, and an example, of our reverence for God, and of our willingness to obey Him to the best of our ability?
Is that a display of homage to God? Do you remember one of our previous examples of what homage means? Listen again.. “To pay homage to someone, you can honor them through meaningful actions..”
Now let’s jump over to the new testament, and the word translated as “worship”. Actually, there’s four other words in the new testament that are translated as “worship” but only once or twice each. And so we’re going to focus on just this one word which is probably 90 % of the time. And the word is “pros-koo-neh’-o”. And it means pretty much the same thing as that old testament word means. It means.. “to crouch toward, and literally or figuratively, to prostrate oneself in homage, to reverence”.
It can also mean “to fawn”. What does it mean to fawn over someone? (It means.. “To excessively praise or flatter, in a way that is often insincere, in order to gain their favor or approval”) Now you won’t the word used this way in the scriptures, but that is one way the word can be used.
So then in the new testament scriptures, the word means “to crouch toward, or to prostrate oneself in homage” The “pros” part of the word “pros-koo-neh’-o”, signifies direction towards someone or something. And so our “crouching” or our “prostrating” ourselves, is indicating the direction toward the one whom we are paying homage to.
It’s also said that a part of this word may be a derivative of another word meaning to “kiss”. And so the idea is that our homage to God, is a “kiss” toward God.
Now let’s look at a few new testament verses where the word “pros-koo-neh’0” is used.
The first one that we find in the scriptures is Mathew 2, verse 2. (Who wants to read Mathew 2, verse 2?) “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
This is of course refers to when the wise men from “the east” came to see the baby Jesus. And what exactly did they do when they came to Him? Verse 11 tells us what they did.. “And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
They prostrated themselves, and they showed homage, by giving Him gifts. They demonstrated their honor and reverence for the Savior of the world.
Now how about Mathew 4, verse 10.. (who wants to read this one?) “Then Jesus said to him; Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
We can see here that our ‘worship”, our reverence and our honor, and our homage, at least in a religious sense, must be directed to God and only to God!
But listen to this next verse.. Mathew 15, verse 9.. “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men.”
Now there’s several things that can be discussed regarding this statement from Jesus. Maybe the most obvious thing that we notice is that worship can be vain. What does “vain” mean in this context? Well, it means worthless, or useless. It means that it produces nothing, right? And what does that imply, that vain worship is useless and produces nothing? Doesn’t it imply that proper worship, IS useful in producing something?
And so what should proper worship produce? How is it useful? What benefit is there to proper worship? But let me get your thoughts on this next question.. Does our worship in any way benefit God? (thoughts please.. )
I believe there is at least one way in which our worship does benefit God. And that is in the fact that proper worship pleases God. And let me give you an example of that. Engaging in prayer is one way that we can worship God, right? And God illustrates to us, in Revelation 5, verse 8, that the prayers of the saints are like “golden bowls full of incense”, or in other words, “full of sweet aroma”. Isn’t God indicating to us that He’s pleased with that? And what about our submission to God, and our obedience to God, and our display of our willingness to submit to Him, which is basically what our worship is.. Isn’t all of that pleasing to God, and couldn’t we say that all of that “benefits” God?
Now how about giving me your thoughts on ways in which our worship can produce something beneficial for us.. (humility, encouragement, mutual love, a feeling of belonging)
Let’s go back to Mathew 15, verse 9 and consider something else about that verse. Jesus said, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men.” It sounds like Jesus is implying that the teaching of doctrines, is being equated with worshipping God. If teaching the commandments of man, is “vain” worship, then it only makes sense that the teaching of God’s commandments would have to be considered “true” worship. Especially when you couple this verse with what Jesus said in John 4:23, which is.. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
And what is truth? Isn’t “truth” the word of God? Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
And so, would teaching (and preaching) the true word of God, be a form of worship?
