Rooker, Mark. The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 807-827). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Mark Rooker Analyzes Exodus 20:5
Not only are we not to make any image of a god, but we are also forbidden to bow down and worship an existing image (Exod 20:5). The word translated “bow down” (wh) is a unique verb in that it is the only root attested in the rare shafel stem in the Old Testament.12 The verb occurs 170 times in the Old Testament with the meaning of “bow down” or “prostrate oneself,” whether out of respect to a human superior or in obeisance to a god. For example, the Israelites “bowed down” to the image of the golden calf (Exod 32:8). They bowed to the lîlîm made by human hands (Isa 2:8) and to a carved image (Isa 44:15,17). “Bowing down” is a religious gesture that conveys homage and reverence. Idolatry involves “bowing down” in reference to the worship of the stars (Deut 4:19; Jer 8:2) and the worship in a pagan temple (2 Kgs 5:18). But it is fitting for worshippers to “bow down” to Yahweh, the true God (Gen 24:26,48,52; Ps 99:9). Many times this action of bowing down includes placing one’s face to the ground (Gen 18:2; 19:1; 24:52; 42:6; Isa 49:23). We are not only not to bow before idols but also not to “worship them” or “serve them” (bd). The root (bd) often occurs with wh (bow down) in reference to the worship of other gods.13 The verb bd (“worship”) frequently has Yahweh as its object. We see this early in the book of Exodus as we learn that the Israelites will worship God on Mount Sinai (Exod 3:12; 4:23; 7:16; 8:1[7:26]; 8:20[16]; 9:1,13; 10:3,7,8,11,24,26; 12:31).14 For the Israelites to turn back after being delivered from Egyptian bondage (bdîm) and serve other gods would be to reverse the exodus.15 The verb bd (“serve”) can be distinguished from the verb wh (“bow down”) by the fact that wh refers to prostration, whereas bd often refers to making offerings (Exod 10:26; Isa 19:21). As with wh (“to bow down”), the word for worship (bd) has a nontheological usage as it refers to serving kings and political suzerains, which may involve paying tribute (Gen 27:29; Ps 72:11).16
Rooker, Mark. The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 807-827). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Rooker, Mark. The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 807-827). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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31 comments:
“bow down” or “prostrate oneself," - one word does not fit all.
To quote Rokker, "it is fitting for worshippers to 'bow down' to Yahweh, the true God (Gen 24:26,48,52; Ps 99:9). Many times this action of bowing down includes placing one’s face to the ground (Gen 18:2; 19:1; 24:52; 42:6; Isa 49:23)."
So he points out that sometimes the Tanakh is describing the act of bowing, but at other times, prostration is being delineated.
Gen 23:12 is conspicuous by omission.
Some of these others in genesis.
Bowed down with face to the ground or face toward the land. In genesis apocryphon, Mamre is one of the men and it is his grove.
Personally, while 23:12 is a good example, I don't think Rooker intentionally excluded the verse. He makes it clear that shachah could be given to God or to a human superior; others say it can be shown to equals. But the verses which he cites establish the basic point he's making.
Rooker likewise makes clear that the term may denote the act of bowing down with face to the ground. I don't expect an author to include everything in a work of this scope.
On Exodus 4:31, I also checked Rotherham: "And the people believed,—and when they heard that Yahweh had concerned himself for the sons of Israel, and that he had looked upon their humiliation, then bent they their heads and bowed themselves down."
Compare ASV.
The example I cited was far from arbitrary. It is referring to the very same Abraham doing the very same action. I can see no argument that can justify the term worship for this action. IMO it is an unnecessary addition to the meaning of the text. It may well be part of worship but is not of itself worship.
LXX:-
Exo 4:31 και επιστευσεν ο λαος και εχαρη οτι επεσκεψατο ο θεος τους υιους Ισραηλ και οτι ειδεν αυτων την θλιψιν κυψας δε ο λαος προσεκυνησε
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2955
Now this does say to bend the head, but look at ALL NT usage. All more than just bending the head?
I am driving at the point that one could interpret bend the head and worship as bowing of the head in prayer, but the text is speaking of a more physical act.
Exo 4:31 et credidit populus. Audieruntque quod visitasset Dominus filios Israël, et respexisset afflictionem illorum: et proni adoraverunt.
Falling down?
https://www.academia.edu/4051333/Idols_and_Idolatry_in_the_Ancient_Near_East
Worshiping these other gods entailed far more than bowing.
"The king and the temple personnel consumed the god’s “leftovers.”"
Agricultural taxation.
One thing I believe Rooker shows is that the same word may denote mere obedience or it may denote worship, depending on the context. It's the same with proskunesis. That is also what the Hebrew and Greek lexical show.
Obeisance, not obedience.
https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/proskynesis/
https://www.livius.org/sources/content/arrian/anabasis/the-introduction-of-proskynesis/
Good information on both websites. I've done a lot of reading on shachah, proskynesis/proskunesis: context matters and so does the historical period under discussion. I posted some information from Lilly Ross Taylor also, who's done plenty of research on the subject. The bottom line is that proskynesis/proskunesis can refer to simply bowing down, "groveling" (David Aune) or worship. It depends on the context of utterance.
Rogers and Rogers Exegetical Key on proskunhsai in Mt 2:2:
proskunh'sai aor. act. inf. proskunevw to fall down and
worship, to do obeisance to, to prostrate oneself before, used to
designate the custom of prostrating oneself before a person and kissing
his feet, the hem of his garment, the ground, and so forth (BAGD;
NIDNTT; TDNT). Inf. expresses purp.
One more thought from David Aune's Revelation commentary:
On the combination of the two verbs πίπτειν, “to fall,” and προσκυνεῖν, “to prostrate oneself before, worship,” see Comment on 4:10.
Aune, Dr. David; Aune, Dr. David. Revelation 17-22, Volume 52C (Word Biblical Commentary) (p. 1242). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
But Aune prefers "groveling" for Rev. 3:9. However, he notes that the word may at times mean worship, even in Philo.
From Larry Hurtado's book, At the Origins of Christian Worship (page 68):
We see something of the diversity or breadth of reverence
that proskynesis can express vividly illustrated in 1 Chronicles
2 9:2 0 - 2 2 , where the people bow and reverence both God and
King David (v. 2 0 b ). Cultic worship here is given only to God,
however, for David orders the people to 'Bless the \ L O R D
your G o d ' (v. 2 0 a ) , and the sacrifices and offerings are given
specifically to Yahweh (vv. 2 1 - 2 2 ) . That proskynesis is also
given to the king here seems to mean that he is reverenced as
the rightful king who has God's approval, and so the king's
commands to worship God are obeyed. The reverence given
to the king is not, however, the same as the worship given
to God here, even though the same sort of gesture is used to
express reverence for both.
https://www.academia.edu/2624361/Proskynesis_and_Minoan_Theocracy
What Nanno Marinatos writes is all well and good, but he does not touch the NT period nor the Judaic context for proskunesis/proskynesis. Check BDAG or Louw-Nida. The word came to denote bowing down and worship. Like other words, the meaning developed over time.
This is the point. What it came to mean. So what about the earlier Hebrew?
I was talking about what the Greek proskynesis came to mean, but Rooker and Gesenius (etc) claim the Hebrew shachah also could mean prostration or worship, depending on the context. Rooker points to HALOT 1.296-7.
See also https://books.google.com/books?id=T5gGQTrc1coC&pg=PA250&lpg=PA250&dq=shachah+theological+dictionary+old+testament&source=bl&ots=r1zJ7XpGtV&sig=ACfU3U0-G3VpJN46Wop71SByl0Y9-s5vWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim4deh6bDiAhWRct8KHb9wAww4ChDoATAEegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=shachah%20theological%20dictionary%20old%20testament&f=false
Page 248ff.
Does someones theories about language trump culture? You can see from my posts how the Persians and Mycenaeans viewed the action. As I said from the outset it is about submission to superior authority. Another problem is dictionary definitions of words like "worship". Are they how it is actually perceived in the vernacular?
I have just been looking at some works on language translation and biblical translation. Using the the term "worship" seems to fall within the category of "interpretive translation". By doing this you remove the possibility of other options that also have a level of validity.
To put it another way & being uniform in this method:-
EX 4:31 then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
EX 4:31 then they worshiped and prostrated on the ground.
EX 4:31 then they worshiped and worshiped.
As either or both could be considered worship - but it is not telling what they actually did which the Hebrew clearly states. The rest is interpretation.
1) I agree with you about what the action meant to the Persians or Myceneans. However, their practices don't fully help us understand what the practice meant to 1st century CE Jews or Greeks. Granted, the word/practice could mean submission to a higher authority or even to equals. That still does not exclude the notion of worship for 1st century Jews or Greeks.
2) I don't know any scholar in the know who limits proskynesis (etc) to worship--it's part of the equation, but there's obviously much more to proskynesis. I suggest that the term signifies worship in some contexts and mere bowing/prostration in others. Even Insight says (or used to say) proskynesis could signify worship in Heb 1:6. Others favor "homage" or reverence.
As we've discussed previously, Ex 4:31 could be describing 1 act or 2.
Compare 2 Kings 5:18. Was Naaman's lord simply bowing to his god or worshiping the idol?
To 1st century CE Jews or Greeks it probably meant "worship" because of the cross over from Hebrew to Greek. To the Greeks it did mean "worship" & in the first century kissing the ring was probably generally figurative & not a ritual of action.
In Ellicots commentary for English readers he effectively reverses the definition:-
To worship.— To bow down (the same verb occurs thrice in the verse).
My point about the importance of dirt and agriculture still stands later in the chapter.
Holy ground could be far more than just ground from a geological location.
https://youtu.be/0Os-ujelkgw
I do not believe that South America was the only place with this knowledge.
From BAGD:
προσκυνέω impf. προσεκύνουν; fut. προσκυνήσω; 1 aor. προσεκύνησα (trag., Hdt.+; inscr., pap., LXX; En. 10, 21; Ep. Arist., Philo, Joseph., Test. 12 Patr.) used to designate the custom of prostrating oneself before a person and kissing his feet, the hem of his garment, the ground, etc.; the Persians did this in the presence of their deified king, and the Greeks before a divinity or someth. holy; (fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully, in Attic Gk., and later (e.g. Appian, Mithrid. 104 §489), used w. the acc. (so Mt
4:10 and Lk 4:8 [Dt 6:13 v.l.]; J 4:22a, b, 23b, 24a v.l.; Rv 9:20.—Gen 37:9; Ex 11:8; Judg 7:15 A; Ep. Arist. 137; 138; Philo; Jos., Ant. 2, 13; 7, 250); beside it the Koine uses the dat. (Phryn. p. 463 L.; JWittmann, Sprachl. Untersuchungen zu Cosmas Indicopl., Diss. Munich ’13, 16; KWolf, Studien z. Sprache des Malalas II, Diss. Munich ’12, 34; Bl-D. §151, 2; Rob. 455; 476f); the LXX and our lit. prefer the dat. (s. also Ep. Arist. 135; Jos., Ant. 6,55.—6, 154 πρ. τῷ θεῷ immediately after τὸν θεὸν πρ.).
From the Greek-English Lexicon for the Septuagint by Lust, Eynikel, and Hauspie:
προσκυνέω+ V 46-74-28-55-26=229 Gn 18,2; 19,1; 22,5; 23,7.12
to fall down and worship, to do reverence to, to do obeisance to, to prostrate oneself before, to salute [abs.] Gn 18,2; id. [τινι] (to pers.) Gn 27,29; to fall down and worship [τινι] (to God) Gn 24,26; id. [τινι]
(to idols) Ps 96(97),7; id. [τινα] (to pers.) Gn 37,9; id. [τινα] (to God) JgsA 7,15; id. [τι] Gn 37,7; to bow down, to beg, to plead, to implore Ex 11,8 Cf. ALTINK 1984, 189; CIMOSA 1985 53-65.66-68; DOGNIEZ 1992 49.138.156; HARL 1986a, 62.67.193; HELBING 1928, 296-298; HORST 1932, 16-32; JOBES 1991, 186-187; WEVERS 1990 165.278.372.379; 1993 245.319. 617.706.813; 1995 76.407; →NIDNTT; TWNT.
See also https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-hellenic-studies/article/proskynesis-and-the-hellenistic-ruler-cult/014E46D7024F54F97694DCD9E1D8EC9E
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/contagion.24.1.0057?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://www.jstor.org/stable/409153?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
"However, there is some evidence that an informal form of proskynesis was already practiced at the court of Septimius Severus."
http://greekhistoryandprehistory.blogspot.com/2018/04/proskynesis-prostration-royal-ritual-of.html?m=1
https://romanhistorybooks.typepad.com/roman_history_books_and_m/2006/12/proskynesis.html
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H2jd1J5YK-UC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=proskynesis+israel&source=bl&ots=fnzXdEuY1H&sig=ACfU3U3ETEPAq7X0AWUrL_CV-Pjma_o0EA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwis5b7A0bTiAhU7UxUIHbcIBO84ChDoATACegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=proskynesis%20israel&f=false
Thanks for your contributions. The only thing I'll add to the conversation is that it seems that proskynesis may denote worship at times in addition to its other meanings. Some understand John 9:38 as a reference to worship, but others claim the man simply prostrated himself before Jesus out of reverence or respect. Moises Silva has a fine analysis in his book about the Bible and language. See also James Dunn's study on the worship of Jesus. https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/0664231969/did-the-first-christians-worship-jesus.aspx
Also thought this article was interesting: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/tools/bible-basics/what-is-the-function-of-place-in-the-hebrew-bible
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