From: Jim West (jwest@Highland.Net)
Date: Mon Jun 07 1999 - 12:21:47 EDT
At 09:46 AM 6/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> Now, I'm not a scholar in Greek, so I'm goin to pick yall's brains for a
>> while. Here is my question: Could not the word "proskuneo" which is
>> commonly translated as "worship" also mean "obesiance"?
The notion comes from judicial language. The accused was brought before the
judge and made to lie prostrate on the ground. If they were found guilty,
the judge would place his foot on their neck- if innocent, the judge would
stoop over and lift their face with his hand.
The hebrew concept of "lifting the face" (as in, the Lord lift your
countenance... etc) equals a declaration of innocence in a judicial proceeding.
The act of lying (lieing??) (that doesn't look right, does it) before the
judge also became the posture used when appearing before God- this developed
into the notion that when one "worshipped" one was prostrate on the ground
in the presence of the judge of the universe. Thus, obeseience is
absolutely legitimate as a rendering of "proskunew" which in any event means
"to bend to".
Best,
Jim
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
email- jwest@highland.net
web page- http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
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