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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Sitting
Subjects in this Topic:
sit´ing (רש×ב, yaÌ„shabh, “to sit down or still,†דּגר, daÌ„ghar, “to brood,†“hatchâ€; καθεÌζομαι, katheÌzomai, “to sit down,†ἀναÌκειμαι, anaÌkeimai, “to lie back,†“reclineâ€): The favorite position of the Orientals (; ; (compare ; ; ); ; ; , etc.).
“In Palestine people sit at all kinds of work; the carpenter saws, planes, and hews with his hand-adze, sitting upon the ground or upon the plank he is planing. The washerwoman sits by the tub, and, in a word, no one stands where it is possible to sit.... On the low shopcounters the turbaned salesmen squat in the midst of the gay wares†(LB, II, 144, 275; III, 72, 75).
Figurative:
(1) To sit with denotes intimate fellowship (; ; ; ); (2) to sit in the dust indicates poverty and contempt (), in darkness, ignorance () and trouble (); (3) to sit on thrones denotes authority, judgment, and glory ().