What is your church’s style of worship? How was worship last Sunday? You may assume I am asking about your church’s music and singing. Many churches today commission worship pastors or worship leaders and it is widely understood that their primary role is to manages or lead the music and singing. Music and singing certainly are an essential part of worship. However, the Biblical definition of worship is such a bigger picture!
The Old Testament
There are four Hebrew words interpreted as worship in the old testament. The word most frequently used for worship (99 times) is Shachah: – Strongs H7812
שָׁחָה shâchâh, shaw-khaw’; a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God):—bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.
Shachah is used 172 times in 166 verses. The following is a list of English words in the KJV Bible that come from the Hebrew word shachah. Each word links to the associated Blue Letter Bible references. For a full list of Hebrew and Greek definitions download the Biblical Definitions of Worship reference guide.
- Worship – 99x
- Bow – 31x
- Bow down – 18x
- Obeisance – 9x
- Reverence – 5x
- Fall down – 3x
- Themselves – 2x
- Stoop – 1x
- Crouch – 1x
- Misc – 3x
Does the primary theme surprise you at all? Based on the examples given in scripture I must conclude that, although music could have been a form of worshiping God, it wasn’t the only focus. Interesting, right? Abraham went to the mountain to worship and took a knife and his miracle child, Isaac. We cannot find a guitar on the camping list in Genesis 22. Abraham’s faith and act of sacrifice were defined as worship. The culture of that era offered ritualistic devotion to their deity by kneeling at specific times, in symbolic directions, in manners considered honorable by the religious leadership. During the Babylonian exile Daniel in one instance, and the three Hebrew boys in another, were ordered to worship a golden statue when the music played. I’m thankful they refused to bow down. They refused to love their lives even unto death. In this example the music was used as part of the service to communicate how and when to worship. From Israel’s daily temple animal sacrifices, their keeping of the holy feasts days, to King David’s musical sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, all were considered worship.
The physical act of bowing down to God will cost you. It requires decisive intent and commitment. It requires your time and consecrated thought. It was performed publicly with humility and privately with integrity. Worship is bowing to demonstrate subjection of the human will, thoughts, and emotions to a higher being. Am I simply too caught up in semantics? Next, we will explore how worship is defined in the new testament.
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