Sitting was the customary posture for work, teaching, eating, and other activities in biblical lands. Figuratively, sitting may express fellowship, poverty, trouble, authority, or glory.
Definition
Sitting was the customary posture for many ordinary activities in biblical lands. People commonly sat while working, teaching, eating, selling goods, or carrying out household tasks. The term may also describe reclining or remaining in a particular position.
Biblical Usage
Scripture uses sitting literally in scenes of teaching, worship, work, meals, and public activity. Figuratively, sitting with someone can express intimate fellowship; sitting in dust, darkness, or trouble can indicate poverty, ignorance, or distress; and sitting on a throne can signify authority, judgment, and glory.
Historical Background
In Palestine, carpenters, washerwomen, shopkeepers, and other workers commonly sat on the ground, on a plank, or on a low shop counter. People generally stood only when sitting was not possible.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The attitude generally assumed in Palestine by those who were engaged in any kind of work. “The carpenter saws, planes, and hews with his hand-adze, sitting on the ground or upon the plank he is planning. The washerwoman sits by the tub; and, in a word, no one stands when it is possible to sit. Shopkeepers always sit, and Levi sitting at the receipt of custom (Matt. 9:9) is the exact way to state the case.”, Thomson, Land and Book.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sit'-ing (yashabh, "to sit down or still," daghar, "to brood," "hatch"; kathezomai, "to sit down," anakeimai, "to lie back," "recline"): The favorite position of the Orientals (Mal 3:3; Mt 9:9; 26:55 (compare Mt 5:1; Lu 4:20; 5:3); Mr 14:18; Lu 18:35; Joh 2:14, etc.).</p><p>"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).</p><p>Figurative:</p><p>(1) To sit with denotes intimate fellowship (Ps 1:1; 26:5; Lu 13:29; Re 3:21);</p><p>(2) to sit in the dust indicates poverty and contempt (Isa 47:1), in darkness, ignorance (Mt 4:16) and trouble (Mic 7:8);</p><p>(3) to sit on thrones denotes authority, judgment, and glory (Mt 19:28).</p><p>M. O. Evans</p>
