Sitting - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

SITTING

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 (Malachi 3:3; Matthew 9:9; 26:55 (compare Matthew 5:1; Luke 4:20; 5:3); Mark 14:18; Luke 18:35; John 2:14, 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 (Psalms 1:1; 26:5; Luke 13:29; Revelation 3:21);

(2) to sit in the dust indicates poverty and contempt (Isaiah 47:1), in darkness, ignorance (Matthew 4:16) and trouble (Micah 7:8);

(3) to sit on thrones denotes authority, judgment, and glory (Matthew 19:28).

M. O. Evans

Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'SITTING'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.