SITTING
Sitting
(prop. , yashab, ). This is the favorite posture of Orientals. In the absence of chairs, it becomes a necessity to sit upon the floor with the feet crossed under one. 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. Shopkeepers always sit, and Levi sitting at the receipt of custom (Mat 9:9) is the exact way to state the case (Thomsoft, Land and Book, 1, 191). No Moslem will move when he can stand, or stand when he can sit. We observed three men in a farrier’s shop devoting their combined energies to the shoeing of a little mule. One sat under the mule’s nose, and held it down with a halter; another sat with its foot turned up in his lap; and a third sat alongside while he fitted and nailed the shoe. Even the masons must sit on their haunches, and fill their panniers with lime; and a little farther on, where some new pavement was in progress, all the paviors sat at their work, from the boys lolling on their hams, who passed the stones from the heap, to the two men who sat vis-a-vis with a great mallet between them, and in that posture lazily poised and let it fall. But the acme of the art of sitting seemed to have been reached by a party of reapers in a wheat field through which we rode. All in a long row, men and women, sat to reap, and jerked themselves forwards or sideways as their work progressed (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 616). SEE ATTITUDE; SEE BED; SEE EATING.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sitting (2)
as a posture of Christian adoration, never had (according to Bingham) any allowance in the practice of the ancient Church, being considered by them as very irreverent. Neither did they ever receive sitting the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, but always kneeling or standing. It was quite a general custom in the early Church for the people to stand while listening to the sermon. This custom was most observed in Africa, France, and some of the Greek churches, while in the churches of Italy the contrary custom prevailed. This posture is allowed in the Church of England at the reading of the lessons in the morning and evening prayer, and also of the first lesson or epistle in the communion service, but at no other time except during the sermon. Some of our Protestant denominations use sitting as the posture of prayer, and of receiving the Lord’s supper. Some Arians in Poland have done this for the avowed reason of showing that they do not believe Christ to be God, but only their fellow creature. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq.; Hook, Church Dict. s.v.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Sitting
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.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Sitting
siting (, 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; Mat 9:9; Mat 26:55 (compare Mat 5:1; Luk 4:20; Luk 5:3); Mar 14:18; Luk 18:35; Joh 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 (Psa 1:1; Psa 26:5; Luk 13:29; Rev 3:21); (2) to sit in the dust indicates poverty and contempt (Isa 47:1), in darkness, ignorance (Mat 4:16) and trouble (Mic 7:8); (3) to sit on thrones denotes authority, judgment, and glory (Mat 19:28).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
SITTING
See under POSTURE.
SLAY, To
See KILL, to