Good link on the subject of bowing:



[link to nehandaradio.com (secure)]


The difference between culture-based honor and worship

We know because of the incident in Genesis 19:1-3. In this account two angels approach Lot in the gateway of the city of Sodom. When Lot sees them, he gets up “and bowed with his face to the ground.” Lot gets no rebuke from the angels. How come? Precisely because the two angels (quite unlike some Christians today), had enough sense to distinguish between honor and worship.



There’s a whole lotta bowing going on in the Bible

For the remainder of this article I will cite several scripture passages that show that there is nothing wrong with humans honoring each other by the act of bowing.

• Genesis 27:29: “May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you.” (This was Isaac to Jacob)

•1 Kings 1:16: “Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king. ‘What is it you want?’ the king asked.” (No rebuke from David)

•1 Samuel 24:8: “Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, ‘My Lord and king!’ When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.”






Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,[c]
until he to whom it belongs[d] shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.[e]