Kneeling before another man is not necessarily an act of worship

By Bishop Dave Chikosi

It is simply false to equate the act of one man bowing to another as worship. That’s too simplistic. A lot depends on cultural context. In Middle Eastern culture of the Old Testament, bowing is not necessarily worship. Many times it is simply an act of honor. 

Thus you find in the Old Testament kings bowing to prophets and vice versa. No-one is alarmed or rebuked because of it. In that cultural milieu everybody understood what that act meant.

It was simply an act of honor not worship. And in the case where bowing down is an act of worship, scripture is very careful to specify that the person “bowed down AND worshipped.”

Take for instance the often quoted case of Revelation 22:8. It explicitly says that John “fell down TO WORSHIP at the feet of the angel.” His reason for falling down is clearly spelt out. It was not to honor the angel but to worship. Hence John is promptly rebuked by the angel. It wasn’t the bowing down that upset the angel. It was the worship implicit in the act. How do we know that?

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.

Another incident concerns the prophet Balaam. When Balaam kicked his donkey for refusing to move, the donkey spoke up in human language objecting (humorously) to the beating. It was after that objection that the Bible says:

“Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown” (Numbers 22:31).

The text says NOTHNG about the angel rebuking Balaam for bowing low and falling face down. Why? Again, the angel understood the difference between honor and worship.

Did Peter rebuke Cornelius for bowing before him?

In his encounter with St Peter, the man Cornelius went beyond the cultural expression of honor. He crossed the line and slipped into worship. The text clearly says: “When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet AND WORSHIPPED him” (Acts 10:25-26).

The same is true with St John’s encounter with an angel. John writes:

“I fell down at his feet TO WORSHIP HIM. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers (Rev 19:9-10).

Clearly the objection was not that John fell down. Falling down is what most ancients did when they encountered an angel. However St John crossed the line and slipped into worship. And for this the angels correctly checked him.

The beautiful image of an African president kneeling before a pastor

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan knelt before Pastor Enoch Adeboye in 2010 and asked for prayer. “I am your sitting president”, he told the Pastor “pray for me so that I will not deviate from the fear of God.”  Isn’t that beautiful coming from the lips of a politician? What’s there not to like, if you are a Christian?

President Goodluck also noted in that same service that when he visited Pastor Adeboye in 2007 in company of his late boss, Musa Yar’Adua, the Pastor had “prayed for us and all he told us came to pass.”

So what is the objection here? Isn’t this the fervent prayer of every African Christian to see all our political leaders kneel before our men of God and have hands laid upon them – even if it’s just to exorcise the evil spirits in some of them?

Who among us Christians can forget the 2012 photo of a group of AMEC pastors surrounding and laying hands on Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama? Panotukwa satan iwe muKristu unotsamweyi?

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.”

•1 Samuel 25:23: “When Abigal saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet. . .” (Again in v. 41)

•1 Samuel 28:14: “Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.”

•2 Samuel 9:6-8: “When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan . . . came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, ‘Mephibosheth! . . . Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness ‘

•2 Samuel 14:33: “Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.”

•2 Samuel 18:28: “Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, ‘All is well!’ He bowed down before the king [David] with his face to the ground ”

•2 Samuel 22:40, in David’s song of praise to the Lord: “You made my adversaries bow at my feet.” Also Psalm 18:39.

•1 King 1:22f: “While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.  And they told the king, ‘Nathan the prophet is here.’ So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.” (This is Nathan, the prophet, bowing to King David! How inappropriate!)

•1 Kings 2:19: “When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne.”

•1 Kings 18:7: “As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, ‘Is it really you, my lord Elijah?'”

•2 Kings 2:15: “The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, ‘The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.’ And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.”

Conclusion

Let’s desist from trying to prescribe and proscribe practices for which the Bible is silent. There is nothing in scripture that says worship is inherent or implicit in the mere act of bowing. Why not just mind your own business and leave people alone?

Bishop Dave Chikosi is a published author who writes about theology, economics and politics. Excerpts from his latest (2014) book proposal, “Supersize Me Lord!” can be viewed here http://www.supersizemelord.com