Bow Down

(to kneel)

The formal and intentional act of bowing down played an important cultural role in the ancient Near East. The physical act is easily pictured: it meant falling to one’s knees, head down, while fixing one’s eyes on the ground (for example, 2 Kings 1:13). But under certain circumstances, it also included bending to touch one’s face to the ground. When a meeting took place, the act of bowing down was initiated by the person regarded as socially inferior. It was a physical demonstration of the respect and deference offered to the one who occupied a higher station in life.[23] Consequently, Moses bowed down to his father-in-law, Ruth bowed down to Boaz, and an unnamed servant bowed to Joab (Exod. 18:7; Ruth 2:10; 2 Sam. 18:21). Subjects of the kingdom also acknowledged royal figures by bowing. This bow became very important in Bible stories in which there was a lurking question about the loyalty of the subject to the king (1 Sam. 24:8; 2 Sam. 9:6–8; 14:33).

The Bible notes two enhancements to this social custom, both of which intensify the deference being accorded to the other by the one bowing down. In some instances, we read that people exceeded expectations by bending so deeply that they touched their face to the ground (for example, Gen. 42:6; 1 Sam. 24:8). A second way of intensifying the deference was by repeating the act of bowing multiple times. Jacob bowed before Esau seven times, and Jonathan bowed before David three times (Gen. 33:3; 1 Sam. 20:41).[24]

The defeated king Jehu bows before his Assyrian overlord to show political submission.

Bowing down was also linked to worship. To bow down before the Lord, whether physically or metaphorically, was the equivalent of worship (Gen. 24:26; Deut. 26:10; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10). In that light, the Lord ordered his people never to bow down to fraudulent deities (Exod. 20:5). But soon after this command was given, the Israelites bowed down to a golden calf (Exod. 32:8). Despite repeated warnings shaped with the same language, God’s people continued to bow down to both idols and celestial bodies (Deut. 4:19; 5:9; Josh. 23:7; 2 Kings 17:16, 35). Ever merciful, the Lord never lost hope, anticipating a time when all nations of the earth will bow before him. “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him” (Ps. 22:27; see also 66:4; 72:11; Isa. 66:23).

The biblical authors mention this act of deference frequently because it was very much a part of the fabric of everyday living. But there were certain instances of bowing down that became more powerful, particularly because they reversed expectation in one way or another. Such instances often involved the bowing of one who was socially superior to one who was regarded as socially inferior. As Bible readers, we have a high regard for Abraham. But his true social status in Canaan was marked by his bowing before the Hittite “people of the land” from whom he wished to purchase a cave in which to bury Sarah (Gen. 23:7, 12). In another instance, as the second youngest of his family, Joseph would have been expected to occupy a lower social status than his living parents and older brothers. But that expectation was turned upside down by the prediction and then reality of his father and brothers bowing down to him (Gen. 37:7, 9–10; 42:6; 43:28). And before Genesis closes, we find one more instance of unexpected bowing. In a culture in which the elder brother was expected to receive the greatest honor, it was Jacob’s son Judah who was told that he would be the leader of the clan: “Your father’s sons will bow down to you” (Gen. 49:8; compare 35:23).

In these fields outside Bethlehem, Ruth bowed with her face to the ground before Boaz, showing she recognized his superior social station (Ruth 2:10).

Another way in which expectations regarding bowing are undone by the biblical authors is when someone expected to bow either completely failed to do so or did so in a less deferential manner. Moses told the Egyptian officials that despite his more humble origins and appearance, they would be the ones who would bow down before him (Exod. 11:8). Later we see Absalom bowing deeply before his father, King David. We think this should settle the ill will between this father and son, but an ironic reversal was at hand. When anyone tried to bow down before Absalom, he was quick to arrest their act of deference, thus beginning to steal the hearts of the people in advance of stealing the throne from David (2 Sam. 15:5). Years later, it was David’s son Adonijah who had his eye on his father’s throne. After his initial bid for the throne collapsed, his bow before Solomon was not the deep bow that indicated full submission to Solomon (1 Kings 1:53). This seemingly innocent omission looms larger in view of his subsequent attempts to position himself for the throne. And a failure to bow became the catalyst for the plot in Esther. This time it was the Jew Mordecai who refused to bow before the Persian official Haman (Esther 3:2–6). This so vexed Haman that he sought to eradicate the Jews from the kingdom.

Finally, bowing plays a very important literary role in the early chapters of Matthew. When the Magi came to see the newborn King of the Jews, “they bowed down and worshiped him” (Matt. 2:11). But with a turn of the page we meet quite a different story when the tempter confronted Jesus with a mission-ending invitation. Showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world he was destined to rule, he said, “All this I will give you . . . if you will bow down and worship me” (Matt. 4:9).