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 ( Matthew 9:9 ) is the exact way to state the case.", Thomson, Land and Book.

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