I stated in the last study that the first time the word worship is used in the Bible it was used by Abraham when he was going to Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac.
Genesis 22:5-6 ESV Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." (6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
The Hebrew word used here and a total of 171 times in the Old Testament is shaw-khaw' which is H7812 in Strong's.
TO WORSHIP MEANS: To prostrate before; to bow to pay homage to royalty or to God; To bow down, crouch down, or fall down flat in humility; To revere in the heart and with physical body; to stoop to; to adore.
TRUE BIBLICAL WORSHIP IS AN EXPRESSION OF HUMILITY:
We can’t truly worship unless we humble ourselves. The difference between worship and praise is that I can praise God to someone by boasting and shouting and singing praise, but I can’t worship God to someone. Real Biblical worship is personal. Real worship is the most intimate time with God a person can have.
Another Old Testament word for worship is H5456.
The word is saw-gad' and means to prostrate oneself (in homage): to fall down. This was used when Nebuchadnezzar decreed that at the sound of the music everyone would fall on their face and worship his golden image.
Daniel 3:4-6 ESV And the herald proclaimed aloud, "You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, (5) that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (6) And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace."
When Nebuchadnezzar saw the deliverance of the three Hebrew servants by God from the fiery furnace he decreed that the three would bow and lay before no one except the God of Israel.
Daniel 3:28 ESV Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.
Next study we will look at the New Testament words for worship.