ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – AIR KISS – סגד SEGAD

John 4:23:  “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”

This word for worship in the Greek really has me spooked.  It is the word proskyneo. Now watch this.  This is a compound word pros for throw or toward and kyneo for the word kiss.  Worship is throwing a kiss to God. Well, maybe a little culture background is needed.  In the Aramaic the word is segad which comes from a loan word from the Middle Egyptian which means an air kiss.  You see when the Egyptians worshipped their gods they would draw close to the idol to kiss it.  However, since the idol was so sacred they were not allowed to touch the idol so they breathed through their nostrils onto the idol and that was considered a kiss or a segad an air kiss. The Greek just followed the Aramaic using the word proskyneo air kiss which being interpreted means to worship.

In Aramaic that word truth is sharara.  Sharar is a word which means to be tightly bound together.  It is like the strands of fabric tightly bound together to form a rope.  Sharar is the word used to express that tight bonding, a bonding so tight that nothing can break it. When we worship (segad ) that is give God an air kiss, breathing or sharing the life of His Spirit with Him, we create a bond with Him that can never be broken.

So next time when you are worshipping God, how about throwing Him a kiss.