If it is unlikely that Israel’s
kings were considered divine, it is also unlikely that the προσκυνησις of the king in 1 Chr 29:20 is to
be understood as an instance of divine worship of the king. Although it is
somewhat striking that the one verb προσεκυνησαν
takes both τω κυριω and τω βασιλει as its objects, this does not
necessarily mean that God and king are reverenced in the same sense (cf. 1
Kgdms 12:18; Sib. Or. 2:60; Ign. Smyrn. 9:1, where one verb
governs two objects [one divine, the other human] without the implication that
the two recipients thereby receive reverence in the same sense). Indeed,
Josephus’s phrasing of the account suggests a distinction could ultimately be
made between the reverence shown to God on the one hand and that shown to the
king on the other, for, while he retains the term προσκυνεω to describe the reverence of God,
he prefers the term ευχαριστεω
to describe the reverence of the king:
[King David] commanded the
multitude also to bless God. And so they fell upon the ground and prostrated
themselves (προσεκυνησαν); and they
also gave thanks (ευχαριστησαν)
to David for all the blessings they had enjoyed since he had succeeded to the
throne. (Josephus, Ant. 7.381, Marcus)
By contrast, it seems to be in the
case of those humans in the larger pagan world who were acknowledged and
treated as godlike beings (and/or who indulged themselves in such divine
pretensions) that we see προσκυνεω used pejoratively for a king of worship that so
acknowledged or treats the human as a divine figure. Thus, along with the
censure of divine worship through προσκυνησις
of idols (Exod 20:5; 32:8; Lev 26:1; Num 25:2; 4 Kgdms 21:21; Ps 96:7; Isa 2:8;
46:6; Jer 1:16; Dan 3:5; Mic 5:13; Jdt 8:18; Ep Jer 5; Bel 4; Philo, Mos.
2.165; Decal. 76; Josephus, Ant. 3.91; 8.248; 10.69; T. Zeb
9:5; and so on), natural elements (Deut 4:19; 17:3; Jer 8:2; Ezek 8:16; Phil, Decal.
64; Spec. 1.15), and animals (Let. Aris. 138; Sib. Or.
3:30; Philo, Contempl. 9), belong a few instances of the censure of divine
worship through προσκυνησις if humans. (Ray
M. Lozano, The Proskynesis of Jesus in the New Testament: A Study on the
Significance of Jesus as an Object of “Proskuneo” in the New Testament Writings
[Library of New Testament Studies 609; London: T&T Clark, 2020], 30-31)