What is ‘worship?’

Exodus 8:1 "Let my people go, so that they may worship me."

"worship" - Strong's Ref. # 5647 Romanized `abad: pronounced aw-bad'
    a primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.:

KJV- keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, + husbandman, keep, labour(-ing) man, bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve(-ing, self), (be, become) servant(-s), do (use) service, till(-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper,

'Worship' (the English word) in the Old Testament is usually translated as such from a different Hebrew word:

(Strong's Ref. # 7812) Romanized shachah: pronounced shaw-khaw'
    a primitive root; to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God):

KJV- bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.

Why would Moses have used a word for 'worship' that didn't mean 'to do reverence, to worship' and instead used a word that meant 'to keep in bondage, bond-service, servant'?

From the first time I contemplated this I've had the strong impression that this was a prelude to the 1st Commandment, which was yet to be given to Moses from God in the Sinai desert: Exodus 20:3 You are not to have any other gods!

It is God, and God alone Whom we are to serve. This isn't so much about how well we 'bow down' but how well we 'serve.'

Lots of folks today, hundreds of millions, figuratively 'bow down' before the Lord in churches around the world. This 'homage' isn't what God 'requires' of us. Jesus made it plain that there would always be many who would say, "Lord, Lord..." but that their hearts wouldn't 'belong' to Him.

Micah 6:8 succinctly states what service it is that God 'requires' of us:  "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

When we practice this 'worship' of Exodus 8:1 as His slaves in righteousness - serving with humility, mercy, and distributive justice, we can then approach a Holy and Righteous God bowing down before Him with praise and adoration.

What gifts do you bring as you worship the King of kings and Lord of lords?