The primary meaning of the Hebrew yashab is “he was seated,” as “Now
Eli the priest sat (yashab) upon a seat” (1 Sam. i. 9); but, since a
person can best remain motionless and at rest when sitting, the term
was applied to everything that is permanent and unchanging; thus, in
the promise that Jerusalem should remain constantly and permanently in
an exalted condition, it is stated, “She will rise and sit in her
place” (Zech. xiv. 10); further, “He maketh the woman who was childless
to sit as a joyful mother of children” (Ps. cxiii. 9); i.e., He makes
her happy condition to be permanent and enduring.
When applied to God, the verb is to be taken in that latter sense:
“Thou, O Lord, remainest (tesheb) for ever” (Lam. v. 19); “O thou who
sittest (ha-yoshebi) in the heavens” (Ps. cxxiii. 1); “He who sitteth
in the heavens” (ii. 4), i.e., He who is everlasting, constant, and in
no way subject to change; immutable in His Essence, and as He consists
of nought but His Essence, He is mutable in no way whatever; not
mutable in His relation to other things; for there is no relation
whatever existing between Him and any other being, as will be explained
below, and therefore no change as regards such relations can take place
in Him. Hence He is immutable in every respect, as He expressly
declares, “I, the Lord, do not change” (Mal. iii. 6); i.e., in Me there
is not any change whatever. This idea is expressed by the term yashab
when referring to God.
The verb, when employed of God, is frequently complemented by “the
Heavens,” inasmuch as the heavens are without change or mutation, that
is to say, they do not individually change, as the individual beings on
earth, by transition from existence into non-existence.
The verb is also employed in descriptions of God’s relation (the term
“relation” is here used as a homonym) to existing species of evanescent
things; for those species are as constant, well organized, and
unvarying as the individuals of the heavenly hosts. Thus we find, “Who
sitteth over the circle of the earth” (Isa. xl. 22), Who remains
constantly and unremittingly over the sphere of the earth; that is to
say, over the things that come into existence within that sphere.
Again, “The Lord sitteth upon the flood” (Ps. xxix. 10), i.e., despite
the change and variation of earthly objects, no change takes place with
respect to God’s relation (to the earth): His relation to each of the
things which come into existence and perish again is stable and
constant, for it concerns only the existing species and not the
individuals. It should therefore be borne in mind, that whenever the
term “sitting” is applied to God, it is used in this sense.