Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases -- when it is connected to ideas or objects -- its spiritual meaning and natural meaning are essentially the same. When the Bible talks about people knowing each other and especially when it talks about the Lord knowing people, the meaning has more to do with the states of love within people than it does with any factual knowledge. This makes sense if you think about it. When we really "know" somebody, what we mean is that we know what kind of person they are, what their motivations are, what they love, what they hate, what makes them tick. Those things are far more important than knowing their parents' names, where they were born or what year they graduated from school. Most often then, especially applied to people, "knowing" has to do with the perceptions we have about other people's loves and the conjunction that can exist between those with similar loves, not just a collection of facts.

If you think about sitting, it seems fair to say that where you're sitting is more important than that you're sitting. Sitting in a movie theater, sitting in a classroom, sitting in the driver's seat of a car, sitting in the defendant's seat at a trial, sitting at the family dinner table -- those are very, very different things. But even so, the fact that you're sitting in those places is important -- it means you are part of what's going on, you're staying in place. This is similar to "sitting" in the Bible. Sitting on a throne indicates judgment; sitting in a tent door indicates holiness. The context is crucial. But in all cases "sitting" indicates a sense of permanence, belonging, and full participation in the spiritual state illustrated through the context.