Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAYING ON OF HANDS

A ceremonial act of consecration or identification (Heb. sāmaḵ yaḏ ʿal; Gk. epitíthēmi tás cheíras, epíthesis tṓn cheirṓn). In the OT this ritual employed either one or two hands. The two-handed ritual occurred when the priest placed his hands on the scapegoat’s head (Lev. 16:21), when witnesses grasped the head of a blasphemer about to be stoned (24:14; cf. Deut. 13:9[MT 10]), and when Moses ordained Joshua (Num. 27:18, 23; Deut. 34:9). In each case, the gesture identified the focus of the ritual. The one-handed ritual, meanwhile, applied to sacrifice where the offerer placed a hand on the animal just prior to slaughtering it (Lev. 1:4; 3:2, 8, 13). The purpose, as Hittite parallels confirm and the specifics of the cases demonstrate, was not to transfer guilt to the animal but to identify it as belonging to, and thus as reconsecrating, the offerer.

In the NT laying on of hands occurred in four settings: blessing, which reflected the rabbinic belief in the powers of a saint’s hands (Matt. 19:13-15); healing, where the ritual was optional but often served to identify both the sickness and the healer and to dramatize the transfer of power (9:18; Mark 5:23; Acts 9:12; 28:8); the impartation of spiritual gifts, which served to distinguish charismatic Christians from other sects (Acts 8:19; 19:6); and ordination (6:6, 8; 13:3; 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6). Finally, in all its uses (except perhaps in blessing), laying on of hands had pneumatic, miraculous overtones befitting its place in a community emphasizing the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Bibliography. D. Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (1956, repr. New York, 1973); D. P. Wright, “The Gesture of Hand Placement in the Hebrew Bible and in Hittite Literature,” JAOS 106 (1986): 433-46.

Mark W. Hamilton

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAYING ON OF HANDS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)