Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ORDAIN, ORDINATION

The appointment or installation of religious officials. Clothing with the garments of the priesthood and anointing with olive oil were the basic elements of the installation of priests in Israel (Exod. 29; Lev. 8). In Herodian-Roman times investiture appears to have been constitutive in making the high priest (Josephus Ant. 20.6; m. Hor. 3.4; b. Yoma 12a-b). Christianity’s break with the priestly traditions of the OT is well symbolized by the absence of anointing and giving of distinctive dress in ordination until well into the Middle Ages. Heb. mlʾ, “ordain” (lit., “to fill”; e.g., Exod. 29:9), was used in the sense “to appoint.” The full phrase “to fill the hand” (Judg. 17:5, 12) may refer to an earlier practice of placing portions of the sacrificial animal (cf. Lev. 8:27) or of sacred lots (Deut. 33:8) in the hands of the priest. Anointing indicated the divine choice in the appointment of kings (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:13). No ceremony of installation for judges and elders is recorded in the OT. Later practice in the greater and lesser Sanhedrins was to appoint persons by a solemn seating in the council (m. Sanh. 4.3-4; Sipre Num. 27; cf. As. Mos. 12.2). Information fails on any special method of installation of synagogue functionaries and leaders at Qumran.

Two episodes from the OT became important for rabbinic and Christian ordination. In Num. 8:10 the Israelites lay hands on the Levites in setting them apart for service at the tabernacle, an event assimilated to the form of a sacrifice, the principal occasion for this gesture in the OT. In Num. 27:15-23 Moses lays hands on Joshua when he commissions him to lead the people. Deut. 34:9 seems to attribute Joshua’s possession of the spirit to this act, but Num. 27:18 says Joshua’s possession of the spirit was the reason Moses laid hands on him. Perhaps the “spirit of wisdom” in Deuteronomy was an added gift, or perhaps Deuteronomy implies that the laying on of hands is an evidence for possession of the spirit rather than the means of imparting it. These accounts employ Heb. sāmaḵ, “to lean upon,” from which rabbinic literature developed its technical terminology for ordination (semikuth). Rabbinic ordination by leaning on with the hands is not certainly attested before 70 c.e.

The Gospels describe no method by which Jesus appointed the apostles other than his naming them (Mark 3:14), an omission supplied by the apocryphal Acts Pet. 10, which reflects later Church practice by adding an imposition of hands.

Acts and the Pastoral Epistles provide the principal NT passages pertaining to ordination. Where details are given, there is mention of prayer accompanied by the laying on of hands and sometimes fasting, both of which served to support and reinforce prayer. The fullest account of an appointment to church office concerns the Seven in Acts 6:1-6, which records the following elements: recognition of a need, statement of qualifications, examination and selection by the congregation, presentation of the chosen persons to the apostles, prayer and the laying on of hands. Fasting, prayer, and the laying on of hands are mentioned in the sending out of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:1-3, and prayer and fasting in the appointment of elders in 14:23. The latter passage uses the verb cheirotonéō, from which the later Christian technical terminology for ordination derived. Here it is not clear whether the word refers to selection (closer to its original sense of “elect by show of hands”) or to appointment (a Hellenistic usage that prepared for the Christian meaning of “ordain”). It is commonly thought that the Christian “laying on of hands” has its background in Heb. sāmaḵ, but Christian usage favors another Hebrew practice, the gentle touching with the hand in blessing (Gen. 48:14, 17-18). This would account for the constant association of the gesture with prayer, which is always given the priority in the Christian accounts. The meaning of the incident in Acts 13:3 is explained by 14:26, “commended to the grace of God for the work.”

Timothy was designated for ministry by prophecy (cf. Acts 20:28), and Paul and the elders laid hands on him (1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6). A special gift was imparted by Paul; the laying on of hands by the elders was an accompanying circumstance. These NT passages provided the basis on which later ordination practices in the Church were developed.

See also Laying on of Hands.

Bibliography. E. Ferguson, The Church of Christ (Grand Rapids, 1996), 310-16; “Laying on of Hands: Its Significance in Ordination,” JTS n.s. 26 (1975): 1-12; J. Newman, Semikhah (Manchester, 1950); M. Warkentin, Ordination: A Biblical-Historical View (Grand Rapids, 1982).

Everett Ferguson