A ritual act wherein hands are placed on a person or animal in order to establish some spiritual communion.
Old Testament
Laying on of hands is primarily associated in the Old Testament with the sacrifices prescribed in the Law. An Israelite making a burnt offering was to lay his hand on the animal’s head that it might be an acceptable sacrifice for his atonement (Lev. 1:4; 8:18). Peace offerings (Lev. 3:2-13) and sin offerings (Lev. 4:4-33; 8:14) were made in the same way, as were the offering of the “ram of consecration” or ordination (Lev. 8:22) and the sin offering on the annual day of atonement (Lev. 16:21).
To lay hands on the sacrificial animal was a means of transferring one’s iniquity to the animal (Lev. 16:22). Sins of the congregation were transferred by the elders (Lev. 4:15) or the high priest (Lev. 16:21) as the people’s representatives. Later the king and princes acted on behalf of the nation (2 Chron. 29:20-24). When the Levites were presented to the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, the whole assembly laid hands on them (Num. 8:10). The sin of blasphemy was viewed as so severe that all who overheard one cursing the name of the Lord laid their hands on his head prior to stoning him to death (Lev. 24:14-16). While the primary texts convey little of the spiritual meaning of these rituals, later Old Testament texts emphasize the importance of “a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17).
The act of laying on of hands had other meanings in the Old Testament. Jacob (“Israel”) blessed Ephraim and Manasseh by laying his hands on their heads (Gen. 48:13-20), and the Psalmist celebrated the Lord’s protection as a blessing bestowed by God’s having “laid thine hand upon me” (Ps. 139:5). Job longed for someone who could arbitrate between himself and God by laying “his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33). Moses commissioned Joshua and transferred some of his authority to him by the laying on of hands (Num. 27:18-23; Deut. 34:9). Elisha laid his hands on King Joash’s hands as a prophetic act signifying God’s promise to provide Israel victory over Syria (2 Kings 13:16). In addition, the Old Testament frequently uses the image of laying hands on someone as an act of arrest, capture, or violence (Gen. 27:22; Ex. 22:11; 2 Chron. 23:15; Esther 2:21).
New Testament
The most frequent usage of the expression in the New Testament relates to the arrest or capture of someone (Matt. 26:50; Mark 14:46; Luke 21:12; John 7:44; Acts 4:3; 12:1). In contrast, miraculous healing accompanied the laying on of hands. Jesus healed a blind man (Mark 8:23-25), the sick (Mark 6:5; Luke 4:40), and a woman with “a spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11-13) by laying hands on them. This seems to have been a characteristic means of healing (Mark 5:23), and Jesus’ disciples continued the practice (Mark 16:18; Acts 9:12-17; 28:8). Some view healing by laying on of hands as an extension of the Old Testament blessing. A more explicit example of this is Jesus’ laying hands on children to bless them (Mark 10:16; Matt. 19:13-15).
Acts introduces the dynamic but fluid practice of the early church. Acts 6 relates the selection of seven men who were put in charge of the daily service to the widows of the Jerusalem congregation. These men were chosen by the congregation, brought before the apostles, and, after prayer, had hands (whether the congregation’s or the apostles’ is unclear) laid on them. Fasting, prayer, and the laying on of hands also accompanied the appointment of Barnabas and Saul to their missionary endeavor (Acts 13:3). Peter and John laid hands on baptized believers in Samaria so they might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-19). Paul did the same for some disciples at Ephesus who had been baptized into John the Baptist’s baptism (Acts 19:6). These disciples began speaking in tongues and prophesying as evidence of the Holy Spirit.
In 1 and 2 Timothy Paul wrote of Timothy’s having been given a spiritual gift by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the assembly of elders (1 Tim. 4:14). He also referred to a gift of God that was in Timothy through the laying on of Paul’s hands (2 Tim. 1:6). Paul warned against laying hands on any one hastily (1 Tim. 5:22).
Hebrews classified laying on of hands among the elementary teachings that persons of maturity must leave behind (Heb. 6:2).
Michael Fink
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