Laying On of Hands: Ordination, Blessing, and Sacrifice

The Hebrew Gesture

Two Hebrew terms describe the laying on of hands with different intensities. *Samakh* (from which comes *semikhah*) means to lean heavily, to press with weight - used for the sacrifice ritual in which the offerer presses firmly on the animal's head. *Sim yad* (or *shuv yad al*) means simply to set or place a hand, used more gently for blessing and ordination. The distinction matters because the sacrifice ritual involves a deliberate, weight-bearing gesture of identification, while blessing involves a lighter touch.

The Sacrifice Ritual

Leviticus 1:4 instructs: 'He shall lay his hand (*samakh*) on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement for him.' This gesture appears throughout the Levitical sacrificial system (Leviticus 1:4; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33). The meaning is identification and substitution: by pressing heavily on the animal, the offerer identifies himself with the animal that will die in his place.

This understanding reaches its most explicit form in the Day of Atonement (*Yom Kippur*) ritual (Leviticus 16:21): the High Priest lays both hands (*shetei yadav*) on the head of the live goat - the *azazel* goat - and 'confesses over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away.' The physical weight of hands pressing on the goat represents the transfer of sin from the community to the animal.

The author of Hebrews uses this imagery extensively: 'Christ...entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption' (Hebrews 9:12). The connection between the high priest's hands on the goat and Christ's identification with human sin underlies Paul's statement 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us' (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Patriarchal Blessings

Genesis 48:13-20 records Jacob crossing his hands to place his right hand on Ephraim's head (the younger) rather than Manasseh's (the elder) - a deliberate reversal that Joseph tries to correct and Jacob refuses. The right hand was the stronger, more honorable hand; its placement conferred the greater blessing. This crossing of hands was intentional: the right hand blessing the younger son anticipates the consistent biblical pattern of divine reversal (Esau/Jacob, Perez/Zerah, Ephraim/Manasseh).

Mark 10:13-16 records parents bringing children to Jesus that 'he might touch them' (*haptesthai*) - but Jesus 'took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.' The touching was rejected by the disciples (presumably as an interruption) but affirmed by Jesus, who uses the specific gesture of patriarchal blessing.

Numbers 27: Moses and Joshua

Numbers 27:18-23 records God instructing Moses to 'take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand (*samakh*) on him; have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire congregation and commission him in their sight.' Moses laid both his hands (*shetei yadav*) on Joshua - transferring some of his authority (though Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua was 'full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him').

This passage established the template for rabbinic *semikhah* - the ordination of rabbinic successors by a chain of hand-laying going back to Moses. Each rabbi was ordained by a recognized rabbi, who had been ordained by a recognized rabbi, in a chain extending back to Joshua and ultimately to Moses at Sinai. This chain was believed to have been broken (or relocated) around the fourth century CE, creating significant later debates about rabbinic authority.

New Testament Ordination

Acts 6:6 records the apostles laying hands on the Seven (including Stephen and Philip) who were appointed to serve tables - an early form of church office. Acts 13:3 records the Antioch church laying hands on Barnabas and Saul before sending them on their missionary journey. 1 Timothy 4:14 refers to a 'gift' (*charisma*) given to Timothy 'through prophecy with the laying on of hands of the elders'; 2 Timothy 1:6 says Paul himself laid hands on Timothy. These passages establish that early Christian ordination was modeled on the Jewish *semikhah* tradition.

1 Timothy 5:22 warns: 'Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others.' The warning implies that laying hands on a person who turns out to be unworthy creates some form of shared responsibility - consistent with the sacrifice-ritual idea that hand-laying creates identification.

Healing in the Gospels and Acts

Jesus frequently heals by touch and specifically by laying on hands: - 'He laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them' (Mark 6:5) - 'He put his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight' (Luke 13:13) - 'They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover' (Mark 16:18)

Peter heals 'by touch' implicitly in Acts 5:15 (even his shadow heals), and Paul's healing of Publius's father involved laying on hands (Acts 28:8). The gesture consistently communicates the transfer of healing power from the healer to the patient - the same logic as the sacrifice ritual, but reversed in direction.

Dead Sea Scrolls Evidence

The Qumran *Rule of the Congregation* (1QSa) and organizational texts describe procedures for entering the community, but laying on of hands as an ordination gesture is not explicitly described. However, the Qumran community's elaborate system of priestly rank and communal authority reflects the general Second Temple concern with authoritative transmission of religious leadership. The *War Scroll* (1QM) describes priests who bless the warriors before battle without specifying hand-laying, but the priestly blessing gesture in general Second Temple contexts presumed the raised or placed hand.

Parallel Cultures

Egyptian temple reliefs show priests and pharaohs pressing hands on the heads of offerings in gestures that scholars interpret as identification and dedication. Mesopotamian texts describe rituals of touching the forehead to various sacred objects. The universal nature of the gesture - weight and contact indicating identification or connection - suggests that the human intuition underlying the ritual is cross-cultural, even when the specific theological content differs.

Scholarly Sources

David Daube's *The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism* (1956) has a significant chapter on the laying on of hands and its relationship to *semikhah*. Eduard Lohse's article 'Cheir' in the *Theological Dictionary of the New Testament* (vol. 9) surveys all hand-laying texts. Lawrence Schiffman's *From Text to Tradition* discusses rabbinic ordination and the semikhah chain. For the Day of Atonement ritual specifically, Jacob Milgrom's *Leviticus* commentary (Anchor Bible) is the definitive treatment.

• Milgrom, Leviticus (Anchor Bible)
• Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (1956)
• Lohse, TDNT vol.9: Cheir
• Schiffman, From Text to Tradition