1. Tlie hand is a ligure for the action, influence, ox power of God or man ; Jg l** ' the hantl of tlie house of Joseph prevailed ' ; I S 22" ' I'uru, and slay the prie.sts or the Lord ; becau-se their hand also is with David ' ; 2 K 3" ' And it came to pass, a.s the minstrel played, that the hand of the Loku came upon him ; Ezr 7" ' according to the hand of the LoKD his (^od upon him' (so 7" 8'*, Neh '2»' '*, sometimes with 'good' as epithet of 'hand,' the meaning being always the favour of God actively bestowed and proved by its results) ; Job 6" ' Even that it would please God to destroy me ; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me ott"! ' Ps "S"*- ' They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy ' ; SQ* ' Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave 'i ' (RV ' power of Sheol ') ; 109" ' That tliey may know that this is thy hand, that thou, Lord, hast done it ' ; Pr 21' ' The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he will ' ; Ec 9'° ' Whatsoever thy hand tindeth to do, do it with thy might ' ; Jer 15'' ' I sat alone because of thy hand '('The Hand of J" is a tig. e.xpression for the self-rerealing and irresistible power of J" ; it is therefore equivalent to the Arm of J" [Is 53'], but is used in preference with regard to the divinely-ordained actions and words of the prophets ' — Cheyne).
In this connexion the foil, passages deserve attention : 1. Dt 838 • i,et his hands be sufficient for him' ; Heb. "iS 3"i Vi; ; RV ' With his hands he contended for himself,' RVm • Let'his'iiands be surtlcient for him,' or 'for them." Driver mentions Stade's ' plausible conjecture ' iS 2"! ^'V (addressed to Ood) ' with thy hands contend for it ' ; but his own tr. is ' with his hands he hath contended for it.' The verse contains Moses' blessing on Judah ; and as Judah's desire for the reunion of the peojile is given in the previous clause, these words are understood by Driver as expressing Judah's services for the common weal ; LXX «x< eu x^'f'^ tcurcv itxxpivovtrtv «yT* ; Vulg. ' manus ejus pugnabunt pro co ' ; Wye 1382 ' his hoondis shulen fight for it,' 13SS ' hise hondis achulen fighte forh.\-m ' ; Tind. ' let his handes tyght for him ' ; Gov. ' Let his handes multiplye him ' (taking 3"! from 33"; ' to increase,' not from 3'-i * to strive ') ; similarly Calvin (.^enttoM upon Deut.), Golding's trans. * Let his handes ■nffise him, because thou wilt bee his heipe against his enemies ' ; whence Gen. * His hands shalbe siitficient for him, if thou help him against his enemies ' ; Bish. ' His hands shalbe good ynough
for him," whence AV ; but Dou. (after Vulg.) ' his handes shal light for him.'
2. Ps 1714 ' Deliver my soul from the wicked, which Is thy sword : from men which are thy hand, O Loan ' ^ ni.T ri"J,"C'npO) ; KV ' From men, by thy hand,' UVm as AV. Nearly all mod. expositors • take the ' swoni ' and the ' hand ' as the instru- ments by which J" is to rescue the soul of His serva t, as ItV, But King still accepts the AV tr., which makes wicked men Goil's sword, and worldly men His ' hand ' or instrument (cf. Is It)* • Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger ! '). The piuisage is, however, suspected, and its opening words rcJccttHl as a g'osa by Cheyne, Kautzsch, Wellhausen, et aL Sec Kx}h>k. Txm^a, V. 431.
3. Ps 8017 * Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand ' (^}7; r's-Sj; !I";;'"nn), i.e. • put forth thy power to prvitect the people which thy right hand made into a nation and delivered from Egvpt' — Kirkpatrick. Wellh.-Furness tr. ^'' ' thine arm.'
4. Pa 89^ * I will Sethis hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.' RV • on the sea ... on the rivers.' The ref. is to the extent of the King's dominion — from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates.
2. It follows that the hand is often a ligure for the person, especially the person actini,' :t Lv 1433 ' This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing' (KV 'who is not able') ; so Nu 6^' ; IS 2:>'« 'And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God' (cf. Is 35^ 'strengthen ye the weak hands, and conlirm the feeble knees'). Shaks. occasionally uses ' hand ' in the same way, as Meas./or Meas. v. i. 491 —
' Friar, advise him : I leave him to your hand.'
3. The above and other idioms are found in the foil. phra.ses : —