12. On this, that hand. The phrase 'on this (that, etc.) hand ' for ' on this side ' is now biblical and archaic. Wright {JSible Word-Bool:-, 303) quotes Holland, Plinrj, xxxvi. 5 (ed. 1637), 'The licrie goddesse Vesta, sitting in a chaire, accom- panied with two hand-maidens set upon the ground of each hand of her.' Shaks., however, uses the expression quite freely, as Merry Wii'cs, II. ii. 24 — 'I, I, I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of Heaven on the left hand, and hiding mine honour in my necessity, am fain to shiitlle, to hedge, and to lurch.' In AV we lind Gn 14'» ' Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus ' ; Ex 38" ' and for the other side ('.p;) of the court gate, on this hand and that hand (.iiti ni-) were hangings' ; 2 K 23" 'And the high jilaces that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption' {) i"7'").
13. Out of hand. The phrase 'out of the hand of for 'out of the power of,' especially after the verb to deliver, occurs frequently. But twice wc find 'out of hand,' meaning 'at once,' Nu 11" 'Kill me, I pray thee, out of hand' (Ji.T «) 'ir,'. LXX Q.iri}KTtiviiv fj.e dyaip^tjft) ; To 4'* 'Give him it out of hand' (irapai/ruo). So North, Plutarch (Demosthenes, p. 853), 'Thereupon he went with a clicarefull countenance into the assembly of the counccll, anil told them there, that he had a certaine dreanie that promised great good hap,
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HAND
HANDLE
and that out of hnnJ, unto the Athenians' ; Oolil- ing, Calvin's Scrmurui upon Deuteronomie (No. l'J'2, on l)t 33'-'), ' Wee see tlien that thint;s shall not [ahvayes] come to passe out of liaiide, imnieili- atly after tliat God liath promised tliem ' ; Uold- in^,', Cahin's Sermons upon Job (No. 119, on Job 32'-'), ' We knows that the world did out of Irnnd fall away from (Jod ' ; and (in same sermon) ' Why doth he not kill me out of hande?'
14. Flit one's luind. Ex 23' 'Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous wit- ness'— a lit. tr. of the Heb., which means to 'go hand in hand with.'
15. Under the hand of: Gn 41*' 'And let them . . . lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh ' (•i!r)5~i: nnp) ; Ex 2r'» 'And if a man smite his servant . . . and he die under his hand ' ; Nu 4^ ' their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar ' ; Jg 9^' ' And would to God this people were under my hand ! ' ; 1 S 21' ' Now therefore what is under thine hand ? Give me five loaves of bread in mine hand.'
16. With a strong (high, etc.) hand is a phrase which is very often used of God's deliverances, Ex 6' 13» 14" 32", Dt 5" 7" etc.
For the theological significance of the word see next article. J. Hastings.
HAND. — The appearance of this word in the Bible is in some cases due to Eng. idiom. Thus the expressions ' at hand ' (though Heb. li.ad a corre- sjionding idiom, Job 15^), and 'handful 'are used where the original idea was simply that of ' near- ness' or ' fulness.' So, too, in the term of measure- ment, 'a palm' or ' haiidbreadth ' n;a, the root idea seems to be that of extension only.
For the hand proper two words are employed — one of them i; yitdh, denoting it open or Jlat, the other '(3 kaph, closed or curved. A third word, c:jrij hnphunim, was sometimes used of the two hands clenched or grasping an object. To these must be added pp; ydmin, and Sno^ sitn/j'l, right and left, which, as in other languages, came to stand by themselves for right and left liand.
It is only idiomatic phrases derived from the various functions of the hand that call for notice here. These functions are to mark position, exert power, and express emotion, and the idioms may Le conveniently arranged in three corresponding classes.
1. So usual was it to employ the hand to de- scribe situation, that X from its sense of side, which is 11 times used to tr. it, came to carry that of place, and is so rendered 8 times. CL coast 6 times, border twice.
In three of these instances (1 S 15", 2 S 18", Is 56°) place eWdently stands for a monument of some kind, possibly a pillar with a hand sculp- tured on it as an emblem of power or success. Such monuments appear to have been common in Phoenicia, and the hand has in many countries served as an emblem of good fortune.
'On the right hand,' 'on the left hand,' are, of course, common phrases, while the custom of facing the E. when denoting geographical position made these phrases in Pal. equivalent to S. and N. re- spectively.
The right hand was the place of an accuser in a court of Justice (Ps 109^ Zee 3'), but, from the sense of security given by the presence of a comrade in battle on the unshielded side, the right came to be the place of a protector (Ps 16* 109^', Ac 2^).