IMPOSITION OF HAXDS
522
IMPOSITION OF HANDS
sire that some gift should be bestowed. It may be an evil thing that is s^Tnbolically bestowed, as when guilt- iness was thus transferred by the high-priest to the scape-goat from the congregation (Lev. xiv, 21) ; but, in general, the gift is of something good which God is sup- posed to bestow by the channel of the laying on of hands." The principle of the practice seems to rest on the importance of the hand itself, both in the bodily or- ganism and in the moral activity of man, in its power and in its action. Thus we find the hand raised in an- ger, extended in pity, the avenging hand, the helping hand, etc. In Greek a distinction exists between the hand extended to shelter or protect (xtlpa VTirtpkxnv), and the hand held out imploringly (^apac avaaxiiv) ; consequently between the powerful, directing hand of God, and the imploring hand of man. The Biblical sig- nification of the imposition of hands rests, in general, on the consideration of the hand as the organ of ti-ansmis- sion, both in the real and iu the symbolical sense. This results from the fact that not only did the party offer- ing sacrifice bless the offering by the imposition of hands, but by the same act he, as sinner, imparted to it also his sins and his curse (see Lev. i, 4 ; iii, 2 ; viii, 14 sq. ; xvi, 21, 24). Biihr (^Symholik d. mosaiscken Cultus, ii, 339) rejects this idea of transmission of sin by the laying on of hands on the expiatory victim ; he consid- ers it only as a symbol of " renunciation of one's own," and argues from the fact of a like imposition of hands in the case of thanksgiving offerings. According to Hofmann {Schriftheiceis, ii, 1, p. 155), the imposition of hands in sacrifices signified the power of the party of- fering it over the life of the victim. Baumgarten, on the contrary {Cornmentar z. P&Uateuch, i, 2, p. 180), and Kurtz {Das mosaiscke Opjer, p. 70; Gesck. d. A. B. p. 332), maintain the idea of transmission. The imposi- tion of hands on all offerings presents no difficulty when we adhere to the general notion of transmission ; the thanksgiving offering is bj^ it made the recipient of the giver's feelings. This idea of transmission is especially manifest in the imposition of hands in consecration or blessing. Thus, " in the Old Testament, Jacob accom- panies his blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh with im- position of hands (Gen. xlviii, 14) ; Joshua is ordained in the room of Moses by imposition of hands (Numb, xxvii, 18; Deut. xxxiv, 9) ; cures seem to have been wrought by the prophets by imposition of hands (2 Kings V, 11); and the high-priest, in giving his solemn benediction, stretched out his hands over the yfeople (Lev. ix, 22). The same form was used by our Lord in blessing, and occasionally in healing, and it was plainly regarded by the Jews as customary or befitting (Matt. xix, 13 ; Mark viii, 23 ; x, 16). One of the promises at the end of Mark's Gospel to Christ's followers is that they should cure tlie sick by laj'ing on of hands (!Mark xvi, bS) ; and accordingly we find that Saul received his sight. I Acts ix, 17). and rul)lnis's fatlicr was liealed of his IV'MT (Acts xxviii.'S) liy ii))]Misition of hands."
II. (Inssijintliim (}/ Biblical r^.s'.— More particularly, the imposition of hands, in the O. T., may be divided into (1) the patriarchal-typical laying on of hands in blessing; (2) the legal-symboUcal, in consecration to of- fice ; and (3) the prophetico-dynfimical in healing. The former (see Gen. xlviii, 14) is a sort of typical trans- mission of a promised hereditary blessing continued, through the party thus blessed, on his posterity; the second (see Exod. xxix, 10 ; Numb, xxvii, 18) is a legal figurative imparting of the rights of office, and a prom- ise of the blessing attached to it ; the third is the trans- mission of a miraculous healing power for the restora- tion of life (2 Kings iv, 34). Yet in the latter case we must notice that the projthet put his hands on the hands of the child, and covered it with his whole body. Thus this transmission points us, in its yet imperfect state, to the N. Test. The N.-T. imposition of hands is symbohcal of the transmission of spirit and life. Here, as in the O. T., we find three uses : (1) the spiritual-pa- triarchal imposition of hands by our Lord and the apos-
tles; (2) the spiritual -legal, or official imposition of hands; (3) the healing imposition of hands. Christ lays his hands on the sufferers, and they are cured. But the bodily gifts he thus transmits are joined to spiritual gifts ; he cures under the condition of faith (Mark vi, 5). The more the people become imbued with the idea that the curative effects are connected with the mate- rial imposition of hands, the more he operates without it (Mark v, 23, 41 ; vii, 32). Sometimes he healed only by a word. The fidl grant of his Spirit and of his call- ing he represented in a real, but symbolical manner, when he extended his hands over his apostles in bless- ing at the Jlount of Olives (Luke xxiv, 50). This im- position of the hands of the Lord on his apostles, in con- nection with the imparting of his Spirit, is the source of the apostolical imposition of hands. It was also originally a blending of the symbol and its fulfilment (see Acts viii, 17), as well as of the bodily and spiritual imparting of life (Acts ix, 17). From this general im- position of hands, under which Christians received the baptism of the Spirit, came the official, apostolic impo- sition of hands (Acts xiii, 3; 1 Tim. iv, 14). At the same time, the example of Cornelius (Acts x) shows that the apostolical imparting of the Holy Spirit was not restricted to the forms of official or even general im- position of hands.