HAND Cr, xdp). The ordinary usages of Scripture in regard to hand, right hand,' etc., must be familiar to ihe student, and the passages on which the representations above made are founded are too easy of access, by means of a Concordance, to need being enumerated here ; it may therefore be more useful to confine the rest of our remarks to one or two specific and more im portant points.
The phmse sitting at the right hand of God,' as applied to the Saviour of the vvorld, is derived from the fact that with earthly princes a position on the right hand of the throne was accounted the chief place of honour, dignity, and power :—` upon thy right hand did stand the queen' (Ps. xlv. 9 ; comp. 1 Kings ii. 19 : Ps. lxxx. 17). The imme diate passage out of which sprang the phraseology employed by Jesus may be found in l's. cx. : Je hovah said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.' Accordingly the Saviour declares before Caiaphas (Matt. xxvi. 64 ; Mark xiv. 62), Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven ;' where the mean ing obviously is that the Jews of that day should have manifest proofs that Jesus held the most emi nent place in the divine favour, and that his present humiliation would be succeeded by glory, majesty, and power (Luke xxiv. 26 ; Tint iii. 16). So when it is said (Mark xvi. 19 ; Rom. viii. 34; Col. iii. ; Pet. iii. 22 ; Heb. i. 3 ; viii. r) that Jesus sits at the right hand of God," at the right hand of the Majesty on high,' we are obviously to under stand the assertion to be that, as his Father, so he worketh always (John v. 17) for the advancement of the kingdom of heaven, and the salvation of the world. [Knapp, Script. Var. Arg. p. 39.] As the hand is the great instrument of action, so is it eminently fitted for affording aid to the mind, by the signs and indications which it makes. Thus to lay the hand on any one was a means of pointing him out, and consequently an emblem of setting any one apart for a particular office or dig nity. Imposition of hands accordingly formed, at
an early period, a part of the ceremonial observed on the appointment and consecration of persons to high and holy undertakings. In Num. xxvii. 19 Jehovah is represented as thus speaking to Moses. Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight,' etc. ; where it is obvious that the lay ing on of hands did neither miginate nor communi cate divine gifts ; for Joshua had the spirit ' before he received imposition of hands ; but was merely an instrumental sign for marking him out individu ally, and setting him apart, in sight of the congre gation, to his arduous work. Similar appears to be the import of the observance in the primitive church of Christ (Acts viii. 15-17 ; Tim. iv. 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 6). A corruption of this doctrine was, that the laying on of hands gave of itself divine powers, and on this account Simon, the magician (Acts 18), offered money, saying Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I laby hands he may receive the Holy Ghost,' intending, pro bably, to carry on a gainful trade by communicat ing the gift to others.
In Col. ii. 13, 14, the law of commandments contained in ordinances ' (Eph. 15), is desig nated the hana'writing of ordinances that was against us,' which Jesus blotted out, and took away, nailing it to his cross ; phraseology which indicates the abolition, on the part of the Saviour, of the Mosaic law (Wolfius, CUra Philolog. N. T. iii. 16).—J. R. B. [In the O. T. hand is some times used in the sense of monument, or trophy (I Sam. XV. 12 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 18 ; Is. lvi. 5). It is supposed that this usage is traceable to the cus tom of sculpturing on sepulchral columns an up lifted hand].