I will walk around your altar, O LORD,” claiming that the ritual of washing hands expressed a person’s integrity. Psalm 26:6 says, “I will wash my hands in innocence. When Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon and eventually split the kingdom, the expression used for his attitude in 1 Kings 11:26 is translated literally, “he lifted his hand against the king.” Even more, when Paul is describing the way God has always offered correction and grace to people, he quotes Isaiah’s words, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to disobedient and rebellious people” (Rom 10:21 see also Isa 65:2).Ĭlean hands were much more than the product of washing they were symbols of personal moral purity. Reference to hands could also indicate a person’s will or attitude. “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power,” a claim to divinity that his enemies immediately seized to justify their rejection of him. In Mark 14:62, when Jesus said to the chief priest, “You will see the Son of Man in the highest position in heaven,” his words were actually. Pleasures are by your side forever” (Ps 16:11 see also 110:1). Symbolically, the right hand was the side of favor, so to sit there would be a place of honor: “You make the path of life known to me. When Moses says, “In fact, it was the LORD himself who got rid of all of them until none were left in the camp” (Deut 2:15), his expressive phrase is literally, “the hand of the LORD was against them.” When David prays, “Into your hand I entrust my spirit” (Ps 31:5), he is claiming the protection of God’s power and creating an expression Christ used in his closing moments of life on the cross (Luke 23:46). In the figurative language of the Bible and beyond, hands have long represented power. In passage like Exodus 25:25 and 37:12, 1 King 7:26, and Ezekiel 40:43 the span is transplanted “three inches,” but the original says “handbreadth” Finger width and palm width were standard units of measure in Bible times.
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