Laying on of Hands
In the
Greek, there is one word, epiqesis, for our four words - laying on of hands. Epiqesis – epithesis means an imposition (of hands officially) –
laying, putting on. Epi- means to superimpose- as a
relation of distribution i.e. over, upon, to rest on, at. So, laying on of
hands is to officially distribute whatever YHWH
wants passed to an individual by the ruach YHWH
[spirit], i.e. healing, an anointing, a gift or a blessing, by the laying on of
the hands of the person who has who has it to the person who does not. We will
cover the different outpourings later. First I want to cover where this laying
on of hands originates.
Right Hand
Like all
subjects that I have studied, laying on of hands does
not originate with the "New Testament". The practice is from the Tanak [Old Testament] - it is Hebrew, or rather, of YHWH.
The Scripture states that Yahusha` only does what he
sees His Father doing (Yahuchanan [John]
In Shemoth [Exodus] 15:6, " 'your right hand, YHWH, was majestic
in power. your right hand, YHWH, shattered the enemy.'
" Thehillah [Psalm]
Imparting
Blessings
Here are some Tanak [Old
Testament] examples of people imparting a blessing or anointing by smiykah - laying on of hands. In Bereshiyth [Genesis] 27, we see Yaaqob
[Jacob] deceiving his father and stealing the blessing intended for Esaw [Esau]. Bereshiyth [Genesis]
48, Yisrael (Yaaqob)
blesses Yahusef’s [Joseph] sons Menashsheh
[Manasseh] and Efrayim [Ephraim]. Notice in this
chapter the importance of the right hand. Bereshiyth
49:28, Yisrael blesses the 12 tribes. BeMidbar [Numbers] 11, seventy-two elders anointed with the
ruach [spirit] by Mosheh
[Moses]. Note verse 25 where it says that Mosheh took
of the ruach [spirit] that was on him and put the ruach on them. By the way, my count is not off. There were
two men in camp named Eldad and Medad,
in verse 26, that had the ruach come upon them and
they also began foretelling. I like this next bit. Yahusha`
[Joshua] tells Mosheh to make them stop and Mosheh replies, " 'i wish that all the people of YHWH were nebiyiym
[prophets] and that YHWH would put his ruach on
them.' " Debariym
[Deuteronomy] 34:9, this is where Yahusha` [Joshua]
succeeds Mosheh as leader of Yisrael
before Mosheh dies, "now yahusha` ben nun was filled
with the ruach of wisdom because mosheh
had laid his hands on him. so the sons of yisrael listened to him and did what YHWH had commanded mosheh." I Melekiym [Kings]
19:15,16, YHWH directed EliYahu, the nabiy [prophet] to go and anoint Chazahel
[Hazael] king of Aram, Yahuw [Jehu] king over Yisrael and Eliysha to succeed
him as nabiy [prophet]. I Shemuel
[Samuel]
Yahusha`
Now let us take a look at the son, Yahusha`
and see what he does with his smiykah - laying on
of hands. The first groupings are of healing. Luke 4:40, "when the sun was setting, the people brought to yahusha` all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying
his hands on each one, he healed them." Mark 6:5,6, "he could not do any miracles there, except lay his
hands on a few sick people and heal them. and he
was amazed at their lack of faith." MaththiYahu [Matthew]
8:3, "yahusha` reached out his hand and touched
the man. 'i am willing,'
he said. 'be clean.' immediately he was cured of
his leprosy." MaththiYahu 8:15, "he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got
up and began to wait on him." By laying
his hands on those that were sick, he imparted, transferred, superimposed,
had rest upon - his life, which is the life of his Father, YHWH, thereby healing them.
Generations
of Anointings
But, Yahusha`, as the Ben [son of]
YHWH, is not the only one who did this. Since Yahusha`
had anointed his thalmiydiym [students, disciples] to
follow him, they had an imparting from him and a commission to do this in his
name. Mark 16:17, 18, " 'and these signs will
accompany those who believe in my name, they will drive out demons; they will
speak in new tongues; they will pick up
snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt
them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get
well.' " Luke 9:1,2, "when yahusha` had called the
twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and
to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the
Now YHWH is the first generation of these blessings and anointings; His son, Yahusha`, is
the second generation; Yahusha` then passes the
commission on to the thalmiydiym [students,
disciples], who are the third generation. Let’s take a look at some of the
generations of the laying on of hands beyond the third. In Acts 9, there is a thalmiyd [disciple] named Ananias.
After Shaul [Saul] (later called Paul) had his
encounter with Yahusha` and was blinded, he was taken
to Dammeseq [
When Yahusha` sent his ruach YHWH on those that met together, about 120 of them,
in Acts 2, they were filled with the ruach and spoke
in tongues as the ruach enabled them. This imparting
the ruach YHWH is part of what is passed from a
believer in Yahusha`, who has the ruach
YHWH, to a new believer that does not.
Acts 19:6, "when shaul
placed his hands on them, the ruach YHWH came on
them, and they spoke in tongues and foretold." The following is the account of Shimon
the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-25,who lived in Shomeron [
Now let us take a look at a young man named Timothy. I and
II Timothy reveal a little of him. Shaul called him
his true son in the faith. He must have been trustworthy and responsible for Shaul to have given him the instructions concerning the Qehillah [Assembly] as he did. He instructs Timothy to
command and teach these things, therefore he must have
been a teacher to some degree and had a position of authority to be able to
command. He was young. He had a stomach problem and was frequently ill. His
mother and grandmother were women of faith. He knew the Scriptures from
infancy. He was instructed to do the work of a basar
[evangelist]. In Acts 16, we see that Lystra is where
Shaul and Timothy join up. Timothys’
father was a Yewaniy [Hellanis-Greek].
Shaul circumcised Timothy. In I
Corinthians
Anointing
imparted
Anointings are also
imparted by the laying on of hands. Acts 6:1-6, "in those days when the number of thalmiydiym
[students, disciples] was increasing, the hellanis
[Grecian] yahudiym [jews]
among them complained against the hebraic yahudiym [jews] because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. so the twelve gathered all the thalmiydiym
[disciples] together and said, 'it would not be right for us to neglect the
ministry of the word of YHWH in order to wait on tables. brothers, choose
seven men from among you who are known to be full of the ruach
and wisdom. we will turn this responsibility over to
them and will give our attention to prayer
and the ministry of the word.' this proposal pleased the whole group. they chose stephen, a man full of
faith and of the ruach YHWH; also philip,
procorus, nicanor, timon, parmenas, and nicolas from
Blessings imparted
Another form of imparting is that of blessings. Imparting of
blessings is common in the Tanak [Old Testament].
Some of the examples are already cited in the above scriptures. Blessings is a large subject all by itself, but I will list
a few of the scriptures to give you the idea. In Luke 6:28, we are told to
bless those who curse us. Romans
Responsibility
These are the scriptures that deal with the laying on of
hands. There is a tremendous responsibility that goes with that. As we saw with
Shimon the sorcerer, Kefa [Peter] and Yahuchanan [John] imparted the ruach
YHWH to the believers, but did not impart to Shimon, the ability to do this as
well. Shaul cautions Timothy in I Timothy 5:22, "do not be hasty in the
laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. keep
yourself pure." There is an element of maturity involved. What exactly
is Shaul warning about, to keep oneself pure and not
share in the sins of others? How many times have we as believers seen men of
authority abuse the position, laying on of hands for position, pride and money?
How many leaders have sold what they have for profit? It is a shame they did
not take to heart the passage concerning Shimon the sorcerer.
The thalmiydiym [students] had a
measure of authority to heal people in the name of Yahusha`.
They had been trained for three years by him. Then Yahusha`
sends the ruach to them and they are filled and
begin imparting it to others. In Yahuchanan [John]
15:15, just before Yahusha` is arrested, he tells
his thalmiydiym that he no longer calls them servants, because
a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, he now calls them
friends, because everything that Yahusha` learned
from his Father, he has made known to them. Also, in I
Timothy 3:6, Shaul tells Timothy that an overseer
must not be a recent ger [convert] or he may become
conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil
- pride. Deacons are also to be first tested-3:10. Discipleship and maturity
go a long way. Luke 12:48, "
'…from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the
one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.' "
I hope that as believers, the Qehillah
[Assembly] will stop being as the prostitute and giving to all her lovers, the
gifts that YHWH has poured out on us (Yechezqel
[Ezekiel] 16). But instead, become as a submissive wife, acknowledging Yahusha` as our head, an obedient body of Mashiyach [Messiah], and do as he directs with the gifts
that YHWH and Yahusha` choose to bless us with. This is
my prayer for you. Kathryn