WHY RAISE HANDS?
It is claimed that the raising
of hands in worship is sanctioned in the Bible, and should therefore have
its place in worship today. There are several references to this
in the Psalms, and one in the New Testament.
Why did David raise his hands?
What did his action signify? When did he do so?
Psalm 28v2 reads: ‘Hear
the voice of my supplications … when I lift up my hands toward thy holy
oracle.’
David was away from Jerusalem,
probably running from Absalom. As an absentee, he lifted up his hands
toward the place of sacrifice in Jerusalem. He did this in order
to identify with the offering up of the sacrifice by the priest.
He could not be present, but he indicated his solidarity with the offering.
In Psalm 63v4 he says:
‘I will lift up my hands in thy name.’ He was in the wilderness of Judah,
and again isolated from the place of sacrifice. He longed to be in
the sanctuary (verse 2). At the time of the sacrifice, he once more
raised his hands to identify with the nightly offering.
In Psalm 141v2 he is
crystal clear on the matter. Far from the Tabernacle yet again, he
asked that his prayer would rise up like incense ‘… and the lifting up
of my hands as the evening sacrifice’.
When away from the Tabernacle,
David engaged in this action to express his oneness with the evening offering.
His action was not a devotional ‘prop’, but had real significance.
Should we do the same?
Of course not, because the sacrifices are now finished. Jesus Christ
has fulfilled for us all the sacrificial laws and symbols. The evening
sacrifice is no longer offered. And that is why in the New Testament
we do not find any instruction to literally raise our hands in worship.
To do so would revive the performance of the sacrifices. It would
be to detract from the great sacrifice offered once for all, the atoning
death of Christ.
Three other psalms mention actions
with the hands, but these refer to other matters. Psalm 119v48
speaks of lifting up hands in everyday obedience to God – just as a workman
would take up his tools. Psalm 134v2 refers to the priests
literally offering up sacrifices. Psalm 143v6 sees David figuratively
(not literally) stretching forth his hands to God, as a needy child reaches
out to its mother.
When Paul (1 Timothy 2v8)
commands Christians to pray ‘lifting up holy hands’ he undoubtedly means
this figuratively. To offer clean hands to God in a literal way,
like little children showing parents that they have washed, would be preposterous.
Here the hands represent our deeds, and Paul means that we should strive
for holiness before we pray.
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