Copyright © 2001 Andrews
University Press, cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JOSHUA'S
RECEPTION OF THE LAYING ON
OF HANDS IN NUMBERS 27:12-23
KEITH MATTINGLY
Andrews, University
Because Christian rites of
ordination regularly involve the imposition of
hands, scholars generally recognize the importance of
understanding this
practice. Instituted early in the church's
development and thus in close
proximity with its Jewish origins, the imposition
of hands has been thought
by scholars to stem most likely from OT roots.l Jewish exegetes and
Pentateuchal critical scholars have
often adopted the view that ordination was
performed for the first time when Moses ordained
Joshua with the laying on
of hands and that Joshua's installation by Moses
became the prototype of
rabbinic ordination.2 It has also been
proposed that Christian ordination
originally structured itself on the model of
rabbinic ordination, even though
it is also understood that it took on meaning of
its own.3 Thus in both Jewish
and Christian traditions, Joshua's installation has
powerfully influenced
ordination practice which includes the laying on of
hands.4
1 Jean Thierry Maertens,
"Un rite de pouvoir: l'imposition des mains," Studies in
Religion 7 (1978): 29. Eduard Lohse suggests that these
OT roots are authenticated by the
linguistic relationships evident between Hebrew and
Greek expressions for the imposition
of hands in Die
Ordination im Spatjudentum
und im Neuen Testament
(
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1951), 18.
2 Lohse, Die Ordination, 29. See also J. Newman, Semikhah: A Study of Its
Origin, History and Function
in Rabbinic Literature (
University
Press, 1950), 2; Paul Galtier, "Imposition des
mains," Dictionnaire de theologie
catholique (1927), 7:1304; H.
Revel, "Ordination," Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia (1939),
8:318;
4
(1960): 128; M. H. Shepherd Jr., "Hands, Laying on of," IDB (1962), 2:251-252; Allen
Howard
Podet, "Elements in the Development of
Rabbinical Ordination in the Codes"
(Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew Union College,
1964), 50-51.
3 Johannes Behro,
Die Handauflegung
im Urchristentum (
Verlagbuchhandlung, 1911; reprint,
142;
Joseph Coppens, L'imposition des mains et les rites connexes
dans le Nouveau Testament
et dans l'Eglise
ancienne (
of the Christian Sacraments (
reprint,
"The
Biblical Basis for Ordination," Review
and Expositor 78 (1981): 472.
4 Arnoid Ehrhardt, "Jewish and Christian Ordination," The Journal of Ecclesiastical
History 5 (1954): 138. Ehrhardt sees the,OT
influence on Christian ordination to be direct,
rather than channeled through rabbinic ordination.
191
l92 SEMINARY
STUDIES 39 (AUTUMN 2001)
While many scholars agree that Joshua's installation
has prototypical
influence on Christian ordination practice, very
few agree as to the
significance of Moses' laying hands
on Joshua.5 Did Moses transfer
anything to Joshua through the hand-laying
gesture, and if so, what did
he transfer? Did the gesture merely designate
Joshua as the one to be
ordained or, on the other hand, merely identify
Moses with Joshua?
Perhaps
laying on of hands indicated Joshua as in some way a substitute
or a representative of YHWH or Moses. Finally,
were two hands laid on
Joshua
or one, and what is the significance of the number of hands used?
In order to answer these questions, one must
exegetically study the
two Pentateuchal pericopes which describe the event, Num 27:12-23 and
Deut
34:9. It is the purpose of this article to present an exegetical study of
laying on of hands as presented in Num 27:12-23. The
contribution or
Deut
34:9 and final conclusions addressing the procedural techniques,
symbolic meanings, and tangible effects of the
hand-laying gesture will be
presented in a subsequent article.
Num 27:12-23 plays an important role in the
overall theme of the
book of Numbers.
preparing to enter the Promised Land. The census
of Num 26 established
a new generation, who was given permission to
enter that land. The
necessity of new leadership to lead this new generation
into the land must
be addressed, and Num 27:12-23 addresses this
necessity.
An analysis of the pericope's
structure provides the starting point
for an interpretation of the significance of the
hand-laying gesture.
Numbers
27:12-23 contains four sections indicated by and related to
each other through external, internal, and sequential
parallelism. In the
external parallelism, the last two sections
repeat a pattern established by
the first two sections, designated as A, B, A', B'.
Each of the A sections
presents statements made by YHWH, and each of the
B sections present
Moses' responses. In the internal parallelism,
each of the four sections
is further divided into four subsections, which
generally follow the
pattern established by the four subsections of
section A, designated as
a, b, c, d, in section B, as al, b1,
c1, d1; in section A’, as a2, b2, c2,
d2, and
in Section B', as a3, b3, c3,
a4. Each of the "a" subsections introduces the
speaker of that section, each "b"
subsection gives a request or response
to subsection "a," each of the
"c" subsections addresses leadership issues,
and each of the "d" subsections addresses
congregational issues. In the
sequential parallelism, each section responds to
issues of the previous
5 For a thorough review of the various
scholarly interpretations, see my dissertation,
"The
Laying on of Hands on Joshua: An Exegetical Study of Numbers 27:12-23 and
Deuteronomy
34:9" (Ph.D. dissertation,
JOSHUA'S RECEPTION OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
193
section; in other words, B responds to issues
raised in A, A' responds to
issues raised in B, and B' responds to issues raised
in A' and may be
designated as A-B-A'-B'. The pericope
parallels can be illustrated as
follows:
A
YHWH Announced Moses' -- A' YHWH
Instructed Moses to
Death, vv. 12-14 Install
Joshua, vv. 18-21
a Introductory
Identifier, -- a2 Introductory Identifier, v. 18a
v. 12a
b Request, v. 12b -- b2
Request, v. 18b
c Leader Issues,
v. 13 -- c2 Leader Issues, vv. 18c-20a
d Congregation
Issues, -- d2
Congregation Issues,
v. 14 vv.
20b-21
B
Moses Requested YHWH to -- B' Moses
Followed YHWH's
Appoint a Leader, vv. 15-17 Instructions to Install Joshua,
vv.22-23
al
Introductory Identifier, -- a3 Introductory Identifier, v. 22a
v.15
bl
Request, v. 16 -- b3
Response to Request, v. 22b
c1
Leader Issues, v. 17a,b -- c3 Leader Issues, vv. 22c-22a
dl Congregation
Issues,
v.17c
a4 Concluding Identifier, v. 23b
The
translation of the pericope:
A
a and YHWH said to Moses,
b Go up into this
and see the land which I have given to the sons of
c After you have seen it,
you will be gathered to your people,
even you, just as was gathered Aaron your brother,
d because you rebelled
against my word in the wilderness
of Zin, in the rebellion of the
congregation, to sanctify
me at the waters before their eyes. These are the Waters
of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
194
SEMINARY STUDIES 39
(AUTUMN 2001)
B a1 And Moses spoke to God,
saying:
bl Let YHWH appoint,
the God of the spirits of all flesh, a man over
the congregation,
c1 who will go out before them and who will come
in before
them, who will lead them out and who will bring them in,
d1
so that the congregation of YHWH will not be as sheep
who have no
shepherd.
A'
a2 And YHWH said to Moses,
b2
Take (to yourself) Joshua, son of Nun, a man in whom there is
spirit,
c2 and lay your hand on
him, and stand him before Eleazar the
priest and before all the congregation, and commission him
before their eyes, and you shall confer some of your honor
on
him so that will listen all the congregation of the sons of
d2 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest and he shall ask for
him by the judgment of the Urim
before YHWH.
According
to His word they shall go out and according to
His
word they shall come in, he and all the sons of
with him, even all the congregation.
B'
a3 And Moses did just as YHWH commanded him.
b3 and he took Joshua
c3 and stood him before Eleazar
the priest and before all the
congregation and he laid his hands
on him and he
commissioned him
a4
just as YHWH spoke by the hand of Moses.
This study focuses on the third section of the pericope, A', vv. 18-21.
Sections
A and B provide background material to A'. Section A’ gives the
information pertinent to interpreting laying on of
hands; B' concludes by
repeating step by step Moses' accomplishment of YHWH's instructions in A'.
Interpreting the significance of the laying on
of hands begins by
noting the flow in the subsections of A'. The flow
begins in subsection a2
(v. 18a) by identifying the speaker, YHWH. The flow continues in
subsection b2 with YHWH's
request, "take to yourself" Joshua. This
imperative then initiates a series of four actions
in subsection c2 that relate
to leadership issues: lay, stand, command, and
give. The four actions are
tied together by four second masculine singular waw perfect verbs
indicating how
note that the waw perfect
construction expresses a series of actions
JOSHUA'S
RECEPTION OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS 195
contingent or dependent upon the preceding action
and at the same time
establishes a hierarchy: first, "lay";
second, "stand"; third, "command";
and fourth, "give." Subsection c2
concludes with a "so that" clause,
indicating that the actions of the waw perfect verbs have the purpose of
giving status to Joshua--the children of
in subsection d2 the flow moves to
congregational issues. First, Joshua was
to stand before the high priest when he needs to
know the will of YHWH
for leading the congregation. Second, once Joshua
received YHWH's
word, he and the congregation were free to go out
and to come back.
Study
will now be given to each of these four subsections.
Introductory Identifier--"And YHWH
Said to Moses” (Subsection a)
The Hebrew verb for "said" (rmaxA) appears about 5,300 times in the
OT,
never with the purpose of describing the technique of speaking, "but
to call attention to what is being said."6
Frequently, rmaxA is used by God
to introduce revelation, in which he expresses
himself and his will: "One
would suppose that this usage emphasizes that God's
revelation is a
spoken, transmissible, propositional, definite
matter."7 The expression
"thus says YHWH" added authority and importance to any
instruction.8
When
YHWH spoke, Moses listened and Moses responded.
The instructions of Num 27:18-20 are initiated by
YHWH's word.
These
are no ordinary instructions, but have the weight of the divine
behind them. The words which describe Joshua's
installation, and which
include laying on of hands, are attributed to
God himself; they are not
words invented by Moses. The pericope
concludes in v. 23 by
emphasizing that all was accomplished according as
YHWH spoke (rB,Di),
by the hand of Moses.
The Imperative--"Take Joshua, a Man in
Whom There is Spirit” (Subsection b)
This simple command provides a wealth of
information. First, it is
parallel to the commands (v. 12) to "go
up" the mountain and "see" the
Promised
Land, which had the result of placing Moses in a position where
6 Siegfried Wagner,
"rmaxA "amar," TDOT
(1974), 1:328.
7 Charles L. Feinberg, "rmaxA (‘amar)
say, speak, say to oneself (think), intend,
command, promise," TWOT (1980), 1:55.
8 This phrase was used in talking to Pharoah (Exod
YHWH's will for
of the golden calf (Exod
32:27).
196 SEMINARY STUDIES 39 (AUTUMN
2001)
YHWH
could give a third command, "take" Joshua. Second, it is also
parallel
to Moses' request in v. 16 to "appoint"
a leader. YHWH responded that
Moses
"take" Joshua, thus communicating to Moses
that he too had a role to
play in establishing
a process of subsequent actions, indicated by the
series of waw perfect verbs
in subsection c2. Finally, Joshua, son
of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit,
was the one identified as the one to be taken.
The word for "spirit" in "a man
in whom there is spirit" has no article,
making it difficult to develop a simple interpretation
of what spirit Joshua
possessed. "Spirit" should be linked to
its parallel subsection usage in Section
B
(v. 16), which identifies YHWH as the "God of the spirits of all flesh."
YHWH
is thus identified as the sovereign Creator. He is the one who gives
breath or spirit; therefore, he is the one who knows
what the spirit of a man
really is. Identifying Joshua as a "man in whom
there is spirit" indicates that
YHWH
knows who Joshua is and can guarantee Moses that Joshua possesses
the requisite spiritual qualifications and skills
for leadership.9
Is this spirit Joshua possesses a reference to
God's spirit, or to the fact that
Joshua
was a spirited man? The answer is yes to both questions. First,
Wood
argues that the lack of an article attached to the word "spirit" does
not
necessarily preclude a reference to the Spirit of
God. He uses for support 1
Chr 12:18, where the word "spirit" lacks
an article yet obviously refers to
YHWH's
Spirit.
Wood further argues that Moses was endowed with
YHWH's Spirit, as evidenced by the story of the
seventy elders with whom
he shared some of his spirit (Num
"Holy
Spirit within Moses" (Isa 63:11). If Moses was
endowed with the Spirit,
"one should only expect that his successor would have to
be."10
9 Most scholars accept the interpretation
of spirit (HaUr) as an endowment for
leadership;
for example: Jacob Milgrom,
Numbers Bemidbar,
The JPS Torah Commentary (
Jewish
Publication Society, 5750/1990), 235; Walter Riggans,
Numbers, Daily Study Bible
(Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1983), 202; "Numbers," The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, ed.
Charles
F. Pfeiffer (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962),147; A. Clarke,
The Holy Bible Containing
the Old and New Testaments: The Old Testament (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1938),
1:707-708;
Julius H. Greenstone, Numbers, with
Commentary (
Publication
Society, 1948), 297; R. B. Allen, "Numbers" Expositor's Bible Commentary
(Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 2:946; Martin Noth, Numbers, A
Commentary, Old
Testament Library, trans. James Martin (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1968), 214-215; F. B.
Huey, Numbers,
Bible.
Study Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981),93-94; J. L.
Mays,
The Book of Leviticus, the Book o/Numbers,
LBC (Richmond: John Knox, 1963), 133;
F.
C. Cook and T. E. Espin, The Fourth Book of Moses Called Numbers, The Holy Bible
According
to the Authorized Version, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1877), 759; A. Noordtzij,
Numbers, Bible Student's
Commentary, trans. E. van der Maas (
1983),
256-257; O. J. Baab, The Theology of the Old Testament (
Cokesbury, 1949),39-42.
10
JOSHUA'S
RECEPTION OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS 197
Second, "spirit" (HaUr) can indicate internal elements of an individual.
One
particular element referred to is that of ability. YHWH endowed
Bezaleel with a divine spirit of skill, ability,
and knowledge so that he
could construct the Tabernacle. In Joshua's case,
spirit would refer to his
endowed leadership skill. YHWH had already
chosen, authenticated, and
endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability,
knowledge, and insight
to qualify him for the work. Additionally, the
word "spirit" can depict a
person's dominant disposition of mind or
attitude.11 In particular, "spirit"
is used as a synonym for "courage."12
Designating Joshua as a "man in
whom there is spirit" may in part refer not
only to the spy scenario, but
also to Joshua's long service to Moses as well as to
the entire
congregation.13 To describe Joshua as
"a man in whom there is spirit" is
to describe him as a man full of life.14
As such, YHWH declared that
Joshua
has the spirit of life and courage necessary to provide the kind of
strong leadership necessary to lead
To summarize, YHWH, the God of the spirits of
all flesh, identified
Joshua,
a man in whom there is spirit. Joshua is thus indicated as one with
an indomitable and courageous spirit. But more, as
the giver of spirit,
YHWH
also identifies Joshua as one to whom he had given a special
Spirit,
a Spirit that has changed him and endowed him for leadership.
1976),
49-50. Allen (2:946) states that "spirit" can also refer to the Holy
Spirit, noting that
though the word HaUr (spirit) in Num 27:18
is indefinite by spelling, it "may be regarded as
inherently defInite when
used as a reference to deity"; see also Clarke, 1:707-708; Greenstone,
297.
11 Spirit describing a dominant disposition
can describe the following emotions: crushed
in spirit, broken, forsaken, humble, smitten,
troubled, faithful, high, cool, long-enduring,
anger, stubbornness, seat of, and excellence. Norman
Henry Snaith, The Distinctive Ideas
of
the Old Testament (London: Epworth Press, 1944), 146-150; William
Ross Shoemaker, "The
Use
of HaUr in the Old Testament,
and of pneuma in the New
Testament," JBL 23 (1904):
13-34;
J. B. Payne, "HaUr (ruah) wind, breath, mind,
spirit," TWOT (1980), 2:836-837.
12 Joshua had displayed his courage early
in his victory over the Amalekites. Caleb had
a different spirit than the ten faithless spies,
meaning he had not angered YHWH by his
obstinacy and rebelliousness like the others, but
had instead maintained wholehearted
commitment to YHWH, which resulted in an
indomitable and positive attitude toward
invading
Caleb's
spirit, the narrative indicates that he shared in that spirit of courageously
following
YHWH wholeheartedly. Joshua built upon
Caleb's spirit by making the case for invasion
even more specific and serious.
13 For example, Exod
17:8-16; 24:13-14; 32:15-20; 33:7-11; Num 11:26-30; 13:1-14:38.
Timothy
R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers, NICOT, 551-552.
14 W. Vogels
argues that though this translation is possible due to Ps 31:6, Joshua has
more than life; he has the spirit of YHWH ("The
Spirit of Joshua and the Laying on of
Hands
by Moses," in The Problem of the Hexateuch
and Other Essays, trans. E W. Trueman
Dicken [
198
SEMINARY STUDIES 39 (AUTUMN 2001)
Leadership
Issues--"Lay, " "Stand,"
"Command," "Give,"
Congregation "Listen to" (Subsection c2)
To review, the flow in each of the four major
sections of Num 27:12-23
first identifies the section's main character, then
through an imperative either
makes a request or gives a response to the previous
request, and then
introduces matters concerning leadership. In
section A, YHWH clarified that
Moses
as Israel's current leader would soon die. In section B, Moses indicated
the desire for a leader who had the internal
fortitude necessary to lead the
congregation of
instructing how Moses was to install Joshua as the
next leader. The imperative
level (subsection b2)of section A'
established a command (take) that was
intended to initiate a series of four actions by
which Moses was to install
Joshua as a leader whom the congregation would
obey.
The four actions were
to lay hands on Joshua, stand (present) him before
Eleazar and the
congregation, commission (charge)
him, and give him some of Moses' honor.
"Lay
your hand on him." The first action to be initiated by the
imperative "take" was that Moses was to
lay his hand on Joshua. In order
to adequately develop the significance of the hand
gesture, one must first
study all the other accompanying elements. It should
be noted, however,
that laying on of hands is the first of the actions
indicated by the
imperative "take," even though it was not
intended that this hand gesture
be the first action Moses performed in the
installation. YHWH's initial
instructions to Moses indicated that
Joshua's installation take place in a
public setting, thus creating a situation in which
public presentation must
precede any other action. The installation, as
recorded in Num 27:22-23,
confirms this conclusion, for Moses first
"stood" or presented Joshua to
the children of
first, even though it could not be performed first,
YHWH appears to be
stating that all the other actions depend on it.
Structural analysis thus
provides a preliminary conclusion. Joshua's public
presentation,
commissioning, and reception of some
of Moses' honor were to each
somehow find their meaning or expression in the
laying on of Moses'
hands. Joshua's installation is rooted in Moses'
hand-laying action.
"Stand
him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation."
The
second action to follow "taking" was that of presentation. Four
observations can be made about the
imperative to stand Joshua before
priest and congregation. First, the concept of
"standing before" in the OT
can have the connotation of presentation.15
Joshua's formal presentation
l5 R. B. Allen, "dmafA/('amad) stand,
remain, endure, etc," TWOT (1980),
2:673. Jacob is
presented to Pharoah
(Gen 47:7), the cleansed leper is presented to YHWH at the door of the
Tabernacle
(Lev
JOSHUA'S
RECEPTION OF THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
199
had the dual purpose of giving him to the
congregation and doing so in a
judicial setting which established that Joshua
was legally
leader. Second, the physical gesture of standing
communicated Joshua's
acceptance of his responsibilities as well as the
congregation's and
YHWH's acceptance of Joshua.16 Third, the
verb "stand before" indicated
a cultic17 and covenantal18
event. Fourth, the concept of standing before
the priest and "congregation" give
indication that Joshua's installation
ceremony took place at the tent of meeting, the
normal meeting place of
the congregation. Joshua's leadership is thus connected
to the Sanctuary
and to all that it represented in maintaining
contact and covenant with
YHWH. His leadership must ever espouse these
important principles.
"Commission
him in their presence." The third action to follow
"taking" was that of giving a commission. Moses was to
"commission him
(Joshua)
before their eyes" (Num 27:19).19 The
verb is a piel perfect,
second masculine singular of hvc, meaning either "to command" or "to
give a charge." Numbers 27:19-22 uses both
meanings, first in Moses'
commissioning of Joshua (vv. 19,23),
and second in Moses' obedience of
presented live before YHWH (Lev
an animal is presented to the priest (Lev 27:11),
Levites are presented to Aaron for service
(Num
3:6;
YHWH for judgment (Num
eleven occurrences.
16 After seventy men died as a result of
looking at the ark of the covenant, the men
of Beth Shemesh asked,
"Who can stand before YHWH" (1 Sam
"What
shepherd will stand before me?" (Jer 49:19;
50:44) implying that the shepherds are
not acceptable to himself; YHWH also asks those who
have performed all manner of evil
how they think they can "stand before"
him, meaning, they are to believe they are accepted
(Jer7:10);
and Esther stood before Xerxes after he Indicated acceptance of her presence
(Esth 5:1-2).
17 The OT sanctuary provided the Israelites
with a refuge in which to contact YHWH,
and its services gave institutional form to
maintaining the covenant between YHWH and his
people. To state that the phrase "stand
before" carries cultic overtones is to say that it
represents a ritual involved in
phrase "stand before" carried a cultic
connection in at least two areas: (1) "stand before" could
indicate ministry before or service to one of
higher authority or to a group, or (2) stand
before" could indicate a representational element
in which one representing a group "stands
before" another and intercedes in behalf of the
group. In terms of leadership, if there was no
blessing from the high priest, there would be no
leader. Including Eleazar the priest in the
formalities underscored the fact that Joshua's
leadership of the Israelites was to be one of
cooperation with the high priest. Joshua’s rule was
not to be profane; contact with YHWH
was to hold first place in his governance.
18 Joshua's installation ceremony was
public, held before the entire congregation
(hdAfe--a term with strong
covenantal connections). It is the congregation with whom YHWH has
made a covenant; it is the congregation who requires
a leader sensitive to this covenant.
19 KJV, "give a
charge"; RSV and NIV, "commission"; NKJV,
"inaugurate."
200
SEMINARY
STUDIES 39 (AUTUMN 2001)
YHWH's
command (v. 22).
Why would both meanings be used in so few
verses? YHWH's control and
input comprise one of the more important
m