What is the origin of hands lifting in worship?
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It goes all the way back to Genesis 29:35 at least with Leah raising her hands in praise to YHWH in naming Judah. As a Biblical Hebrew professor thinking in Hebrew, I find the Old Testament full of hand raising. After the most frequent verb for spoken praise HaLeL (Strong's #1984 & 8416), the word most translated (53 times) as "praise" is the verb YaDaH (Strong's #3034) derived from the word for hand/forearm YaD (Strong's #3027). It's also translated (40 times) as "thank" and (18 times) as "confess".
Praise has always been demonstrated physically as well as verbally, even though often religiously repressed. I was worried of being branded as a heretic when I first tried it in my Baptist church, but it caught on like it was the most natural way to express praise. Once freed, the congregations I've been a part of haven't gone back to suppression. Good enough reason to get your hands up.
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Exodus 17:11
So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
Nehemiah 8:6
Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
Deuteronomy 32:40
'Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
Psalm 63:4
So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
Psalm 119:48
And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes.
Psalm 28:2
Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
Psalm 141:2
May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
Psalm 134:2
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary And bless the LORD.
Lamentations 2:19
"Arise, cry aloud in the night At the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water Before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him For the life of your little ones Who are faint because of hunger At the head of every street."
Lamentations 3:41
We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven;
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One thing my wife & I have noticed is that when a Modern Contemporary Worship song is played we see the hands lifting in the air. But when a Hymn is played/sung, we rarely ever see those same hands lifted up, if any and not usually til the chorus.
So it seems that the music of today along with perhaps the lyrics to a lesser degree seem to have a manipulative effect on those who want to raise their hands. There seems to be a lot more emotion involved and less meaningful thought.
If some wish to disagree that's fine, but we see what we see and the same pattern we have seen in multiple churches.
On the other hand when we've been to a Bible teaching conference that sing only the Hymns we rarely ever see a pair of hands go up in the air.
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