Along the way, I will explain what these examples tell us about the gesture’s form. I will begin by reviewing the examples of this gesture: first those from the biblical passages, then those from the inscriptions, and finally those from the artistic sources. My purpose in this study is to present the evidence for this gesture in the literature and art of the biblical world, combining the textual and artistic sources to establish the form and then the meaning of this gesture. An example of this kind of cursory interpretation is found in James Pritchard’s description of a relief on a sarcophagus from ancient Byblos: “The last four figures merely salute the king with upraised and out-turned hands.” At the same time, those who have commented on this gesture as it appears in Levantine art have generally given only cursory attention to the meaning of the gesture, as if the meaning is obvious and not worthy of in-depth study. For example, Mayer Gruber, based on analysis of biblical and Mesopotamian textual sources and perhaps influenced by Mesopotamian art, suggests that the gesture symbolizes a request for one’s empty hands to be filled, which assumes that the hands are raised with the palms upward. This is important because, in some cases, the precise meaning of the gesture depends on its apperance. However, scholars who have studied the gesture based on the biblical text have tended either to rely on comparisons with the more distant cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt or to ignore the evidence from art, leading to a distorted picture of what the gesture looked like. In addition, art from the ancient Levant bears witness to this gesture (see figs. Similar references are also found in a small group of inscriptions from cultures closely related to ancient Israel (two Ugaritic and two Aramaic). The ancient Israelite gesture of raising both hands in praise or supplication is mentioned in twenty-four scriptural passages, of which twenty-two are from the Old Testament, one is from the New Testament, and one is from the Book of Mormon. The quintessential type of gesture associated with prayer in the ancient world was the lifting of the hands, a visual sign that accompanied verbal expressions of praise and entreaty. However, prayer also has an important visual component, especially in the context of the temple, where ritual actions are a focus. Prayer, including praise as well as supplication, tends to be understood as the offering up of words that are enunciated and heard. For all these reasons, it is natural that the sign of the cross has traditionally been made with the right hand.įor further reading, see our tract and encyclopedia entry.David Calabro is a graduate student at the University of Chicago. Even today, we use our right hand for handshakes or salutes, we are familiar with the phrase “the right hand of fellowship” and so forth.īy contrast, the left hand has in many cultures a very different set of traditional associations (for example, it is often designated for personal hygiene the word sinister is derived from the Latin for left-handed etc.). In sacred images, Jesus is depicted raising his right hand in blessing. For example, Jesus places the sheep on his right hand but the goats on his left he himself is “seated at the right hand of the Father” at God’s “right hand are blessings forevermore” and so on. The right hand, probably in part due to the fact that most people are right-handed, is traditionally the hand of blessing and greeting in many cultural settings, a convention found in Scripture and Tradition.
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