Sunday, 25 January 2009

• Currently Noble Beast By Andrew Bird see related

  Why raise your hands in worship?

  I was watching Diana Ross sing the closing song for the Nobel Peace Prize extravaganza when she told the crowd to raise their hands.  I can't remember what song she was singing.  I do remember Scarlett Johannsen standing next to her, and looking very uncomfortable carrying out the order.  "Everyone, hands in the air!  Spread the energy around the room."  Mercifully, the network ended the broadcast before the song was over.  Too bad for Scarlett Johannsen, though, she had to endure the whole thing.  I can also remember Tony Bennett raising his hands to sing Elton John's "Can you Feel the Love Tonight."  It seemed just as uncomfortable.  Perhaps it should be.  Raising one's hands makes him vulnerable.  It can be an expression of surrender.  It can draw questioning attention to the one doing it.  It can show the reaching need for something or someone else.  None of these things are attractive in our culture.

  I'm not sure what motivates unbelievers at concerts or parties to raise their hands in the air while singing.  But I have lately been motivated to understand my own reason for doing so.  So first I looked it up.  It appears that several reasons exist in the Scripture for raising one's hands in association with prayer and song. 

  1. It is associated with seeking comfort or aid from the Lord.  

  Moses raises his hands to ask God to stop the thunder and hail of the plagues (Exodus 9:33).  David accompanies the raising of hands with cries to God for help (Psalm 28:2; 88:9), and to seek the Presence of God and the comfort it brings (Psalm 77:2; 143:6). Solomon acknowledges that this is how pleas are made to God in his blessing of the Temple (1 Kings 8:22-54).  Jeremiah describes Israel as the daughter of Zion, stretching out her hands and pleading for her life (Jeremiah 4:31) and the life of her children (Lamentations 2:19) and seeking God for comfort (Lamentations 1:17).  Zephaniah relates failing to do so with fear (Zephaniah 3:16).

      2.  It is associated with repentance.

  Job's friends encourage him to do this and "put away sin" (Job 11:13).  Jeremiah pleads with God's people to repent, "Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven" (Lamentations 3:41).

       3.  It is associated with gratitude and praise.

       Ezra praises God upon return from exile, and the respons by raising their hands and saying "Amen" (Nehemiah 8:6), then bowing to the ground.  Psalms 63:4 says, "I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands."  Psalms 134:2, "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD."

  Paul urges people everywhere to "Lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."  Most commentators agree that, indeed, lifting up the hands is the outward sign of an attitude of prayer.  Clarke notes that this was not only true of the Jews, but also of pagans, "It is properly the action of entreaty and request; and seems to be an effort to embrace the assistance requested" (Clarke--see below).   If that were so in our culture, the humanity of us would necessitate that our posture and our attitudes correspond on most occasions.  A professor of mine used to say, "When one stubs his toe, the rest of his body responds accordingly."  And prayer has various physical expressions.  For Americans, kneeling is more common.  Having practiced each, I recommend both. 

  I serve on the music ministry at church.  There are times when I'm required to sing words that I don't necessarily relate to, agree with, or even understand.  But when I sing the declarations I mean to make to God outside of serving the bretheren, I raise my hands.  And those declarations usually fall into one of the three categories above.  It is not, as a friend once suggested to me, a cheap way to get the blood to rush to your head.  I don't need that, because by that point, I'm already singing my heart out. 

  • Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Biblesoft
  • Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft
  • Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database.  Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft
  • Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c)1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
  • The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press

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