LEADERSHIP BY HANDS LAYING

“Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the SPIRIT of LEADERSHIP, and LAY YOUR HAND on him” – Numbers 27:18b, NIV

GOD sets hands for Global and Eternal Impact through the biblical model of transferring LEADERSHIP by HANDS LAYING: “So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the SPIRIT of LEADERSHIP, and LAY YOUR HAND on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your AUTHORITY so the whole Israelite community will obey him” (Num.27:18-20, NIV). At Moses’ request, this instruction came from the Lord shortly before Moses handed over the baton of leadership to Joshua, and the Lord thereafter translated him: “And he LAID HANDS on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the HAND of Moses” (v.23). Biblically, hands are Instruments of Divine Impartation and Transmission.

Joshua had been Moses’ servant for nearly forty years, with proven testimonies of diligence, faithfulness, humility, and integrity, as well as courage and skill in military affairs, as exemplified in the battle with Amalek (Exo.17: 9-13). He had been a consistently available assistant: “So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God” (Exo.24:13). Joshua’s testimonial was exemplary: “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernable” (Exo.33:11). Despite Joshua’s impeccable records, God still commanded Moses to lay hands on him as a public testimony to divine transference and impartation of leadership endowment, authority, anointing and grace.

Authority, Anointing, Strength, and Wisdom for Leadership can be transferred by laying on of hands. The spiritual qualifications of Joshua did not supersede the necessity of an outward consecration to his God-appointed office. Indeed, it seems that special qualifications for the office were bestowed through laying on of hands. Moses’ hands transferred on Joshua, not only authority, but also the graces of Strength and Wisdom: “Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the SPIRIT of WISDOM, for Moses had LAID his HANDS on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses” (Deut.34:9). This signified the handing on of Moses’ office to Joshua. It is by the agency of the Spirit of God that all good gifts are communicated to the sons of men, usually through laying on of anointed hands!

In order to fulfil life’s purposes and maximize impact, God often raises helpers and lifters of our hands, to strengthen and support us in achieving His Will. The phenomenon of hands laying for transference of diverse graces and gifts was not limited to the Old Covenant. Grace and Gifts were released into the life of Timothy by the laying on of hands by Paul. The apostle reminded Timothy: “Do not neglect the GIFT that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the LAYING on of the HANDS of the eldership” (1Tim.4:14). Again, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the GIFT of GOD which is in you through the LAYING on of MY HANDS” (2Tim.1:6). Blessed hands transfer blessings; while cursed hands unleash curses, corruption, and pollution! The hands of Moses and Paul were truly blessed hands!

In the lives of the Patriarchs, laying on of hands accompanied solemn blessings, as seen in Israel’s blessings on Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen.48:14-16). Levites in the Old Testament were consecrated by the laying on of hands (Num.8:10). The pioneering set of seven deacons in the Early Church had the apostles’ hands laid on them (Acts 6:6). Barnabas and Saul were separated and commissioned for God’s assignment after the prophets and teachers at Antioch had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on the two (Acts 13:1-3). In the Christian Church today, hands laying remains the apostolic rite of ordination, in which authority, blessings, and unction to function are imparted!