What Does Exodus 29:10 Mean?
You bring the young bull near before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons lean their hands upon the head of the young bull.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for “put their hands upon” also carries the sense of leaning and sustaining, so consecration begins with weight-bearing contact.
THE MEANING
The rite takes bodily form: Aaron and his sons place their hands on the bull’s head before it is offered. Because the verb also means to lean or support, their touch carries the sense of a burden being laid onto what is presented.
THE ROOT
וְסָמַךְ
ve-samakh
GROWS FROM
סמך
to lean upon, support, or sustain
“lean their hands upon” in this verse is ve-samakh. The Hebrew verb says more than placing hands: it carries the sense of leaning or supporting. The same root describes being upheld or sustained elsewhere, so the gesture makes the offering a point of contact where weight is borne.
ALSO GROWS
upholdeth: supports or sustains
סוֹמֵךְ
Psalm 145:14 uses the same root for the LORD upholding those who fall, revealing the root’s connection between contact and support.
sustained: held up or sustained
יִסְמְכֵנִי
In Psalm 3:5, the same root describes the LORD sustaining the one who has lain down, extending the sense of leaning into being borne.
THE PATTERN
The root סמך links laying a hand upon something with leaning on it and being sustained.
And he shall lean his hand upon the head of the rising offering, and it shall be pleasing for him, to cover over him.And Aaron leans both his hands upon the head of the living goat, and speaks into the open over him all the crookedness of the children of Israel, and all their rebellions, in all their shortcomings, setting them upon the head of the goat, and sends him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.I lie down and sleep; I wake, for the LORD bears my weight.THE THREAD
And he shall lean his hand upon the head of the rising offering, and it shall be pleasing for him, to cover over him.The same Hebrew verb, סמך, describes the hand laid on the offering’s head. Leviticus adds that the offering is accepted for the person presenting it, showing that this contact carries consequence within the rite.
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