A number of passages in the King James Version of the Bible set forth the word consecrate, but the literal translation (from the Hebrew Bible) is “fill the hand.” For example, KJV Exodus 28:41 reads: “Thou [Moses] shalt . . . consecrate [Aaron and his sons], and sanctify them.” But a literal translation from the Hebrew reads: “Thou shalt . . . fill their hand, and sanctify them.” The following passages signify literal translations from the Hebrew Bible: “Thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons” (Ex. 29:9); “to fill in them their hand” (Ex. 29:29); “seven days shalt thou fill their hand” (Ex. 29:35; see also Lev. 8:33); “he shall fill his hand to minister in the priest’s office” (Lev. 16:32; see also Num. 3:3).
What is the meaning of “fill the hand”? It suggests that Moses placed something in the hand of Aaron and his sons. Whatever was placed in the hand remains unknown to us in the present day, although there are multiple possibilities:
(1) Sacrificial offering (e.g., fat, right shoulder or thigh, kidneys; see Bible Dictionary).145
(2) Olive oil. Compare Leviticus 14:15, where the priest pours oil into his own hand: “The priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand” (see also vv. 16–18).
(3) Incense. Several Old Testament verses read, “One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense” (Num. 7:26, 32, 38, etc.). The Hebrew word behind the KJV “spoon” is kaf, which literally reads “palm” or “hand.” See also Rev. 8:4, where the “smoke of the incense . . . ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” Hugh Nibley explained that “incense was often burned in special holders made in the form of a cupped hand, the ‘golden spoons’ of Exodus 25:29. . . . The ‘filled hand’ (the Hebrew letter kāp means ‘palm’) is the widespread sign of offering sacrifice.”146