The Old Testament exhibits instances of the raising of the hand—by God or by a mortal—when swearing an oath. David Seely wrote, “The image of the raised hand of God occurs seventeen times in the Hebrew Bible in the expression ns’ yd. Fifteen of these occurrences are found in the context of God swearing an oath: ten times in the promise of the land (Exod 6:8; Num 14:30; Ezek 20:5 [bis], 6, 15, 28, 42; 47:14; Neh 9:15), and five times in oaths of judgment against Israel (Ezek 20:23; 44:12; Ps 106:26) and its enemies (Deut 32:40; Ezek 36:7). Translations often obscure the occurrence of this image of ‘raised hand’ in Hebrew by usually translating simply as ‘swore.’”147 A literal translation of Exodus 6:8 reads, “I [the Lord] will bring you in unto the land, which I lifted my hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob” (translation by author). “I lifted my hand” is a sacred gesture, used by God when he swears an oath.
Isaiah stated, “The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength” (Isa. 62:8). To swear by the right hand (the covenant hand) is to covenant unequivocally to fulfill one’s promises. In the context of God swearing an oath, we recall also that Aaron’s wife’s name, Elisheba, literally means, “God is an oath.”148
Seely gives an example of a mortal raising the hand when swearing an oath: “Genesis 14:22 has one occurrence of a human swearing an oath with the gesture of an upraised hand: Abram swears an oath, expressed with hrym yad.”149
What is the symbolism behind the lifting of the hand in an oath gesture? The lifted hand points to heaven, the realm where God dwells; as Daniel 12:7 states, a heavenly messenger lifts his “right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever,” meaning his hands pointed toward heaven. Thus, in a religious or temple context, the lifted hand is directed to God Himself, with whom the oath is made.