The Significance of Joshua's Reception of the Laying on of Hands in Numbers

Because Christian rites of ordination regularly involve the imposition of hands, scholars generally recognize the importance of understanding this practice. Instituted early in the church's development and thus in dose proximity with its Jewish origins, the imposition of hands has been thought by scholars to stem most likely from OT roots.' Jewish exegetes and Pentateuchal critical scholars have often adopted the view that ordination was performed for the first time when Moses ordained Joshua with the laying on of hands and that Joshua's installation by Moses became the prototype of rabbinic ordination? It has also been proposed that Christian ordination originally structured itself on the model of rabbinic ordination, even though it is also understood that it took on meaning of its 0wn.l Thus in both Jewish and Christian traditions, Joshua's installation has influenced ordination practice which includes the laying on of hands4