The Right Hand
- 19 minutes read - 3993 words
Interesting facts: According to Wikipedia 90% of the world’s population is right-handed. In Politics left is considered liberal and right conservative. A trusted or indispensable person we call our right-hand. In marriage we give each other the right hand.
The divinity code of understanding dreams and visions by Adam F. Thompson and Adrian Beale says the following about right and left: “Right: (1) Strength; (2) Faith; (3) Spirit, blessed, or righteous direction; (4) Mouth; (5) Preferred, preeminence, above, before, double portion; (6) Authority; (7) Longevity; (8) Contentious woman; (9) Wisdom. Left: (1) Weakness; (2) Flesh (natural), unbelief, cursed, death, goat, judgment; (3) Heart; (4) Below, after; (5) Riches and honor (left side of wisdom); (6) Foolishness; (7) Carefree and casual; (8) Intellect, soul, teaching.”
There are numerous scriptures referring to right and left in the Bible. Often the right side is seen as positive and the left as negative. “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.” Ecclesiastes 10:2 MEV “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Matthew 25:33 KJV
Before the death of a father he would bless his children by the laying on of hands. God favoured Ephraim, the younger brother, over Manasseh, the firstborn. Notice Joseph and Jacob (Israel) touched Ephraim with their right hands. “Then Joseph took both [boys], Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. And Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the firstborn.” Genesis 48:13-14 AMPC When Joseph saw his father crossing his hands, he wanted to correct him (acting out of the flesh), but Jacob said that both will be blessed, but the younger brother will be greater and have a multitude of offspring.
Jesus is seated on the right hand of the Father in Heaven. “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you now see and hear.” Acts 2:33 MEV “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes, who is risen, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34 MEV “which He performed in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 1:20 MEV “If you then were raised with Christ, desire those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:1 MEV “The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” Psalms 110:1 MEV “The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord is valiant.”” Psalms 118:16 MEV “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64 KJV “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:62 KJV “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19 KJV “God exalted this Man to His right hand to be a Ruler and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:31 MEV “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”” Acts 7:55-56 MEV (Stephen) “He is the brightness of His glory, the express image of Himself, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3 MEV “Now this is the main point of the things that we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle, which the Lord, not man, set up.” Hebrews 8:1-2 MEV “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12 MEV “Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 MEV “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him.” 1 Peter 3:22 MEV
Often the Bible refers to God’s right hand, Jesus. “Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.” Exodus 15:6 AMPC “Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice. [Acts 18:10.]” Isaiah 41:10 AMPC “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalms 16:11 MEV “Show marvelously Your lovingkindness, O Deliverer of those who seek refuge by Your right hand from those who arise in opposition.” Psalms 17:7 MEV “You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up, and Your gentleness has made me great.” Psalms 18:35 MEV “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.” Psalms 20:6 MEV “Your hand will find out all Your enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate You.” Psalms 21:8 MEV “For they did not take possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You had favor on them.” Psalms 44:3 MEV “In your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand will teach you awesome things.” Psalms 45:4 MEV “According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.” Psalms 48:10 MEV “That Your beloved ones may be delivered, save with Your right hand and answerus.” Psalms 60:5 MEV “My soul clings hard to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalms 63:8 MEV “Why do You withdraw Your hand, Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and destroy them!” Psalms 74:11 MEV “You have a mighty arm, and strong is Your hand, and victorious is Your right hand.” Psalms 89:13 MEV “Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous deeds! His right hand and His holy arm have accomplished deliverance.” Psalms 98:1 MEV “That Your beloved ones may be delivered, provide salvation with Your right hand and answer me.” Psalms 108:6 MEV “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will preserve me; You stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand saves me.” Psalms 138:7 MEV “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Matthew 22:44 KJV
Protection and the Presence of God: “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.”” Isaiah 41:13 MEV “The Lord is your guardian; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.” Psalms 121:5 MEV “even there Your hand shall guide me, and Your right hand shall take hold of me.” Psalms 139:10 MEV “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be moved.” Psalms 16:8 MEV “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, whose right hand I have held— to subdue nations before him and to loosen the loins of kings, to open doors before him so that the gates will not be shut:” Isaiah 45:1 MEV “who led them with His glorious arm by the right hand of Moses, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name,” Isaiah 63:12 MEV “Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have held me by my right hand.” Psalms 73:23 MEV “For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.” Acts 2:25 MEV “For He stands at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.” Psalms 109:31 MEV “A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.” Psalms 91:7 MEV
When people leave the presence of the protective Right Hand they are open to attack by satan. “in whose hands is wickedness, and their right hand is full of bribes.” Psalms 26:10 MEV “I looked on my right and noticed, but there was no one who would care for me; there is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.” Psalms 142:4 MEV “whose mouth speaks lies, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” Psalms 144:8 MEV “Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” Psalms 144:11 MEV “The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm: Surely I will no longer give your grain as food for your enemies; and the sons of the foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored.” Isaiah 62:8 MEV “As I live, says the Lord, though Koniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet would I pluck you from there.” Jeremiah 22:24 MEV “He has cut off in fierce anger all the might of Israel; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy. He has burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, devouring all around.” Lamentations 2:3 MEV “He has bent His bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like an adversary; He has killed all who were pleasant to His eye; in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion, He has poured out His fury like fire.” Lamentations 2:4 MEV “You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You yourself—drink and show your uncircumcision! The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you, and utter shame will come on your glory!” Habakkuk 2:16 MEV “Woe to this worthless shepherd who abandons his flock. May the sword take his arm and right eye; may his arm surely wither up, and his right eye become blind.” Zechariah 11:17 MEV
The right hand also shows God’s authority. “You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.” Exodus 15:12 MEV “He said, The Lord came from Sinai and beamed upon us from Seir; He flashed forth from Mount Paran, from among ten thousands of holy ones, a flaming fire, a law, at His right hand.” Deuteronomy 33:2 AMPC “Then I said, “This is my grief; yet I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”” Psalms 77:10 MEV “He brought them to the border of His holy land, to the mountain that His right hand had acquired.” Psalms 78:54 MEV “I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. You have set high the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice.” Psalms 89:25, 42 MEV “My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together.” Isaiah 48:13 MEV “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” Matthew 27:29 KJV
The king let the queen sit at his right hand. “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her and bowed to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a seat placed at his right hand for her to sit upon.” 1 Kings 2:19 MEV “Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.” Psalms 45:9 MEV
The right side also had some significance during the consecration of priests and with sacrifices brought to God. “You shall kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. Also you shall take the fat and the rump of the ram, and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them and the right shoulder (for it is a ram of consecration),” Exodus 29:20, 22 MEV “The right thigh you shall give to the priest for a contribution offering for the sacrifice of your peace offerings. The one among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for his portion.” Leviticus 7:32-33 MEV “But the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord just as Moses commanded.” Leviticus 9:21 MEV
War: “Her hand on a tent peg, her right hand on a workman’s hammer; she struck Sisera, she crushed his skull, she shattered and pierced his temple.” Judges 5:26 MEV “The three combat units blew the horns and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the horns for blowing in their right hands. They called out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”” Judges 7:20 MEV “Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may pluck out all your right eyes. So I will inflict it as a reproach upon all Israel.”” 1 Samuel 11:2 MEV “The Lord is at your right hand; He shall strike down kings in the day of His wrath.” Psalms 110:5 MEV
People can’t discern between right and wrong: “Should I not, therefore, be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”” Jonah 4:11 MEV
Satan was standing on the right when he accused the brethren, as though he wanted to take Jesus’ place. Satan will always try to counterfeit what Jesus did. “Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you! Is this not a burning brand taken out of the fire?”” Zechariah 3:1-2 MEV “Set a wicked man against him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand.” Psalms 109:6 MEV “He causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,” Revelation 13:16 MEV
Two thieves were crucified with Jesus. I would love to know which one accepted Jesus as saviour, but I couldn’t find a scripture to say which one it was. “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.” Matthew 27:38 KJV
Sometimes people, things or angels were positioned on the right hand side. “The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and it had winding stairs into the middle chamber and out of the middle into the third.” 1 Kings 6:8 MEV “So Jehoiada the priest took a chest, made a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar on the right side as one enters the house of the Lord. The priests guarding the threshold put there all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord.” 2 Kings 12:9 MEV “His brother Asaph, the one standing at his right hand, was Asaph the son of Berekiah, the son of Shimea,” 1 Chronicles 6:39 MEV “Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the temple. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord.” Ezekiel 10:3-4 MEV “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.” Mark 16:4-5 KJV “And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.” Luke 1:11-12 KJV “And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.” Luke 6:6 KJV
“He said to them, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw it, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the abundance of fish.” John 21:6 MEV “Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and water was flowing out from under the threshold of the temple eastward, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing down from under from the right side of the temple, south of the altar.” Ezekiel 47:1 MEV
Healing: “He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened.” Acts 3:7 MEV (Peter)
Fellowship: “When James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, understood the grace that was given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” Galatians 2:9 MEV (Paul)
The book of Revelation talks about John seeing Jesus and He is holding various objects in His right hand. “He had in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun shining brightly. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though I were dead. Then He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.” Revelation 1:16-17, 20 MEV “# “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, says these things:” Revelation 2:1 MEV “Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” Revelation 5:1, 7 MEV
Additional scriptures: “He had a little scroll open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,” Revelation 10:2 MEV
“Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.” Job 40:14 MEV
“[Protect and maintain] the stock which Your right hand planted, and the branch (the son) that You have reared and made strong for Yourself. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself.” Psalm 80:15, 17 AMPC
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.” Psalms 137:5 MEV
This verse refers to wisdom: “Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor.” Proverbs 3:16 MEV
“He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”” Isaiah 44:20 MEV
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:29-30, 39 KJV
“But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:” Matthew 6:3 KJV
“And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” Matthew 20:23 KJV
“Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.” John 18:10 KJV
Conclusion: Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father - it’s a position of authority. As Christians, we are seated in heavenly places with Jesus and, therefore, we also have authority. Often Jesus is called the Right Hand. Satan wants to counterfeit what God does by also using the right hand. God’s right hand is were we are safe and secure.