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Genesis Apocryphon describes Abraham laying his hands on Pharaoh to drive out an evil spirit, combining prayer with this physical gesture. Luke similarly describes Jesus following this tradition, placing his hands on the sick and driving out spirits.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1Q20 20:28
Genesis Apocryphon
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings
26 and this affliction and the spirit of festering will depart from you.” And the king called me and said to me, “What have you done to me because of Sarai? You said 27 to me, ‘She is my sister,’ when she was your wife, and I took her for myself as a wife. Here is your wife; take her, go, and get yourself out of 28 all the province of Egypt. And now pray over me and over my house, that this evil spirit may be rebuked away from us.” And I prayed over him […], 29 and I laid my hands on his head, and the affliction was removed from him, and the evil [spirit] was rebuked [away from him], and he lived. And the king rose and gave 30 me on that day many gifts, and the king swore to me with an oath that he had not … […] her. And he returned
Date: 160–60 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Luke 4:40
New Testament
38 After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he stood over her, commanded the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. 40 As the sun was setting, all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. He placed his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. 42 The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them.
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... at least two Lukan healing or exorcism scenes have clear analogies to postures for apotropaic prayer found in [Genesis Apocryphon]. To dispel the unclean spirit from Pharaoh and his house, Abraham relates, "And I laid my hand upon his [h]ead. Then the affliction was removed from him, and the evil [spirit] was expelled [from him.]". Fitzmyer remarked that “[t]he closest New Testament parallel to this passage is Luke 4:40–41, where ‘rebuking’ [ἐπιτιμῶν] and the ‘laying on of hands’ [χεῖρας ἐπιτιθεὶς ἐθεράπευεν αὐτούς] both occur, but in none of the New Testament passages does a prayer accompany the rite, as here [in Genesis Apocryphon].” Machiela extended this comparison by noting that several narrative and terminological features of Luke’s account of healing the crippled woman in Luke 13:10–13 are also likely informed by Genesis Apocryphon ..."
Andrew B. Perrin, “Greek Gospels and Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls: Compositional, Conceptual, and Cultural Intersections,” 6.1 (2020): 440–456.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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