"Deliver" and "hand"

In light of my previous post connecting consecration and the phrase "delivered into [their] hands," I decided to revisit scriptures which use this phrase.

As is often the case, we see positive and negative examples. 

Negative Context

In some cases, God allows the righteous to be delivered into the hands of the wicked, for example:

1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. (Judges 6)

We also find this phrase many times in the New Testament, almost always in reference to Christ being delivered into the hands of the wicked to be slain.

Here is one such example:

31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. (Mark 9)

See also Luke 9:44, Luke 24:7, and Acts 2:23.

Interestingly, this concept is a part of the first secret combination, formed between Satan and Cain:

29 And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands. (Moses 5)

On the positive side, we see many examples of the righteous being delivered out of the hands of their enemies, for example:

7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

10 It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.

11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood... (Psalm 144)

Here is another example from the Book of Mormon:

4 And behold, I say unto you, they were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God.

5 And behold, after that, they were brought into bondage by the hands of the Lamanites in the wilderness; yea, I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word; and we were brought into this land, and here we began to establish the church of God throughout this land also. (Alma 5)

See also Alma 57:35.

In another positive context, we see examples of the wicked being delivered into the hands of the righteous:

3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith. (Alma 44)

See also 1 Samuel 23:4.

Is there not a type in this thing?

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3)

It is very interesting to me that in order to occupy the promised land God gave them, the children of Israel had to conquer so many other peoples.  For me, this resembles the latter day gathering. In the last dispensation, that same Jehovah "[came] down to deliver [us] out of the hand" of worldly powers who seek our destruction. He does this by keeping His promise to restore the everlasting covenant and send it forth by the mouth of angels to all the nations of the earth.

In my next post, we'll take a closer look at an unusual phrase in the Old Testament which is quoted by the Savior in the Book of Mormon: "sprinkle many nations."