Leviticus 1:4, commentary and pictures

The sacrificial system to which the burnt offering belongs was given to represent the coming Savior who would bear the sins of the world and die for its redemption, so the offering was not merely an outward religious act but represented his ministry and death. Placing the hand upon the head of the burnt offering transferred the sinner's guilt to the victim. The suffering animal represented Christ giving himself as a sacrifice for human sin. God signified that He accepted the offering by having it consumed on the altar.

The laying of the hand upon the head devoted the animal to its appointed purpose and set it apart for sacrifice. That laying on was a significant form and act, connected with devoting the animal to sacrifice. The act also asked God to bestow His blessing upon that devotion. The hand was laid by one invested with priestly authority, while it is also held that the hand laid was that of the person offering the animal.

The act has the same meaning as the laying on of hands in ordaining and setting apart ministers, and as a Jewish father reverently laying hands on his children's heads when blessing them. At Antioch the ministers laid hands on Paul and Barnabas with this same meaning, to ask God to bestow His blessing upon them in their devotion to the specific work God had chosen them to do among the Gentiles. In ordination the laying on of hands, where the church sets its seal upon work God has already commissioned and appointed, asks His blessing on those devoted to the specific work He has chosen. The laying on of hands in itself adds no new grace or qualification and imparts no virtue by the mere act.