The idea of laying hands on somebody actually came from Yom Kippur; and it came from: when they offered the sacrifice on Yom Kippur that would take away the sins of Israel, there was two lambs; and one lamb is going to have a really bad day, and the other lamb's going to be set free. So they take the lamb that's going to have the really bad day, and they set him on the altar, tie him down.
Function: why would you tie a lamb to an altar, that you could easily just hold there? The idea was: going to go on the lamb, was the sins of the whole nation; and when sin goes onto a lamb, you leave it there. You leave it at the altar; so they tied the lamb down, then the priest would press the sins of Israel into the lamb. He did things twice, because you had to have two witnesses.
He would press it into the lamb. So he would take the sins of Israel - and all this was obviously in the spirit (or in his imagination) - he'd build the awareness of it, and put it on the lamb. He would lay on top of the lamb, reach around, and press it into the lamb - and the lamb would be going [baaa!] - it would be a bad thing. So he'd be pressing the sins of Israel into the lamb, that would take away their sins.
When Jesus was in Gethsemane - because Jesus obviously is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world - He said: “Father, I am pressed”. Gethsemane means 'the place of the press'; so He's the lamb, and He's being pressed with the sins of Israel; and it says that He sweat blood from the pressure from it.
Then after that, the priest would lay hands on the lamb - not touch the lamb, lay hands on the lamb, and it was Malar - the word meant ‘to impart something’ - that you have the authority to impart onto somebody else. So it meant to take something (that you have the authority to give), and give it to somebody else; or give it to something.
Remember when Peter said: “silver and gold I don't have, but what I have, I give to you”. That's the idea of Laying on of hands - to take something out of yourself, and place it on something else (and it's within your authority to give it).
So the priest would take all the sins of Israel, and he would malar, he would lay hands on the lamb. He would take it, and place it on the lamb. Tradition says that the pressure of the sins of Israel going onto the lamb would cause the priest to have to turn his head - so the priest would turn his head.
Remember when Jesus was on the cross, and the Father put all the sins of the world onto Him? It says that God, the Father, had to turn His head, because of the pressure.
You want to hear the rest of that? It has nothing to do with Laying on of hands, but it's pretty cool. At exactly the ninth hour, the Priest would proclaim: “it is finished”; and he'd pull the lambs head back, and he would cut the lambs throat; then he would catch the lambs blood in this cone shaped cylinder - and he would shake it, because the blood had to be living.
If the blood congealed, it would be not fit for sacrifice, and then he'd go into the Holy of Holies, and he would die! So he would shake the blood to keep it moving - to keep the blood active and living - and he would run into the Holy of Holies; and he would shout the whole way: don't touch me, don't touch me, for I have not yet offered the blood of the sacrifice.
Remember when Jesus rose from the dead, and the two women meet Him in the garden, and He doesn't even say hello. He's like: don't touch me, don't touch me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. Why?
Because He had not yet gone to heaven, and offered His blood in the real Holy of Holies in heaven - not the one made by man, but the real one in heaven. There was no blood there, that's why there was no forgiveness of sins there - so He had to go ascend to His Father, and offer His blood.
So the priest would go in, and he would offer his blood. Do you realise, if would have been touched right then, the offering would have been negated - He'd have had to go through it all again. Not good! Do you see now why He was like: “no, no, don't touch me man!”