Lifting Up Holy Hands

My dad explained something about the Scripture, "Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice".

As part of the pagan ceremony of cutting a blood-covenant, both parties used to raise both hands to show that their wrists had been cut. That's not a Judaeo-Christian custom though.

Under the Old Covenant, the Jews would sacrifice an animal - and wave it before the Lord, revealing the blood - perhaps some of it on their hands too.

So David desired that raising his hands before the Lord would be regarded by God as having the same significance as the evening sacrifice: it was to David an outward expression of an inward sacrifice being offered to God in his heart.