Leviticus 1 · a question people ask
What did laying a hand on the animal's head mean?
The chapter ties the hand to what follows: "He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him" (1:4). It doesn't explain the gesture. Christians read it in two main ways. Both agree that the hand is laid by the one the offering is for, and that the chapter itself leaves the meaning unstated.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
It passed the offerer's sin to the animal
On the Day of Atonement, Aaron is to "lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel", and "he shall put them on the head of the goat" (Leviticus 16:21). Read with that verse, the hand in 1:4 places the offerer's guilt on the animal, which is then killed (1:5) "to make atonement for him" (1:4).
Leviticus 16:21 · Leviticus 1:4-5
It showed the animal stood for him
The children of Israel "shall lay their hands on the Levites" (Numbers 8:10), and Aaron offers the Levites "on the behalf of the children of Israel" (Numbers 8:11). Read with those verses, the hand shows that the animal is offered on the offerer's behalf, so that "it shall be accepted for him" (1:4).
Numbers 8:10-11 · Leviticus 1:4
The verses
“He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”