8264. 'For He has highly exalted [Himself]' means that He has displayed His Divinity within His Humanity. This is clear from the meaning of 'exalting Himself', when it refers to the Lord, as displaying His Divinity within His Humanity. The reason why 'highly exalting Himself' has this meaning is that what is Divine is Highest or Supreme, and when the Lord was in the world He made the Human within Himself Divine and in so doing 'highly exalted [Himself]'. For the meaning of 'high' in the Word as Divine, see 8153. Here the words used are 'has highly exalted', by which displaying Divinity within Humanity is meant.

Such is their meaning because the theme of this song is the Lord and how, after making Divine His Human, He cast the evil into hell and raised the good to heaven, 8258, which He did simply by His presence, 7989; for casting the evil into hell and raising the good to heaven, simply by being present, is a Divine accomplishment.

6292. 'Place your right hand on his head' means that good should accordingly occupy the first place. This is clear from the meaning of 'placing the right hand on a head' as considering to occupy the first place, as above in 6269, 6287. The placing of his hand by one on the head of another when he was going to bless belonged to a custom received from the ancients. For the head is where a person's actual powers of understanding and will reside, whereas the body is where actions in response and in obedience to them are located. Thus 'placing a hand on the head' was a representative act, denoting that a blessing should be imparted to a person's understanding and will, thus to his real self. That same custom originating in those ancient times remains even to this day and is followed at ordinations as well as in blessings.