seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 13:3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
Ok. I went to GodVine this morning but it's just too deep. The easy English commentary says basically the same thing only clearer.
The reference to the ‘hand’ refers to what people do. The ‘head’ refers to what people think. The people needed to remember that God rescued them from Egypt. And that memory should affect everything that they did with their hands. And it should affect everything that they thought in their heads.
But later, Jews thought that they must actually put signs on their hands. And put signs on the front of their heads. So even today, strict Jews write verses from Deuteronomy on tiny pieces of paper. They make the paper from the skins of animals. They put these little papers in small boxes. They use leather to make these boxes. And they bind these boxes onto their left arms. And bind them onto the front of their heads. They use narrow bands of leather to bind them. And they call these little boxes ‘phylacteries’. However, they need to do what God wants. And they should think in the way that God wants. Otherwise, the little boxes cannot help them. Jesus also mentioned ‘phylacteries’ (Matthew 23:5).
The law of the LORD is ‘what the LORD has taught you’. That law should affect everything that they say. And the law should affect everything that they do. And they must teach the law to other people.
But later, Jews thought that they must actually put signs on their hands. And put signs on the front of their heads. So even today, strict Jews write verses from Deuteronomy on tiny pieces of paper. They make the paper from the skins of animals. They put these little papers in small boxes. They use leather to make these boxes. And they bind these boxes onto their left arms. And bind them onto the front of their heads. They use narrow bands of leather to bind them. And they call these little boxes ‘phylacteries’. However, they need to do what God wants. And they should think in the way that God wants. Otherwise, the little boxes cannot help them. Jesus also mentioned ‘phylacteries’ (Matthew 23:5).
The law of the LORD is ‘what the LORD has taught you’. That law should affect everything that they say. And the law should affect everything that they do. And they must teach the law to other people.
GodVine does point out the beginning of the problem that has plagued the Jews since the beginning and really showed up during the time Jesus was in the Temple.
They used them as amulets or charms, to drive away evil spirits. This appears from the Targum on Sol 8:3:: His left hand is under my head, etc. "The congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all people, because I bind my phylacteries on my left hand and on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my gate, the third part of which looks to my bed-chamber, that demons may not be permitted to injure me.
Jesus told us that people got way out of hand with these phylacteries. The bigger and more ornate they became the more power the wearer was supposed to wield. Leave it to humans to take a simple command and turn it into the source of a prideful sin.
