Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 6:8
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
8. thou shalt bind them for a sign for frontlets, etc.] See for the exact meanings the notes on Exo 13:9; Exo 13:16. As there, so here probably the injunction is to be taken metaphorically and not literally, as the later Jews understood it, though they carried it out not by tattooing, which seems the meaning here, but by writing these words as well as Deu 11:15-21 and Exo 13:1-16 on small parchment rolls, enclosing them in metal covers, and wearing them, bound on the arm and brow, at morning prayer. They are called in late Hebrew t e phillin and in the N.T. . See E.B. ‘Frontlets.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By adopting and regulating customary usages (e. g. Egyptian) Moses provides at once a check on superstition and a means of keeping the Divine Law in memory. On the frontlets, the phylacteries of the New Test. Mat 23:5, see Exo 13:16. On Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20 is based the Jewish usage of the mezuzah. This word denotes properly a door-post, as it is rendered here and in Exo 12:7, Exo 12:22; Exo 21:6 etc. Among the Jews however, it is the name given to the square piece of parchment, inscribed with Deu 6:4-9; Deu 11:13-21, which is rolled up in a small cylinder of wood or metal, and affixed to the right-hand post of every door in a Jewish house. The pious Jew touches the mezuzah on each occasion of passing, or kisses his finger, and speaks Psa 121:8 in the Hebrew language.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thins hand] Is not this an allusion to an ancient and general custom observed in almost every part of the world? When a person wishes to remember a thing of importance, and is afraid to trust to the common operations of memory, he ties a knot on some part of his clothes, or a cord on his hand or finger, or places something out of its usual order, and in view, that his memory may be whetted to recollection, and his eye affect his heart. God, who knows how slow of heart we are to understand, graciously orders us to make use of every help, and through the means of things sensible, to rise to things spiritual.
And they shall be as frontlets] totaphoth seems to have the same meaning as phylacteries has in the New Testament; and for the meaning and description of these appendages to a Jew’s dress and to his religion, see the notes on “Ex 13:9“, and See “Mt 23:5“, where a phylactery is particularly described.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt give all diligence, and use all means, to keep them in thy remembrance, as men ofttimes bind something upon their hands, or put it before their eyes, to prevent forgetfulness of a thing which they much desire to remember: compare Pro 3:3; 6:21; 7:3. See Poole “Exo 13:16“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,…. As a man ties anything to his hand for a token, that he may remember somewhat he is desirous of; though the Jews understand this literally, of binding a scroll of parchment, with this section and others written in it, upon their left hand, as the Targum of Jonathan here interprets the hand:
and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes; and which the same Targum interprets of the Tephilim, or phylacteries, which the Jews wear upon their foreheads, and on their arms, and so Jarchi; of which
[See comments on Mt 23:5].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) And thou shalt bind them . . .From this precept the Jews derive the use of the Tephillin, the portions of the Law which they bind upon the head or arm when about to pray.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Thou shalt bind them upon thine hand, and between thine eyes The Jews applied this literally. The so-called phylacteries, in Hebrew tephillin, are leather boxes with four compartments, in which are put four portions of the law written on parchment. The passage is Exo 13:9. On this box is the letter , (shin,) written in the usual form, for the right hand side of the wearer, and the same letter with four strokes for the left hand side. There was another box with only one compartment, but with the same passages for the arm of the worshipper. The phylacteries were bound to the forehead and arm by long leather straps. The straps around the head were to be tied in the shape of a , (daleth.) The straps on the arm must go around it seven times, and three times around the middle finger, with enough over to form the letter , (yodh.) Thus, by the shin on the leather box, the daleth on the forehead, and the yodh on the hand, would be formed the word Shaddai the Almighty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 8. Thou shalt bind then, for a sign The Lord is pleased to take every method most likely to preserve in the minds of the Israelites a conscientious regard to the precepts which he enjoined. He not only commands, that their children be early and diligently instructed in them, but that they should bind them for a sign upon their hands, &c. that is, that they should make them as familiar to them as if they were written upon their arms or foreheads, or upon the posts of their houses, or their gates, ver. 9. Possibly, some part of the command was designed to be understood literally; for it might have been of use to them, when they went in and out of their houses, to read such solemn words as those in the 4th and 5th verses. The Jews, however, have taken the whole literally; for hence they derived their superstitious practice of making their phylacteries, i.e. parchment inscribed with sections of the law, which they bound to the forehead and wrist. We call the practice superstitious, not only because they fancied some peculiar virtue, like a spell, in these phylacteries, or preservatives; but because it is evident to any unprejudiced person, that neither here, nor Exo 13:9 does Moses speak of tying parchments about their wrists, but of riveting the thing in their hearts; for it appears from Isa 49:16 to be a proverbial expression, importing that they should still retain a lively and grateful sense of the divine goodness, and render it as well known and familiar to every succeeding generation, as if they were a perpetual token upon their arms to put them in mind of it. There are similar phrases in all languages; thus Cicero says: Sit inscriptum in fronte uniuscujusque quid de republica sentiat; “Let every citizen have his sentiments of the commonwealth written upon his forehead.” Orat. in Catil. I. Calmet, however, not without reason, infers from this passage, that it was customary for people, even in those times, to wear fillets, or the like ornaments, hanging down upon their foreheads. Those in future times, who were desirous to appear more than ordinarily religious, made, with an ostentatious hypocrisy, their phylacteries peculiarly broad. See Mat 23:5 and Calmet’s Dictionary on the word phylacteries.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 6:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Ver. 8. And thou shalt bind them. ] See Trapp on “ Mat 23:5 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bind. Still practiced by orthodox Jews.
hand. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, read plural “hands”.
as = for.
frontlets. Greek. phylacteries = guards or watch-posts.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Deu 11:18, Exo 13:9, Exo 13:16, Num 15:38, Num 15:39, Pro 3:3, Pro 6:21, Pro 7:3, Mat 23:5, Heb 2:1
Reciprocal: Gen 50:1 – fell Deu 27:3 – a land Rev 13:16 – or
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 6:8. Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand As at that time there were few written copies of the whole law, and the people had it read to them only at the feast of tabernacles, God seems to have appointed, at least for the present, that some select sentences of the law, that were most weighty and comprehensive, should literally be written upon their gates and walls, or on slips of parchment, to be worn about their wrists, or bound upon their foreheads. The spirit of the command, however, and the chief thing intended, undoubtedly was, that they should give all diligence and use all means to keep Gods laws always in remembrance, as men frequently bind something upon their hands, or put something before their eyes, to prevent forgetfulness of a thing which they much desire to remember.