Should Christians Wear Phylacteries?

We know Jesus recited the Shema "Hear O Israel... God is one" (Deut,6:4-5) in Mark 12:28-33 similar to Jews reciting it twice a day, morning and evening, in their prayers (Berakoth 1:1-3). But "whoever recites the Shema without tefillin, it is as if he bears false witness against himself" (accuses himself of falsehood) (Brakhot 14b). Therefore Jesus must have worn tefillin. Jews put the hand tefillin on their left arm because the word for "your hand" (yadchah) in Exodus 13:16 is spelled similarly to "the weaker hand" in Hebrew (yad kehah). Also because "You shall bind them on your hands" is found next to "You shall write them on the doorposts" (Deut. 6:8-9). Therefore, the hand which writes is also the hand which binds and for most people this is the right hand. It binds the tefillin on the left hand. The tefillin "between your eyes" (Deut. 6:8) has to be at the forehead hair line since the phrase "make any baldness between your eyes" (Deut. 14:1) requires as much.

A king sent to a Rabbi a priceless gem as a gift, and Rabbi presented to him in return a Mezuzah (a scroll containing Deut. 6:4-9 and Deut. 11:13-21). When the king met Rabbi he said: "I sent you a costly gift, but thou hast given me in return a gift worth a small coin." Rabbi replied: "The portion of the Torah inscribed upon it is of more worth than all valuables. Moreover, your gift must be kept safe by me, whereas my gift will keep you safe, as it is written: 'When thou liest down, it shall watch over thee.'" (Prov. 6:22) (Bereshit Rabbah, 35). The Zohar 2:36a mentions that the name "Shaddai" should be written on the Mezuzah to protect the person inside the house. Maimonides says the Mezuzah is not a "lucky charm" or an "amulet" (Hil. Mezuzah 5:4) but obedience to God does cause Him to protect us (Ps. 91). Cut out and fold up each four-scripture set of phylacteries so that either the initial  or the complete name  is all that is visible and attach them to your hand and put them between your eyes (Deut. 6:8 & 11:18). The Jews use large black cubes with black straps attached. Jesus didn't criticize the Pharisees for wearing phylacteries (tfillin), but for making them "broad" and showy to "be seen of men" (Matt. 23:5). Therefore ours are small. Jesus did "not come to destroy" this law (Matt. 5:17). Instead he said, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments ... he shall be called the least in the kingdom" (5:19). Notice Deuteronomy 11:18 tells us to remember them "and bind them." The Holy Spirit which brings "all things to remembrance" doesn't take their place. Just tape these miniature copies of the four pertinent scriptures to the wrist band of your watch and roll them around the nose-arch of your glasses. Use your imagination! Also, "thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:9). The bold type is God's name to fulfill the scriptural "mark upon the foreheads" (Ez. 9:4) and "the seal of God in their foreheads" (Rev. 9:4; 7:3) and the "Father's name (Shaddai) written in their foreheads" (Rev. 14:1; 22:4). True Jewish worshippers also used the first letter in Shaddai ( ). Satan's counterfeit is three Hebrew vavs or 666 (   ) made to look like a Hebrew Shin (Rev. 13:16).

Some Bible followers believe that it is the TEN COMMANDMENTS that are to be put on our hands and between our eyes and on the doorposts rather than the four scriptures (Ex. 13:1-10; Ex. 13:11-16; Deut. 6:4-9; Deut.13:13-21) because the TEN COMMANDMENTS are found in Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21 and are the core foundation. Notice closely: "Now these are the COMMANDMENTS" (Deut. 6:1). "And THESE WORDS... BIND THEM for a sign upon thine hand, and THEY shall be as frontlets between thine eyes" ... upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:6-9). Some Bible followers also believe they should be VISIBLE "for a SIGN" (6:8) rather than hidden in a mezuzah holder. In other words, a visitor to your door or gate can actually READ the TEN COMMANDMENTS on the posts -- like a solar light on a red radius post.

"Do His will as if it were your own, so that He will do your will as if it were His. Nullify your own will before His so that he will nullify the will of others before you" (Pirke Avot 2:4).

"To all other pleasures prefer this -- to know that you are obeying God, and performing, not in word but in deed, the duty of a wise and good man." (Epictetus 3:24).

USE THESE AS A "SIGN" THAT CAN BE READ:



You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any
work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your man-
servant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in
the land that the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.



You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any
work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your man-
servant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in
the land that the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.



You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you
shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any
work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your man-
servant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in
the land that the LORD your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

RATHER THAN THESE ROLLED UP IN A SCROLL:
"Hear, O Israel: The Eternal our God is one Eternal: And thou shall love the Eternal thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:4-9).

"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Eternal your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Eternal's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Eternal giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates. That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Eternal swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth" (Deut. 11:13-21).

"And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Sanctity unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Eternal brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the Eternal shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Eternal. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shall show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Eternal did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Eternal's law may be in thy mouth; for with a strong hand hath the Eternal brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year" (Ex. 13:1-10).

"And it shall be when the Eternal shall bring theeinto the land of the Canaanites, as he swore unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, That thou shall set apart unto the Eternal all that openeth the womb, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Eternal's. And every firstling of an ass thou shall redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the firstborn of man among thy children thou shall redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Eternal brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage; And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Eternal slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Eternal all that openeth the womb, being males; but all the first-born of my children I redeem. And it shall be (or a token upon thine hand, and (or frontlets between thine eyes; for by strength of hand the Eternal brought us forth out of Egypt" (Ex. 13:11-16).
"Hear, O Israel: The Eternal our God is one Eternal: And thou shall love the Eternal thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:4-9).

"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Eternal your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the Eternal's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Eternal giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates. That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Eternal swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth" (Deut. 11:13-21).

"And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Sanctity unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Eternal brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the Eternal shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Eternal. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shall show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Eternal did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Eternal's law may be in thy mouth; for with a strong hand hath the Eternal brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year" (Ex. 13:1-10).

"And it shall be when the Eternal shall bring theeinto the land of the Canaanites, as he swore unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, That thou shall set apart unto the Eternal all that openeth the womb, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Eternal's. And every firstling of an ass thou shall redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the firstborn of man among thy children thou shall redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Eternal brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage; And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Eternal slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Eternal all that openeth the womb, being males; but all the first-born of my children I redeem. And it shall be (or a token upon thine hand, and (or frontlets between thine eyes; for by strength of hand the Eternal brought us forth out of Egypt" (Ex. 13:11-16).

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