“Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.”-Deuteronomy 6:8
This might surprise you but the word TEFILLIN does NOT appear in Deuteronomy 6:8.
That’s right.
Instead the word TOTEFET is used and this word more literally means “bands“.
So what we can deduce from this is that the wearing of TEFILLIN is just tradition as opposed to a hard and fast command from the Creator Himself.
Historically speaking, there is no evidence that this practice even existed before 250 B.C.
The Pharisees however were very, very strict about putting on TEFFILIN.
They wore them pretty much at all times except when sleeping.
We know that the hated Hebrews who lived in Samaria did NOT observe this custom.
This was actually a deliberate and well-intended insult towards the Jews who lived in the Judea area.
Looking back in time, it seems like the wearing of TEFFILIN was mainly a custom of those religious Jews who lived in Jerusalem which was considered the center of Jewish orthodoxy.
We have no record of Jews wearing TEFILLIN in Galilee (Yeshua’s home).
So, was it only the pharisees who observed the custom of wearing TEFILLIN?
The answer is no.
The use of TEFILLIN is actually mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls and some of these ancient ritual black boxes were actually discovered among the artifacts of the Essenes at Qumran (the Dead Sea community).
In addition, when one deep dives into the writings of Josephus, one will find him mentioning that sometimes even the 10 Commandments were included among the writings contained inside the tiny leather boxes.
What does this tell us?
This tells us that the protocol governing how TEFILLIN were used evolved over time like so many other religious rituals.
The bottom line is that different groups of Hebrews had different methods and protocol when it came to TEFILLIN observance.
What’s interesting is that when the leather straps are wrapped around the arm and the hand, they form the Hebrew word SHADDAI.
The great Hebrew scholar Alfred Edersheim had this to say about the mystical significance of TEFILLIN.
‘for their value and importance in the eyes of the Rabbis, it were impossible to exaggerate it. They were reverenced as highly as the Scriptures’. ‘It was said that Moses had received the law of their observance from God on Mount Sinai; that the ‘tephillin’ were more sacred than the golden plate on the forehead of the high-priest, since its inscription embodied only once the sacred name of’ Yahveh, while the tefillin ‘contained it not less than twenty-three times’.
Next, Alfred Edersheim in reference to the Pharisees goes on to say this…
‘The admission that neither the officiating priests, nor the representatives of the people wore them in the Temple (Zebach. 19a,b), seems to imply that this practice was not quite universal”
Hmmm…interesting.
Edersheim informs us that TEFILLIN observance “was not quite universal“.
One thing you may not know about Edersheim is that he was a Jewish Bible scholar who was born and raised in England.
In other words, he’s of British background.
What’s my point in mentioning that tidbit of information?
My point is that when Edersheim says the use of TEFILLIN “was not quite universal“, he is being sarcastic and making an understatement (so common among folks from England by the way).
CONCLUSION: What Edersheim really meant is that it was only a minority of Jews who wore TEFILLIN.
I’m done.
My information is that Edersheim was born in Vienna and there became a Christian when he moved to Hungary. He later went to Scotland and was a Presbyterian pastor. He later removed to England where he was ordained a priest of the Church of England and served in mor than one parish. Do look him up on Wiki!!
Thanks for sharing.