“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 6:8-9
Today we’re going to be talking about the Mezuzah.
Recall that the MEZUZAH is the tiny tube attached to the doorpost of a home that contains a parchment scroll with Biblical passages inscribed in it.
The purpose of this device like so many of the other God-ordained ritual objects is to serve as a reminder to the worshipper to not forget God and His commandments.
In Judaism, it is universally agreed on that verse 9 which says “ “write His Laws on the door-frames of your house and on your gates” is NOT to be taken metaphorically.
All branches of Judaism interpret Deuteronomy 6:9 as being a command that is to be taken literally.
My friends and I rented a flat via AirBnB when I travelled to Israel and we counted a total of three Mezuzahs in our apartment: one for the common entrance to get to the apartment, one at the doorpost of the apartment itself, and one affixed to the doorpost leading to the bedroom.
It should be noted that the “doorposts” in this Scripture refer to your personal home while the “gates” refer to the point of entry of the city or village.
In those days, the city gates functioned as the town square where court proceedings were held.
The MEZUZAH being posted at the city gates is kind of similar to how we in America used to post the 10 Commandments in our courts of Law.
This is a practice I believe the Lord allowed to be done away with because America is not a nation that honors the 7th Day Sabbath which is one of the 10 Commandments.
I mean why in the heck post the Ten Commandments in our courts of law if we’re not going to keep those commandments anyway?!
During the time of Moses, it was common among all the cultures of that era to write some kind of message in honor of one’s god above the doorway leading into the house.
This was common to all societies in that era whether Jew or gentile.
In fact, it was the norm in Egypt to have some type of message announcing the greatness of the ruler in that city posted at the main entries into the cities.
I think the Lord adopted this already common Middle Eastern custom and then used it for His own purposes for His own people.
In Yeshua’s time, all Jews whether of Judean, Galilean, or Samaritan origin and even the Diaspora Jews posted Mezuzahs to their doorposts.
The practice we have today of placing a tiny oblong device to a doorway actually started during the 2nd Temple period slightly before the advent of Yeshua.
Placed inside the tubular Mezuzah were portions of the Torah in miniature letters written on a small piece of parchment.
The Scripture verses used were Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Deuteronomy 11:13-21.
As with the TEFILLIN, Mezuzahs were also found among the ancient remains of the Dead Sea Community at Qumran.
Some of these Mezuzahs also contained the Ten Commandments carved in miniature letters on parchment.
And as with the TEFILLIN, even the Mezuzah was sometimes described as possessing certain magical powers .
We have record of a great Jewish leader named Rabbi Judah the Prince sending a Mezuzah to King Ardavan, ruler of the Parthian Empire.
Rabbi Judah the Prince told King Ardavan that if he affixed the Mezuzah to his home’s doorposts, it would protect him from harm from his enemies.
Here’s the thing.
Although the Scripture commands that we write God’s commands “on the door-frames of your house and on your gates”, it doesn’t really go into detail on how we should do it.
Hence, many of the details concerning the use of the Mezuzah are nothing but traditions.
But don’t misunderstand my last statement there.
The principle of using a Mezuzah to indicate one’s allegiance to the God of Israel stands.
My advice to you is if you’re going to use a Mezuzah and affix it to the doorpost of your home, DO IT RIGHT!
Otherwise, you will ruin the witness of a Jewish person if he or she ever visits your home.
Just remember these two points.
MAKE SURE IT IS PLACED IN THE UPPER ONE-THIRD OF THE RIGHT DOOR JAM
…and…
MAKE SURE THE TOP IS ANGLED TOWARDS THE HOME’S INTERIOR.
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