Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PHYLACTERIES

A pair of small black leather boxes (Heb. tĕpillîn) containing parchment slips inscribed with biblical commandments (Exod. 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21). Although the command to “bind them [the words of the Torah] as a sign on your hand and they shall be as a frontlet on your forehead” (Deut. 6:8) was probably not originally intended to be taken literally, the Jews developed the practice of binding tĕpillîn to their left arm and head. Made of the skins of “clean” animals, they were attached to the body by leather straps of any color except blood red. Sometimes in the 1st century and before, other passages from the Torah (e.g., the Decalogue and Deut. 5:22-23) were also included, as attested by the tĕpillîn found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Gk. phylaktḗrion (only in Matt. 23:5) is derived from the verb phylássō, “to guard/protect.” Accordingly, some scholars have suggested that the phylactery served as a magical amulet (cf. b. Ber. 6a, 23b, 30b; Menaḥ. 43b). The vast amount of evidence, however, suggests another primary purpose. The verb phylássō sometimes has the nuance “to observe (the commandments)” (so Ep. Arist. 159). The rabbis, Targums, and Peshitta all refer to the same objects by Aram. tĕpillîn, which derives from either pll (“to pray”) or plh (“to separate/distinguish [Jews from non-Jews]”).

Rabbinic sources suggest that in the 1st century c.e. and before it was customary for the observant to wear phylacteries all day; today, “laying tĕpillîn” occurs only during morning prayers in weekday services.

W. E. Nunnally

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PHYLACTERIES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)