Exodus 13:16

And it shall be for a token upon thine head, and for frontlets between thine eyes,.... These laws observed concerning the setting apart the firstlings of their beasts, the redemption of the firstborn

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 LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: No JFB commentary on these verses.

For frontlets; instead of frontlets. The sense is, This practice shall make your deliverance from Egypt as fresh and evident to you, and to your children, as any thing which you see hanged or written upon one another’ s foreheads. See . It seems strange to me, that they that understand the sign on the hand, and the memorial between the eyes, , metaphorically, should understand the frontlets between the eyes in this place properly, seeing the phrase is perfectly the same; only here is a more particular allusion to the custom of the Egyptians, which used to wear some devices upon their foreheads, which probably they called totaphoth, which were memorials of their idols, or of something relating to them. And therefore it seems unlikely that he should here prescribe the use of the same things to the Jews; and the more probable meaning of the phrase is only this, that this practice would be as effectual and useful a remembrancer of this mighty and glorious work of God in bringing them out of Egypt, as those contrivances were to the Egyptians of their idols.

Exodus 13:16 And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.Ver. 16. Frontlets.] Phylacteries. See on Matthew 23:5-6. The right use of them was memorative: the superstitious use, preservative against the power of sin.

(16) It shall be for a token.—See the comment on Exodus 13:9. The “frontlets” (totaphôth) of this passage, and of Deu 6:8, were called tephillin in Chaldee, both words signifying properly “bands” or “circlets.” The injunctions on the subject which are here given might undoubtedly be explained as metaphorical; but those in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 seem to have been intended, and were certainly understood, literally.

Verse 16. It shall be for a token, &c.] See Clarke on Exodus 13:9.

16. Like Maẓ ?ẓ ?oth (v. 9), the redemption of the firstborn is to serve the same purpose as a ritual mark, or badge, in reminding Israel constantly of what Jehovah had done for them. frontlets] Heb. ṭ ?τṭ ?βphτth (properly, perhaps,—from the Arabic ṭ ?βfa, to make a circuit,—circlets or headbands1[137]): Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18 †. The word takes the place of the ‘memorial’ in v. 9. Originally, as the comparative study of religions makes probable, the ‘frontlet’ was some kind of badge worn upon the forehead as a mark of belonging to the national Deity, by which he might know who were his, and (like an amulet) guaranteeing them his protection, and also reminding those who bore it of their ceremonial duties towards him. Here it is merely said that the redemption of the firstborn is to be for (i.e. to serve the same purpose as) a ‘sign,’ or ritual mark (see on v. 9) upon the head, and ‘frontlets’ on the forehead, in reminding Israel of its duties towards Jehovah. In Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:18, where the same two expressions are used, but the reference is to words, it has been generally supposed that material objects are meant (see, however, against this view the strong arguments of A. R. S. Kennedy, art. Phylacteries in DB. p. 871 f.: it is not clear that ‘these words’ in Deuteronomy 6:6 refer to vv. 4, 5 alone; cf. Deuteronomy 11:18[138]); and the later Jews gave effect to this interpretation of the passage by inscribing Deuteronomy 13:1-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 11:13-21 on small scrolls of parchment, which were enclosed in cases, and bound with leathern thongs to the forehead and left arm. These are the tephillin, ‘prayers,’ of the later Jews, the φυλακτήρια (i.e. preservatives against demons, amulets: cf. Targ. on Son 8:3, where protection against demons is expressly said to be the object of binding on the tephillin), mentioned in Matthew 23:5 (see further DB. l.c.). [137] This meaning is not certain; but the sense drop, jewel (worn as an amulet) does not seem established by Shabb. vi. 1, 5, quoted for it by Kennedy (DB. iii. 872) Ṭ ?τṭ ?ιpheth certainly denotes there something worn by women; but the Gemara ibid. interprets of a band ‘going round from ear to ear.’ The word is extremely rare: Levy (NHWB. s.v.) states that he knows no other occurrence in post-Bibl. Heb. literature. In 2 Samuel 1:10 Targ. it is used of the armlet worn by Saul. [138] LXX. also (in Dt. as well as in Ex.) interpret figuratively, ἀσάλευτονπρὸὀφθαλμῶνσου, i.e. ‘something immoveably fixed before [not ‘between’] thine eyes,’ ever present to thy thoughts.

11-16. Moses here repeats to Israel the law of the firstborn, given to him in Exodus 13:1-2. As in the instance just given, there is here not a mere repetition, but an amplification and enforcement.