Exposition of the Laws of Moses, Exegesis 1 · Part 32
EXERCITAT. XXXII. Of the Jewes Phylacteries. A ceremoniall appendix for keeping of all the Commandements.
Num. 15.38. Speake unto the Children of Iſrael, and bid them that they make fringes upon the borders of their garments, &c.
THe Lord ſitting himſelfe to the nonage and infancy of the Iewes Church, he gave them helpes; firſt for their judgement, ſecondly, for their affections, and thirdly, for their memory.
God gave the Iewes helpes for their Iudgements, memories and affections.Firſt, he gave them helpes for their judgement, for as we, when we have a dull Scholler, borrow compariſons from ſenſible things to teach him; ſo the Lord ſet ſenſible figures and types before the Iewes to teach them.
Secondly, he helped their affections by Muſicke, and thirdly he helped their memories by thoſe Phylacteries or fringes, which he commanded them to put upon the borders of their garments, Deut. 22.12. Exod. 13.9. And it ſhall be for a ſigne unto thee, upon thine hand, and for a memoriall, betweene thine eyes, that is, the Phylactery ſhall be a ſigne unto thee upon thy hand, and a memoriall betweene thine eyes, and a ſignet upon thine heart; thoſe things which we account of we carry them as they were written in our hands, Eſay. 49.16. Behold I have graven thee vponupon the palmes of myne hands, Prov. 7.3. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the Table of thine heart, ſay unto wiſdome thou art my ſiſter, and call underſtanding thykinſwoman. As they carried, of old, the names of thoſe whom they loved, in rings, and bracelets; ſo he willeth him to cary the Law of God graven, as it were his deareſt Siſter, or like a Phylactery upon his hand.
The garment which the Iewes wore, was a ſide coate like the garments which the eaſtern people do weare at this day, and it was called Ceſuth, Deut. 22.21.foreign Tegumentum foreign Pallium. Beſides this, they had another garment which they called Megnil, a long Cloake without ſleeves: Thirdly,foreign veſtis villoſa, Pallium Iudaeis peculiare. they had a Garment called Talith which was veſtis ſuperior, an upper Garment uſed by the moſt of them when they travelled.
Their firſt Garment called Ceſuth was parted below, which made the foure wings of it, two before and two behind, ſo their upper Garment called Talith was made like the coate of a Lacky or footboy, divided in two parts.
Thoſe fringes which they were commanded to put upon the borders of their Garments,foreign inſtitae. and the wings of them, are called Gedilim threeds woven together, that is, threeds which remaine hanging downe like ſmall haires, after the coate was wo…n, Num. 13.38. And then they had their Tephilim, their Phylacteries, and the Phylacteries were put upon their heads,foreign peniculatus filorum textus. Why the Iewes wore Phylacterius. and upon their armes, and thoſe which were called TZitzith were put upon their cloathes, and the poſts of their doores; he commanded them to weare thoſe fringes, and Phylacteries, to put them in remembrance to keepe the law of the Lord, and to diſtinguiſh the Iew from the heathen; and they ſay, three things diſtinguiſhed the Iew from the heathen, their Sabbath, their circumciſion, and their Phylacteries.
The Iewes abuſed their Phylacteries.They abuſed thoſe fringes and Phylacteries, firſt inlarging them and making them foreign, Chriſt blamed them not for wearing Phylacteries, but for making them too broad. Againe, they abuſed them, making them helpes onelyonly for their prayers, and they derived Tephilim a Phylacterie a [Palal] orare, foreign derivatur a foreign apponere, et non a foreign orare, ut quidam volunt.whereas it ſhould be derived from, [Taphal] apponere; Taphal ſignifieth adhaeſionem vel conjunctionem, and the ſeventy tranſlate it foreign, Immobilia, they were not then foreign, helpes to prayer, as the Iewes ſuperſtitiouſly imagined, but helpes to put them in remembrance to keepe the Law, and from this ſuperſtition it came, that Eliſha delighted ſtill to were Talijoth his upper Garmēt with the wings, therefore they called him Eliſha with the wings, and his ſuperſtitious prayers they called them his golden wings, and R Eleazer the ſon of Ioſeph ſaid, whoſoever had Phylacteries upon his head, and upon his arme and fringes upon his Garment, and a marke upon his doore, all theſe would keepe him from ſinning, as it is written, a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Eccleſ. 4.12. After this they became more impious in abuſing them, making them remedies againſt Witchcraft, foreign contra faſcinationes, thoſe Phylacteries Varro called Prebia or Brebia, hence commeth the word briefe which is Satan ſigne to ſave men from danger.