The Shema (8)
And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand; and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 6:8
Sign – What do Exodus 4:8, Jeremiah 32:20, I Samuel 2:34 and Isaiah 20:3 have in common with binding tefillin on the arm and the head? Maybe we should start with the question: What are tefillin? The use of tefillin is considered by orthodox Jews to be one of the most important mitzvot (obligations) of Torah. Tefillin are two small leather boxes attached to leather straps. Each box contains four sections of Scripture (The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, the Vehayah of Deuteronomy 11:13-21, the Kadesh of Exodus 13:1-10 and the Vehayah of Exodus 13:11-16). These four sections of Scripture are crucial in identifying the people God chose and the obligations they accepted. These boxes are bound to the arm and the head. You can watch a video HERE.
What does a small leather box have to do with these other Scripture references? If you look them up, you won’t find anything about boxes. But you will find the Hebrew word ‘ot, the word for “sign.” What you need to know is that ‘ot is most often the word for God’s awe-inspiring events and miracles; signs of His sovereignty over all men and their history. So, tefillin might be boxes but their purpose is to act as reminders of who God is, seen in His mighty acts of power. That little box suspended from the arm and tied to the head is designed to never let us forget what God did to rescue us and make us His own people.
Christians have universally substituted other icons for tefillin. These are usually symbols of the cross, the nails or some saint. I don’t believe I have ever seen a Christian with tefillin bound to his arm. And while it is true that a cross hung around the neck reminds us of the death of our Messiah, don’t you find it a bit curious that there is never any mention at all in Scripture (even in the New Testament) about a sign of the cross. Since we know that Paul was a practicing Torah-observant Jew, we know that he bound tefillin to his arm and his head. But he didn’t wear a cross on a silver chain. In fact, the only place in the entire Bible where some kind of symbolic emblem is part of the instructions of living is here, with tefillin. There must be a very good reason why God wants us to remember His mighty deeds. Perhaps Heschel is right: “To believe is to remember.”
We should also notice that there are no artistic representations of God in Judaism. There are reminders of His acts, but there are no paintings, icons, drawings or any other physical representations of Him. Have you ever wondered why? Our contemporary Christian world is not only filled with alternative signs, it is also saturated with iconic and artistic representations. Michelangelo even painted God on the ceiling. What happened in the transition from the Jewish Messianic assemblies of the first century to the church of the third century that allowed an artistic expression that never occurred in the previous sixteen hundred years? And why are we so accustomed to these expressions today that we don’t even reflect on their total absence in Scripture? Do you suppose that we have stopped remembering? Do you suppose that we have substituted imagery for the living God?
“The primary function of symbols is to express what we think; the primary function of the mitzvot is to express what God thinks. Religious symbolism is a quest for God, Jewish observance is a response to God.”[1]
Topical Index: sign, tefillin, Deuteronomy 6:8
[1] Abraham Heschel, Spiritual Audacity and Moral Grandeur, p. 92.
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What we remember determines who we are and what we will become.
Amen. And what am I to “remember?” – “What He said.”
Where did Adam “mess up?” He failed to remember the instructions (words) of YHWH.
Where did Abraham “mess up?” He failed to remember (believe) the words of YHWH. “You will have a son” and took matters into his own hands.
Where did Peter “mess up?”- He failed to remember the words of Yeshua- “before the cock crows three times- you will deny me thrice.” (He remembered, but by then it was too late)
And where do we “mess up” today? – We do err, not knowing the scriptures or the power of G-d. We do not remember His words to do them.
“That you may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your G-d.” (Numbers 15.40)
I like how you put that Robert. I know that not knowing the scriptures is something that’s really been bugging me. I don’t even know where to start with it (although some action is better than being overwhelmed into inaction), and I’m pretty horrid at remembering things (excuses, excuses). The more I “remember” the more I feel like I’ve woken up out of a coma to find that I don’t know anything. I don’t know how to worship, I don’t know how to pray, I don’t know how to listen, I don’t know how to see, I don’t know how to think. And I find myself frozen because I’m afraid to move for fear that I’ll do it wrong and dishonor the God I so want to obey. Now that I know (I remember) that the way I’ve been taught all my life (my parents were high in the ranks of Campus Crusade for Christ – so imagine all the systems I’ve been “taught”) is steeped in paganism (as Skip said above), how can I continue on in it? But what do I do instead? I love singing to God and watching others singing to Him (I lead “worship” at a church I attend). That’s Biblical (at least David does it, as do Mary and many others), but how does it fit in to this whole picture? If the ways I know (like church and such) aren’t God’s way, what is? We don’t have a temple and we don’t do sacrifices (but even if we did have a temple, would we still sacrifice or was Yeshua the ultimate sacrifice?).
Sorry, I got a little carried away. Skip tells a story about a young man who took one of his classes and ended up in two years of psychological counseling, but eventually returned and thanked him because he finally had his eyes opened – he went on to seminary). I think I understand that man. I have SO many questions (and my world view has been completely flipped upside down), and although this is very Greek, I feel like I had a nice pretty puzzle and then someone came and told me that half the pieces I had used were from another puzzle, threw a bunch of other pieces down and left me to recreate some semblance of order. I know that’s putting things into a box, but when you’re so used to boxes (I love to organize things) it’s hard to not try and put things together to make sense. Or perhaps I just take all of this too literally (about the boxes and all).
Oh, sorry again! I’m going to stop now before I scare everyone away! 🙂 Robert, see what your questions provoked? LOL! I’m certainly a great example of a work in progress. Sigh. Walking… walking… learning to wait while still walking…
Blessings (and Happy 4th of July for those of you who celebrate)!
There is no progress without confrontation. There is no confrontation without pain. A sure sign of progress is mental agony over the past. We must plow the field before we can sow the grain.
The Hebrew word for remember (zakar, if I remember correctly), means to “speak and act on behalf of”.
“Remember – speak and act on behalf of – the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”
“God remembered – spoke and acted on behalf of – Rachel and she conceived and bore a son.”
“…That you may remember – speak and act on behalf of – and do all my commandments…”
It is much more than just “bringing to mind” or mental recollection – it requires action.
You are so right. Shema – to listen (hear) and respond (obey – take action)
Tefillin: These drove Prison Security to distraction. All they could see were these long leather straps which they saw as a suicidal tool. The sadness that I had for the inmates is that they did not really know what the tefillin was about. It was just something to attempt to give the prison a bad time. In fact, the inmates attempting to secure tefillins were not in reallity jewish at all (note the small “j” it was intentional.) Probably even sadder is that I did not really know what the tefillin stood for. I could have been helpful to the inmate had I known.
Gracias a Carl Roberts por esa aportación bíblica sobre los errores que cometieron nuestros antepasados. Eso es lo que nos está sucediendo actualmente aquí en El Salvador. Hay muertes, asesinatos y violaciones porque hemos olvidado las ordenanzas del Señor. Bendiciones.
Dear Skip,
I loved this study of Shema,
I copied them all and sent them to my friends here and in Israel (I’m back in Canada for 2 months to try to straighten out some financial affairs) I hope to go back, and stay as long as they keep letting me back in. I have a question that is sort of off topic, but not really.
I have been wondering about the phrase “to make them jealous” and wonder if the Christians really have the right interpretation of those words. Romans reminds us …
Rom 11:18
do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
Rom 11:19
You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
Rom 11:20
Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;
Rom 11:21
for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.
As we studied the haftarah, the word zealous, used here by Elijah, prompted me to investigate .
1Ki 19:10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
וַיֹּאמֶר קַנֹּא קִנֵּאתִי לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאֹות כִּֽי־עָזְבוּ בְרִֽיתְךָ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־מִזְבְּחֹתֶיךָ הָרָסוּ וְאֶת־נְבִיאֶיךָ הָרְגוּ בֶחָרֶב וָֽאִוָּתֵר אֲנִי לְבַדִּי וַיְבַקְשׁוּ אֶת־נַפְשִׁי לְקַחְתָּֽהּ׃
English (NASB) Strong’s Root Form (Hebrew)
zealous h7065 קנא qana’
Strong’s H7065 – qana קָנַא
1) to envy, be jealous, be envious, be zealous
a) (Piel)
1) to be jealous of
2) to be envious of
3) to be zealous for
4) to excite to jealous anger
b) (Hiphil) to provoke to jealous anger, cause jealousy
Deu 32:21
‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
Rom 11:11
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
This makes me think that the “church was suppose to go so far from her roots so that she has become foolish and can provoke anger through the arrogance and ignorance that are being displayed as they come to “evangelize” the Jews in Israel. Christians seem to think they have all the answers, and are blind to the fact that they are steeped in church doctrine that was born out of anti-Semitism and paganism.
Why can’t we see that we are still refusing to accept that they (Israel) are His priests, and we are to be taught by them. If we are ever to find unity, and be truly grafted in. We need to stop trying to make them come to this “church” we claim is the bride, We need to stop feeling so self important and start to take our place and walk with them, keeping our mouths shut and our hearts open, then we will learn through them. Adonaih Elohenu, please let us see the truth before it is too late.
I will be writing about “jealous” soon. There is a lot more to be said here than our usual comments, as we will see.