This is the first time I am including more than one commandment at a time as I work through the 613 laws of Torah as found in the Apostolic Writings. It won’t be the last. In this case, I’m including them together because there is no context in which one is practiced without the other that I’m aware of. While they are considered two separate commandments, they are practiced as one joint venture during observation.
P12 – To tie tefillin upon our heads, as Deuteronomy 6:8 states: “And they shall be an emblem between your eyes.”
P13 – To tie tefillin upon our arms, as Deuteronomy 6:8 states: “And you shall tie them for a sign upon your arms.[1]“
In my experience, Christianity tends to look at these commandments as highly spiritualized metaphors. The Jewish people (and Jesus) take it a bit more literally while still considering and applying the spiritual and inward aspects.
These commands are easy to find in the Gospels, but only in a single overt mention. Jesus says the following:
Matthew 23:5 (TLV)
5 All their works they do to be noticed by men. They make their tefillin wide and their tzitziyot long.
Yeshua was saying that it should not become a show for others, but rather a humble act of obedience toward God. Jesus wasn’t doing away with its practice or reducing its importance, nor was He denigrating the literal observance of the command. He was communicating that it should be an act of worship alone and not something for others to admire you about.
Teachers of the faith often hyper-spiritualize these instructions, insisting that phylacteries are “just tradition” and not important. It’s crucial to understand, from a Biblical perspective, if our Master disregarded practicing these commands literally He would have failed at being the perfect sinless man that He was. He was, is, and will be Jewish which means He very much participates in the use of tefillin and teaches others to do the same. I suspect He may refine our understanding in the Kingdom era, but as He is unchanging, the instructions will remain.
I’m in the midst of reviewing this post while editing it in preparation for sharing it. With the benefit of hindsight, I just deleted several paragraphs to rewrite them. At this point in my research, I have researched a couple of dozen commands after this one so I know a little bit about what’s coming. Using what I now know about P15, I’m forced to update this one. Initially, I could only find a single reference to these commands and while there is still only a single overt reference to tefillin, I now believe there are multiple allusions to them. Let me try to explain.
In reference to these commands, one Jewish source says this:
“But as [the soul] resides in [the body’s territory]… It therefore nonetheless requires many guards to protect it… and [so] He commanded us to set up mighty guards around [the soul].[2]”
Several times in the Torah, God takes steps to ensure there are protective measures in place for His followers. The pattern is to constantly bring His people back to Him. He set up protections for the soul. God is well aware that we live in tents of flesh (He designed it that way) and He took steps to prepare us for our sojourn. P12 and P13 rank among those protective measures. There are hints and light allusions toward the tefillin and their purpose in several places. John 10 ranks among them.
John 10:28–29 (TLV)
28 I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
The parables of John 10 will come into clearer view in P15. I didn’t want to dive deep into it here since P15 is where the “aha!” moment hit me. In this case, however, I am taking particular notice of God’s “hand.” The aforementioned reference from Sefer HaChinukh speaks to the guards of the soul, in John 10, Yeshua is saying “that’s me.” It’s not us, but through our obedience, God is working to protect our souls. The accompanying prayers, the Shema (P10) which is the most important commandment, all serve in conjunction with P12 and P13 to return our hearts to God daily.
Considering these commandments, some of the Jewish sources dug into the wrestling between flesh and soul. The soul is strengthened by God’s ways, but sometimes, our flesh just gets in the way and breaks through the defenses.
Now, my son, also see how much more power our bodies have than our souls; for despite all this, it sometimes comes up and ‘breaks our fence.’ May God in His mercy aid us and protect us, amen[3].
I’m well acquainted with this struggle. Are you? Even when we know something is wrong, we stumble. It’s ok. God has a plan! We stumble, but then we recover by His mercy, and continue the journey. Paul digs into this idea and ends his brain twisting discussion on the quoted topic in very much the same way. Through the mercy of God, through Yeshua the Messiah, we are covered and restored.
Romans 7:22–8:2 (ESV)
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
You can nearly envision Paul looking at the tefillin wrapped around his arm contrasting his passion for living out God’s ways with the sinfulness that comes from that same arm. There are other allusions and hints toward these concepts. The phylactery worn on the head is like placing the words of our Master as our head which helps to elicit images of Paul using the comparative imagery of who is the head of who in 1 Corinthians 11. Yes, there may be only one explicit mention of these two commands, but there are a lot of profound spiritual allusions to it as well.
“every man should grab onto this commandment and be accustomed to it, since it is a great fundamental, a protection from sin and a strong ladder to climb with to enter into the service of the Creator, blessed be He.[4]”
1 Timothy 4:15–16 (NKJV)
15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Personal question: do you tie teffilin to your head and to your arm? I’ve only seen strict Orthodox Jews do this. Do messianics tend to do this? Or Jews that aren’t strict orthodox?
I don’t. As far as I currently understand this is a sign commandment for the Jewish people. We’re called to make them jealous, but not steal their identity so I avoid this. There are quite a few Messianic Jews that practice this and even some Messianic Gentiles. It will certainly be more common in more observant communities like you’re saying. In heavily Jewish areas, Chabad will often send out students to share with other Jews how to wrap them and how to pray the prayers.