Good Morning.
And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, “This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.” It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. (Exodus 13:8-9)
The “it” that is referred to is the deliverance that came at Passover but was to be expressed in the wearing of phylacteries, or as it is known in Hebrew, tefillin. This was — and still is — worn upon the hand and upon the forehead that the instruction to exhibit the sign of Israel’s redemption upon the hand and between the eyes. In other words, everything we think and do is to remind us of what God did for His people when we were incapable of helping ourselves.
Tefillin is related to the Hebrew word for prayer and, consequently, the wearing of tefillin is most often associated with prayer. However, as we see in this Scripture, it is primarily to serve as a reminder of the Exodus and the deliverance from bondage. It is placed upon the hand to remind us of His outstretched arm that saved His people but also to remind us to deny our hand it’s own way. It is placed upon the forehead to remind us that our mind, the seat of our soulish nature, should always contemplate His Word and not our own will. And if His Word is in our mind, it will also be in our mouth; it will influence what we say and it will influence what we do.
Everything Moses instructed them was to remind them of their deliverance and, so likewise, we should continually be reminded of our own deliverance in Messiah. Because He is our deliverance from sin, we should think and do as He would which means that His Word should always be on our mind, in our hearts and in our mouth to proclaim. And so, quoting Moses, the Apostle Paul said:
“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Messiah down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Yeshua and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:6-10)
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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