PHYLACTERY fĭ lăk’ tə rĭ (see also Dress). The name is a transliteration of φυλακτήριον, G5873, “safeguard,” “means of protection,” “amulet.” The Vul. took over the Gr. term and it was accepted by Eng. trs. through the Geneva Bible of 1557. The term occurs only once in the NT (Matt 23:5), which records Jesus’ accusation against the scribes and Pharisees, “They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.” This was not necessarily a condemnation of the custom of wearing phylacteries, but only of ostentation that prostituted an ancient custom full of symbolism in the interests of outward display.
It commonly has been held that the phylacteries were the small receptacles containing verses of Scripture bound to the forehead and left arm of the Jewish man during prayer. (Syr./Aram. תְּפִילִּין.) This view is disputed by some Jewish writers on the grounds that (a) too little is known of the tephillin in Jesus’ day, and (b) that since the sentence in Matthew 23:5 is derogatory, it must have applied to some object other than the time-honored and revered tephillin. It should be said, however, that Jesus, like the prophets before Him, often rebuked men for purely formal practices (cf. Isa 1:11-15); also is it unlikely that the Jews in general attached magical significance to the use of the tephillin, implied by the Gr. term “phylactery.” This may have arisen through secular interpretation of the practice, and at least one modern tr. (Goodspeed) renders Matthew 23:5, “They wear wide Scripture texts as charms.”
Most scholars regard the “phylacteries” as identical with the tephillin that every male Israelite over the age of thirteen was required to “wear at daily morning prayer.” Modern Jewish usage follows essentially the practice described in the Mishnah and is based ultimately on the Biblical injunctions (Exod 13:9, 16; Deut 6:8 and 11:18) that the people of Israel were to bind God’s law as frontlets between the eyes, and as a sign upon the hand. The four passages where this command occurs were written out on parchment and placed in small cubic boxes made of the skin of clean animals, varying from half an inch to one and a half inches in width. The “head-tephillah” contained four distinct compartments into which the four separate passages were inserted. The “hand-tephillah” contained a simple compartment and carried a single piece of parchment with the four texts written out. The actual Scripture passages used are Exodus 13:1-10; 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21. The letter שׁ was inscribed on both sides of the box worn on the head, the righthand letter often carrying four legs. The three legs were reminiscent of the name of God (Heb. שֵׁמ֒, H9005) and the four legs referred to four passages of Scripture. Each phylactery was sewn to the base of thick leather by twelve stitches, one for each of the tribes of Israel. Leather flaps were left on the top of the cube through which passed long leather straps for binding the phylacteries to the head and the left arm. Both the boxes and the straps were black.
The head strap was tied at the back of the head in a knot shaped like the Heb. letter daleth ד, while the arm phylactery was supposed to form the letter yodh י. These three letters, the shin (שׁ) on the head phylactery, the daleth (ד), and the yodh (י) together formed the word שַׁדַּי, H8724, “Shaddai—Almighty,” one of the names for God in the OT.
The phylacteries (or tephillin) were placed on the body in a definite order. The hand is “laid” first to the accompaniment of a special prayer. It lies on the inside of the bared left arm, just above the elbow, so that the case may rest upon the heart (cf. Deut 11:18). The strap is then tightened and wound first around the left arm, and then around the middle finger of the left hand (HDB, iii, 870). The head tephillah is next “laid” in the middle of the forehead “between the eyes” (Exod 13:9; etc.) with the knot at the back of the head, and the two free ends of the stray falling over the breast in front. Various prayers, benedictions, and Hosea 2:19 were recited as the phylacteries were fixed in position. After the prayers, the tephillin are removed in the reverse order and placed in a bag, which is often beautifully ornamented. The praying shawl, tallit, that is always associated with the tephillin is put on first.
Were the Scripture passages intended to be taken literally or fig.? Christian exegesis has taken them fig., but whatever the original intention, the custom developed of wearing these texts literally in the manner described. When the practice began is not clear. It is not practiced among the Samaritans; thus it may have arisen after the Samaritan-Jewish schism. This schism, however, cannot be dated accurately. The Letter of Aristeas (end of 1st cent. b.c. v. 159) refers to the practice as an old one.
Fragments of phylacteries have been found in the Qumran (q.v.) caves, but here the Ten Commandments were included among the texts, which shows that the form was not absolutely standard before the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The exclusion of the Ten Commandments from the phylacteries and from the Jewish daily services may have been a reaction against Jewish Christianity.
In the Middle Ages there was no uniformity, but in modern times orthodox Jews observe the practice, but reformed Judaism has abandoned it.
Bibliography J. H. Greenstone, L. Blau, and E. G. Hirsch, “Phylacteries,” Jewish Encyclopedia, X (1905), 21-28; H. L. Strack and P. Billerbeck, SBK, IV (1928), 250-276; H. Danby, The Mishnah (1933), see Index under “Phylacteries,” 834; D. Barthelemy and J. T. Milik, Qumran Cave I (1953), 72-76; G. Henton Davies, “Phylacteries,” IDB, III (1962), 808, 809.