You
shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
Deuteronomy 6:8
Deuteronomy 6 [1.] Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it; that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you; you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.
Deuteronomy 6 [5.] You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6 [10.] It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build, and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full; then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name. You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you;
Meaning:
Moses spoke these words to Israel just before they entered the promised land. They belong to the great passage that begins, “Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), followed by the command to love Yahweh with all the heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus called this the first and great commandment (Matthew 22:37-38).
- “You shall bind them”
“Them” refers to “These words, which I command you today”, which “shall be on your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:6). God’s word was to be at the center of daily life: taught to children, talked about at home and on the road, and remembered morning and evening. The same command is repeated later: “Therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand” (Deuteronomy 11:18).
- “for a sign on your hand ... frontlets between your eyes”
The hand stands for what a person does, and the place between the eyes for what a person thinks and sees. God’s commandments were to guide both actions and thoughts. A similar expression is used for the Passover: “It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that Yahweh’s law may be in your mouth” (Exodus 13:9). Later Jewish practice took the command literally. Men wore phylacteries (tefillin), small leather boxes holding passages of Scripture, on the forehead and arm during prayer.
The Significance of Deuteronomy 6:8
- A good reminder misused
Jesus did not condemn the phylacteries themselves, but the pride of those who “make their phylacteries broad” to be seen by men (Matthew 23:5). An outward sign of devotion has no value if the heart is not given to God.
- God’s word written on the heart
The deepest purpose of this command is fulfilled when God’s word shapes the inner life. Wisdom says, “Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 3:3). In the new covenant God promises, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it” (Jeremiah 31:33).
Cross-References:
Psalm 119:11: “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” God’s word kept within.
Deuteronomy 11:18: “You shall bind them for a sign on your hand.” The command repeated.
Conclusion: Moses told Israel to bind God’s words on their hands and between their eyes, so that the commandments would direct all they did and all they thought. Later this was practised with phylacteries, which Jesus warned could become a display of pride. God’s true desire is that his word be written on the heart and lived out in love for him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible