Frontlet (only in the plur. TB^'iU, toiaphoik', 'proh.Jil'efs, from an obsolete root v]*l^, to bi^id about [Gesenius, Tkes. Heb. p. 548] ; Sept. cKraXiVTci [v. r. drraXtvTuv, apparently pointing rs^lli], i. e. immov- able ; Vulg. vaguelj' appensum quid, movebimdir, and collocate) occurs only in three passages (Exod. xiii, 16 ; Deut. vi, H ; xi, 18), and each time in the form of a proverbial similitude, " as frontlets between your eyes," and -also coupled with another similar expres- sion, "as a sign (or token) upon your hand" (comp, Exod. xiii, 9, " as a memorial between your eyes"), in connection with a command to oliserve the JMosaic law. In Exodus the expression is used n.ore immediately with reference to the ordinance respecting the conse- cration of the first-born and the Passover solemnity; but in the two passages of Deutevonomj' it relates to tlie precepts and statutes of the old covenant generally. The meaning in charging the Israelites to " bind tliem for a sign upon their L:.nd, and have them as front- Ir-ts between their eyes," evident!}' is, tliatthey should keep them as distinctly in view, and as carefullj' at- tend to them, as if they had them legiblj- written on a tablet between their eyes, and bound in open charac- ters upon their hands ; so that, wherever they looked, and whatever they did, they could not fail to have the statutes of the Lord before them. That no actual written memorial was intended to be enjoined upon the Israelites is clear from the nature of the case, since no writing to be worn either between the eyes or upon the hand could b}' possibility have served the purpose of legibh' expressing all the statutes and ordinances j of the law. It is clear, also, from the alternative i phrases with which those in questicm are associated, | sucli as, " That tlie Lord's law may be in thy mouth" (Exod. xiii, 9); " Tliat tliese words shall lie in thine heart;" "That ye shall la}' up these my words in your I heart and in your soul'' (Deut. vi, G ; xi, 18), as well as i from the parallel sayings of a later day (Prov. vi, 21 ; j comp. iii, 3; iv, 21). But the Jews, some time after j their return from Babylon (it is not known exactlv i wlien), gave the direction al)out having the precepts of the law as frontlets a literal turn, and had portions : of it written out and worn as badges upon their per- son. These are called by tlie modern Jews tephil'li/ , "■'i'^Sri (a word signifying prai/ers, but not found in the Bible ; Buxtorf, Lex. T(dm. col. 1743). These were strips of parchment, on which were written four pas- sages of Scripture (Exod. xiii, 2-10, 11-17 ; Deut. vi, 4-9, 13-22) in an ink prepared for the purpose. They
]et, met.
according to Cal-
were then rolled up in a case of black calfskin, which was attached to a stiffer piece of leatlier, having a thong one finger broad, and one and a half cubits long. Those worn on the forehead were written on four strips of parchment (which might not be of any hide except cow's hide — Xork, Bramm. iind Jiabb. p. 211 ; comp. Hesyeh. s. v. Skc-i/c;)
tTTiKovpia), and put into four Form of the Jewish "Front- little cells within a square case, oil which the letter UJ was writ- ten ; the three points of the 'CJ being "an emblem of the heavenh' Fathers, Jehovah our Lord Jehovah" {Zuliar, fol. 54, col. 2). The square had two thongs (T'VS^'), on which Hebrew letters were insciibed; these were passed round the head, and after making a knot in the shape of 1, passed over the breast. This was called " the icpJuUah on the head," and was worn in the cen- tre of the forehead (Leo of Modena, Ceremonies oj" the Jews, i, 11, n. 4; Calmet, s. v. Phijlactery ; Otho, Zea;, Rabbin, p. 656). The Karaites, on the contrary, ex- plained Deut. vi, 8 ; Exod. xiii, 9, etc., as a figurative command to remember the law (Keland, Atit. p. 132), as in similar passages (Prov. iii, 3; vi, 21 ; vii,3; Cant, viii, 6, etc.), and ajipealing to the fact that in Exod. xiii, 9 the word is not nE-i;2, but "jT^ST "a memo- rial" (Gerhardus on Deut. vi, 8; Edzardus on Bera- choth. i, 209 ; Heidanus, De Orig. Erroris, viii, B. 6 ; Schottgen, Hor. Jlebr. i, 199 ; Kosenmuller, ad loc. ; Hengstenberg, Pent, i, 458). Considering, too, the na- ture of the passages inscriiied on the ph3'lacteTies (liy no means the most important in the Pentateuch — for the fathers are mistaken in saying that the Decalogue was used in this way, Jer. /. c. ; Chrysost. /. c. ; Theo- phj'l. ad Matt, xxiii, 5), and the fact that we have no trace whatever of their use before the exile (during which time the Jews probably learnt the practice of wearing them from the Babjlonians), they were justi- fied in claiming that the object of the precepts (Deut. vi, 8 ; Exod. xii, 9) was to impress on tlie minds of tlie people the necessity' of remembering the law. But the tigurative language in which this duty was urged upon the Jews was mistaken bj' the Talmudists for a literal command. An additional argument against the literal interpretation of tlie direction is the dangerous abuse to winch it was immediately liable. Indeed, such an observance would defeat the supposed intention of it, by substituting an outward ceremony for an inward remembrance. Accordingly, these badges were turned into instruments of religious vanitj- and display', and abused for selfish purposes hv those who sought, by a great profession of legal ritualism, to hide their deli- ciencj' of inward principle. They even came eventu- ally to be enqiloyed as charms or amulets, having a divine virtue in them to preserve the wearer from sin or from dajmoniacal agency; hence such sayings as these concerning them in the Talmudical writings: "Whosoever has tepMlim upon his head ... is forti- fied against sin ;" "Thej' are a 1 andage for cutting off," i. e. from various kinds of danger or hostility (Spen- cer, iv, c. 5). Jerome (on IMatt. xxiii, 5) speaks of them generally as worn by the Jews for guardianship and safety (ol) custodiam et munimcntum) ; "not con- sidering that they were to be borne in tlie heart, not on the body." — Smith, s. v.; Fairbairn, s. v. See Phylactery.