PT-2 "False Leaders Lack Spirituality" (Matt. 23:5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/4/2023 9:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “False Leaders Lack Spirituality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 23:5

 

            Message of the verse:  “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”

 

            I think that it is true that being noticed by men during the time of Jesus was more difficult to do than it is today.  A month or so ago some really unknown man wrote a song that went wild on You Tube, but these kind of things could not be done during the time of Jesus, but false leaders did do what they could do to be noticed by men.

 

            MacArthur writes:  “To flaunt their religiosity, the scribes and Pharisees would broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

 

            “Four times in the Pentateuch (Ex. 13:9, 16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18) the Lord commanded that His law was to be upon the hands and foreheads of His people as a reminder of Him.  The ancient Jews understood that command as it was given, not to be taken literally but as symbolic of God’s law being the controlling factor in their lives, not only in what they did, represented by the hand, but in what they thought represented by the forehead.  Both their thoughts and their actions were to be directed by God’s Word.  Far from having the purpose of promoting external human pretense and pride, that instruction was meant to elevate the Lord and to draw His people closer to Himself.”

 

            That was then, that is when the law of God was first given, and as time passed, many Jews came to look on the injunction not as a means of making God’s Word dominant in their lives, but they changed it to make themselves dominant in the eyes of their fellow Jews.  What they did was literalized and externalizes the command and then they turned it into a means of feeding their own egos, which certainly was not the intent when it was given by the Lord. 

 

            In his commentary on this subject John MacArthur takes time to talk about phylacteries and I think the best way for us to understand this word is to quote what he has to say about it.

 

            “Phylacteries were something called tephillin, a name derived from the Hebrew word translated ‘frontals’ in Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18 (cf. Ex. 13:16).  Phylacteries were small square boxes made of leather from a ceremonially clean animas.  After being dyed black, the leather was sewn into a box using twelve stitches, each stitch representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Placed into each phylactery were copies of Exodus 13:1-10 and 13:11-16 and of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.  The phylactery worn on the head had four compartments, each containing one of the texts were written on a small piece of parchment.  The phylactery worn on the hand contained a single piece of parchment on which all four texts were written.  The Hebrew letter shin (y) was inscribed on both sides of the box worn on the head, and the head strap was tied to form the letter Daleth (d) and the hand strap to form the letter yodh (j).  The three letters together formed Shaddai, one of the ancient names of God usually translated ‘Almighty.’ Long leather straps were used to bind on box to the forehead and the other to the arm and left hand, because the left side was considered to be closer to the heart.

 

            “In Orthodox Judaism still today, every boy is given a set or phylacteries when he comes of age on his thirteenth birthday.  Like other Jewish men, he then wears his phylacteries at morning prayer, as was the general custom in Jesus’ day.

 

            “There is no record of the use of phylacteries until about 400 b. c. during the interestamental period.  Relics of them were found in the Essene community at Qumran near the Dead Sea.  Phylacteries is a transliteration of the Greek phulakteria, which referred to a means of protection or a safeguard.  In pagan societies it was sometimes used as a synonym for amulet or charm.  Although trust in such magical protection was clearly condemned in the Old Testament, as apostate Jews drifted away from God’s Word—the very Word of which the phylactery was meant to remind them—they invariably picked up pagan beliefs.  Consequently, some Jews came to look on their phylacteries as magical charms for warding off evil spirits and other dangers.”

 

            Lord willing we will continue this quotation from MacArthur’s commentary in our next SD as we will begin with a story about a rabbi having a audience with a king.

 

10/4/2023 10:15 AM