SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/5/2023 8:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “False Leaders Lack Spirituality”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 23:5
Message of the verse: “5 "But they
do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries,
and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”
I promised to quote the story that John MacArthur
tells in his commentary on this verse in Matthew 23. “The story is told in rabbinical literature
of a rabbi who had an audience with a king.
Ancient custom dictated that a person who left the king’s presence
always walked away backwards while bowing, since it was considered a mark of
great dishonor to turn one’s back on a monarch.
That particular rabbi, however, simply turned around and walked away,
apparently to demonstrate his conviction that, because of their high standing
before God, rabbis were superior to royalty.
When the irate king ordered his soldiers to kill the man for his
effrontery, the straps of his phylacteries were said to blaze with fire,
putting fear into the hearts of the soldiers and the king thus saving the rabbi
from death.
“Some scribes and Pharisees held the
phylacteries to be even more sacred than the golden head plate worn by the high
priest, because God’s name was written twenty-three times in the phylacteries
but only once on the golden head plate.
God has been so made over in their own image that many Pharisees
believed the Lord Himself wore phylacteries.
Some Jewish writings from interestamental and New Testament times give
the impression that God was often thought of as little more than a glorified
rabbi who studied the law three hours a day.
“Rather than wearing their
phylacteries only at prayer time, as the custom was for most Jewish men, the
Pharisees wore them continually as a sign of superior spirituality. They also would broaden their phylacteries, making
them larger than normal to signify supposed greater devotion to God. In a similar way and for the same purpose,
they would lengthen the tassels of their garments.
“As with phylacteries, the use of tassels had its origin
in Scripture. The Lord instructed Moses
to tell the sons of Israel ‘that they shall make for themselves tassels on the
corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put
on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.
And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandants
of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own
eyes, after which you played the harlot, in order that you may remember to do
all My commandments, and be holy to your God’ (Num. 15:38-40).
“Jesus Himself wore tassels, and it was these
tassels, or fringes, on His cloak that the woman with the hemorrhage touched
(Matt. 9:20). In later Judaism the
tassels were worn on the man’s inner garments, and today the remnant of the
tassels tradition is seen in the prayer shawls, called tallithim, worn by
Orthodox Jewish men.
“The purpose of both the phylacteries
and tassels was ostensibly to remind the people of God and His Word and to set
them apart as His people (cf. Zech 8:23).
Both of those outward symbols were intended to be inward reminders and
motivators. They were given a means of
calling attention to God but the scribes and Pharisees turned them into a means
of calling attention to themselves.
Because of their misuse, the broadened phylacteries and lengthened tassels
became marks of carnality rather than spirituality.”
I have to say that in conclusion to
this section that I have learned a lot about phylacteries and tassels. It is sad to see how the things that God had
made to remind people of who He is was used by the sinful Pharisees to have
people think about them instead.
10/5/2023
9:14 AM
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