Moses and Aaron. Goodwin Thomas Aiken
by the Elders of the neighbour-Cities, in case of murder, Deut. 21. 6. It was practised by Pilate, Matth. 37. 24. and alluded unto by David, I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, Psal. 26. 6.
2. When they came from the Market they washt, Mar. 7. 4. The reason thereof was, because they there having to do with divers sorts of people, unaware; they might be polluted. The word used by Saint Mark, is, βαπτίσωνται, they baptized themselves: implying the washing of their whole body. And it seemeth that those Pharisees who were more zealous than others, did thus wash themselves alwayes before dinner. The Pharisee marvelled that Christ had not first washed himself before dinner, Luke 11. 38. Unto this kind of superstition St. Peter is thought to have inclined, when he said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head, John 13. 9. Thus finding his modesty disliked, when he refused to have his feet wash’d by his Lord and Master; now he leapeth into the other extream, as if he had said, Not my feet only, but my whole body. Hence proceeded that Sect of the Hemerobaptistæ, i.e. Daily baptists, so called112 because they did every day thus wash themselves.
3. They wash’d their cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and tables, Mark 7. 4.
4. They held it unlawful to eat with sinners, Mat. 9. 11. yea, they judged it a kind of pollution to be touched by them, Luke 7. 39. If this man were a Prophet, he would surely have known who, and what manner of woman this is which toucheth him, for she is a sinner. Of such a people the Prophet speaketh: They said, stand a part, come not near to me, or (as the words may be rendred)113 Touch me not, for I am holier than thou, Esay. 65. 5. The like practice was in use among the Samaritanes,114 who if they met any stranger, they cryed out, μὴ πρόσψαυσον, Ne attingas, Touch not.
5. They fasted twice in the week, Luke 18. 12. Namely,115 Mundays and Thursdays. Because Moses (as they say)116 went up into the Mount Sinai on a Thursday, and came down on a Munday.
6. They made broad their Phylacteries, and inlarged the borders of their garments, Matth. 23. 5. Here three things are worthy our consideration. First, What these Phylacteries were. Secondly, What was written in them. Thirdly, Whence they were so called. Epiphanus117 interpreteth these Phylacteries to be πλατέα σήματα πορφύρας, purple studs, or flourishes, woven in their garments: as if Epiphanius had conceived the Pharisees garment to be like that which the Roman Senators were wont to wear, termed, by reason of those broad-studs and works woven in it, Laticlavium: but seeing that these Phylacteries were additaments and ornaments, whereof there were118 two sorts, the one tied to their Fore-heads, the other to their Left-hands; hence it followeth, that by these Phylacteries could not be meant whole garments, or any embosments, or flourishings woven in the cloth. Generally they are thought to be schedules or scroles of parchments, whereof, as I noted, there were two sorts; Phylacteries for the Fore-head, or Frontlets, reaching from one Ear to the other, and tied behind with a thong; and Phylacteries for the hand, fastned upon the Left-arm above the Elbow on the inside, that it might be near the heart. Both these sorts were worn, not by the Pharisees only,119 but by the Sadduces also, but with this difference; The Pharisees, haply for greater ostentation, wore their Hand-Phylacteries above their Elbows: the Sadduces on the palms of their Hands.120 Nay, all the Jews wore them, our Saviour Christ not excepted. The command was general, Exod. 13. 9. It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes. So that it is not the wearing of them which our Saviour condemned, but the making of them broad, whereby they would appear more holy than others.
In these Parchments they wrote121 only the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, in the opinion of Chrysostome and Hierome: but generally, and upon better grounds, it is thought they wrote these four sections of the Law.
1. The first began, Sanctifie unto me all the firstborn, &c. Exod. 13. 2. to the end of the 10. verse.
2. The second began, And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee, &c. Exod. 13. 11. to the end of the 16. verse.
3. The third began, Hear O Israel, Deut. 6. 4. and continued to the end of the ninth verse.
4. The fourth began, And it shall come to pass; if you shall hearken diligently, &c. Deut. 11. 13. to the end of the one and twentieth verse.
These four Sections written in scrols of Parchment, and folded up, they fastned to their fore-heads and their left-arms: those that were for the fore-head, they wrote in four distinct pieces of parchment122 especially, and if they wrote it in one piece; the length of every Section ended in one column, and they did put them into one skin, in which there was the proportion of four houses or receptacles, and not into four skins: every receptacle was distinct by it self; and those that were for the hand, were written in one piece of Parchment principally, the four Sections in four columns; but if they wrote them in four pieces, it was at length, and they put them in a skin that had but one receptacle.123 In time of persecution when they could not openly wear these Phylacteries, then did they tye about their hands a red thread, to put them in mind of the blood of the Covenant of the Law.
Touching the name Moses calleth them טוטפות Totaphot, which word hath almost as many Etymologies, as Interpreters; the most probable in my opinion, is, that they should be so called per Antiphrasin, from טטף Incedere, to go or move, because they were immoveable: Hence the Septuagint translate them, ἀσάλευτα Immoveable ornaments. The Rabbins call them Tephillim, Prayer ornaments:124 others call them Pittacia, & Pittaciola, from πιττάκιον, which signifieth a piece or parcel of Cloth. In the Gospel they are called φυλακτήρια, Phylacteries, from φυλάττω, to conserve or keep. First, because by the use of them, the Law was kept and preserved in memory. Secondly, because the Pharisees superstitiously conceited, that by them, as by Amulets, Spells, and Charms, hanged about their necks themselves might be preserved from dangers. The word φυλακτήριον signifieth a Spell; and Hierome testifieth, that the Pharisees had a such a conceit of these ornaments: In which place he compareth the Pharisees with certain superstitious women of his time, who carried up and down, upon the like ground, pervula evangelia, & crucis ligna, short sentences out of the Gospel, and the reliques of the Cross. The same superstition hath prevailed with many of latter times, who for the same purpose hang the beginning of125 Saint John’s Gospel about their necks. And in the year of our Lord 692. certain Sorcerers were condemned for the like kind of Magick, by the name of126 φυλακτήριοι, that is, Phylacterians.
Thus much of their Phylacteries: In the same verse is reproved the inlarging of their borders.127 That which we read borders in the Gospel, is called, Num. 15. 38. ציצות Tsitsith, Fringes: and גדילים Gedelim, Deut. 22. 10.