Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites, Used by the Ancient Hebrews. Goodwin Thomas Aiken

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СКАЧАТЬ target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_93a992c7-b7a8-5fdf-b456-8fc4af549587">[118] Moses Kot. præcept. affirm. 22.

[119] Maimon. in Tephillim. c. 4. sect. 3.

[120] Scal. Trihæres. p. 258.

In these Parchments they wrote[121] 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.

[121] Chrysost. & Hieronym. in Mat. 23.

      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 parchment[122] 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.

[122] Moses Kotsen. fol. 104. col. 3.

[123] Munster. de præcept. affirm.

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 of[125] 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 of[126] φυλακτήριοι, that is, Phylacterians.

[124] Hieronym. in Mat. 23.

[125] Scalig. Tribær. cap. 70.

[126] Concil. quini Sexti, Canon 61.

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. which word we likewise translate in that place, Fringes. They were in the fore-quoted places commanded, and our Saviour Christ himself did wear them, Luk. 8. 44. The latter Hebrew word signifieth a large Fringe, which agravateth the superstition of the Pharisees, in making their Fringes larger, when the Law had allowed them large. This literal exposition I take to be most agreeable with the Text, though to inlarge in Greek and Latine[128] sometimes, signifieth to boast, vaunt, or brag of a thing; and in this sense it may very well fit a Pharisee. The reason of this command was, to put them in mind of the Commandments, Numb. 15. And for the furtherance of this duty,[129] they used sharp thorns in in their Fringes, that by the often pricking of the Thorn, whether they walked or sate still, they might be the more mindful of the Commandments.

[127] Vide D. Kimchi. Radic.

[128] Τὸ μεγαλύνεσθαι, apud Euripidem in Bacchis, valet, Magnifice jactare, Efferre. Magnificare apud Varronem & Plinium eadem significatione usurpatur, Theodor. Beza in Mat. 23.

[129] Hieron. in Mat. 23.

There were[130] seven sorts of Pharises. 1. Pharisæus Sichemita. He turned Pharisee for gain, as the Sichemites suffered themselves to be circumcised.

[130] Talmud. tract. Suta. cap. 3.

      2. Pharisæus truncatus, so called, as if he had no feet, because he would scarce lift them from the ground when he walked, to cause the greater opinion of his meditation.

      3. Pharisæus inpingens. He would shut his eyes when he walked abroad, to avoid the sight of Women, in so much that he often dash’d his head against the walls, that the blood gush’d out.

      4. Pharisæus, Quid debeo facere, & faciam illud. He was wont to say, What ought I to do? and I will do it. Of this sort seemeth the man in the СКАЧАТЬ