Verses 9-10
9, 10. Moses here repeats to Israel the ordinance concerning the feast of unleavened bread . See notes on Exodus 12:8; Exodus 12:15-20.
A sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes In verse sixteen it is said for frontlets between thine eyes That is, This command shall ever be before thee, in thy sight, and in the sight of all men, like the bracelet clasped upon the hand, or the fillet bound about the forehead. The law of Jehovah is to be the perpetual ornament and adornment of Israel. Thus is it to be kept in thy mouth, the constant theme of thought and word. In later and degenerate days, when the law had died out of the heart of Israel, a literal and carnal interpretation was given to this command, and portions of this chapter and of Deuteronomy vi were written out on strips of parchment which were bound by leathern thongs upon the forehead and arm. These were the phylacteries; see illustration in note on Matthew 23:5. Thus, as has often been the case, punctilious obedience to the letter of the law totally annulled its spirit .
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