NELC 150 |
Introduction to the Bible |
Slide 19 |
Asiatic noble wearing headband and ornate garment. The headband was
the "frontlet" of Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18 (see
Tanakh footnotes at those verses and Tigay, Journal of Biblical
Literature 101 [1982]:321-331). It was the typical headdress of
Asiatics. See also slides 1, 16, and 20. Not necessarily a religious
symbol in itself, the headband is used in Judaism to fulfill the religious
precept of binding God's teachings to one's arm and forehead (Exodus 13:9
and 16; Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18): the teachings are written on small
pieces of parchment and inserted in tefillin ("phylacteries"), and
attached to the forehead by means of a leather headband and to the arm by
a leather strap.