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.