Q&A Home > D > Holy Book of Deuteronomy

• I was curious about the verse in Deuteronomy 11:18 that says, "You shall put these words of Mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall tie them for a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as totafot between your eyes," and other verses like Exodus 13:9, Exodus 13:16, and Deuteronomy 6:8 that refer to the same practice. I know that Orthodox Jews understand this as to wear a box with Old Testament passages wrapped with leather straps on their head and on their arm during their prayers to remind them of God and to not be distracted by other worldly thoughts. Was this practice effective during Jesus’s time among the Jews? Was Jesus using these or was He against it? Were early Judeo-Christians using this method? I know that we should pray to God truly in spirit but the material strap could be a good method to remember God always as we are sometime weak spiritual humans. Is there any relation about this practice in our Coptic Church heritage?
• Moses was told by God to go up to a certain mountain where he was going to die. If it were just Moses and God on the mountain, who is writing this verbiage? Who was there to witness what was said between the two?