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An Excerpt from Vaetchanan Creation Gospel Workbok 5 Vol. 5

Observable Testimony...Properly Aimed

A sign is an observable testimony to a truth.  The written Word is a sign because it represents an observable testimony to and partnership with the inspired spoken Word.  In the same vein, Yeshua's appearance as the Living Word was a physical sign of total agreement and partnership, a conspiracy with the spoken Word of the Creator.  The tefillin on the hands and forehead were to be an ot, an observable sign, a physical, visible confirmation of Adonai's spoken Word.

It is desirable to have both a physical (sign) and spiritual binding.  It is the soul (nefesh) that binds the spiritual and physical together in the same vessel.  The observance of the physical confirms and demonstrates open agreement and conspiracy with the spiritual Word. It demonstrates that the nefesh is expressing the truth of the ruach (spirit), and therefore the body's strength is being yielded to the Spirit in love.

The word mitzvah comes from a root meaning 'to bind.'  Every commandment or Mitzvah serves to draw us close to G-d and strengthen his bond of love.  With every Mitzvah we forge a spiritual bond with G-d.  In the case of Tefillin, this bond is physical as well as spiritual.  We literally bind G-d's love symbol to our bodies. (Kaplan, 2005, 11)

Some of the Pharisees ran into trouble when they used the physical commandment of tefillin (phylacteries) as a form of idolatry; by making broad the physical, they thought to broaden their own measure of respect from others, but it diminished the spirit of the commandment.  Performing a mitzvah should demonstrate agreement with the Word of Adonai, which is the authentic righteousness. 

If a commandment is worn to divert the natural beauty of righteousness to one's self, then the intent of the Torah is destroyed.  The good feeling of being the center of other's admiration for obedience to a mitzvah is a payoff to which we are not entitled unless that good feeling is one of appreciation for His Light that He permits us to wear.  It is a warm feeling of enjoying unity with His will and the humility of realizing He allows a mere human to wear His clothes!

There are two major forms of idolatry: sexual immorality and greed (coveting and lusting after what belongs to another).  Some Pharisees coveted the respect in titles of reverence, taking the best seats, and being noticed.  Drawing attention to one's self-righteousness through a commandment is to draw the attention away from its true object, the righteousness of Elohim in Messiah.  The word et in Hebrew marks or points to the sentence's direct object.  It is spelled alef-tav, which in Hebrew letter pictures, would be a sign (ot) without the man, or vav, in the middle of the word.  For a more complete discussion of the tefillin seal as a sign, refer to CG Workbook Four, Section "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered."

All signs should point to Adonai through Yeshua, the alef and the tav (alpha and omega).  By displaying ot as a physical sign, man, the vav, proclaims conspiracy and agreement with this goal of the Torah.  A sign should never bring attention to the man, the vav, but to the alef and the tav, Yeshua, the direct object of the whole Torah.  The vav-man is hidden between the alef and the tav, yet he connects the unfolding plan from the beginning, the alef, to the end, the tav. 

He does this by passing along the testimony of Yeshua, the commandments of Heaven on Earth to the next generation.  CG Workbook Six will give a more thorough treatment of the two shins engraved on the houses of the shel rosh (head) and shel yad (arm) tefillin, while CG Workbook Four gives a more complete discussion of the beast, 666, and the mark versus the seal in the "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" section.

Briefly, the shel yad[1] is engraved with a normal three-pronged Hebrew letter shin.  The shin is comprised of three strokes of the letter vav joined at its base with a flame of "fire" as their crowns; in Hebrew shorthand, "six-six-six."  Six is the number of both man and beast, for both were created on that day.  The arm tefillin represents works done outwardly, the obedience in the flesh. 

The shel rosh, however, has an anomaly.  The shin is formed of four vavim, not three, so its appearance is six-six-six-six.  The head represents the Ruach in Scripture.  The sum of the flames of both the shel yad and shel rosh is seven, representing the Seven Spirits of Adonai.  The hint in the seals on the beitim (the boxes are called "houses" in Hebrew) is that a complete man has both the Ruach of the mitzvoth as well as the evidence of observable works of obedience. 

Because the houses can only be opened and inspected by a kosher scribe (sofer), the greater message is that when the Ruach HaKodesh sends forth messengers and plagues in Revelation, that this "kosher scribe" will inspect each person's house(s) to see if the wearer is submitted to the nefesh of the beast (6-6-6 only) or the Ruach (6-6-6-6).[2]  The root of sofer is the same as sefer (book).  The Author of our faith, the one with the authority of the Name of the One who wrote the Book, the Living Sofer of the Sefer, will inspect our tefillin.

Incidentally, the other mitzvah concerning the writing of the Words in the Shema is to write them on the doorposts of "houses."  In a play-on words with the beitim (houses) of the tefillin and the houses where the Lamb's blood seals against the plague on the first-born, the Jewish tradition in observing these commandments is to place the same seal on the house: the letter shin. 

Examine almost any mezuzah, and it will contain a letter shin, even if highly stylized for beauty, just like the shin on the shel yad  "house."  As with the Passover sacrifice, there is an outward sign, but only by entering the house can one know if the Lamb has been sacrificed within.  In Revelation, each house will be examined.  Are the outward signs there?  If so, have the mitzvot been observed to draw admiration and attention to the doer or to the Torah-Giver?  The inside as well as the outside shin will be revealed.


[1] The shel yad is wrapped from bicep to fingers, encompassing all the points of contact commanded in various Scriptures:  arm, hand, fingers, and heart.  The beit is positioned in such a way that it points to the heart.  The shel rosh is positioned over the fontanel, or place in the skull that is not completely closed when a baby is born.  This symbolizes being open to receiving the mitzvoth like a child.

[2] Review CG Workbook Two for the chiastic relationship between the numbers four and seven as representative of the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.



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