Deuteronomy 6:9

9 Have them lettered on the pillars of your houses and over the doors of your towns.

Deuteronomy 6:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 6:9

And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and on
thy gates.
] To put them in mind of them when they went out and came in, that they might be careful to observe them; this the Jews take literally also, and write in a scroll of parchment this section with some passages; and, as the Targum of Jonathan here, fix them in three places, over against the bed chamber, upon the posts of the house, and on the gate at the right hand of it; and this is what they call the Mezuzah; and the account given of it is this. In a parchment prepared for the purpose, they write the words in ( Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ) ( 11:13-20 ) and then roll up the parchment, and write on it "Shaddai"; and put it either into a cane (or reed), or else into a like hollow piece of wood, and so fasten it to the wall on the posts of the door at the right hand of entrance; and thus, as often as they go in and out, they make it a part of their devotion to touch this parchment, and kiss it ^F20.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. c. 31. p. 582 Leo Modena's History of the Rites and Customs of the Jews, par. 1. c. 2. p. 5, 6.

Deuteronomy 6:9 In-Context

7 Teaching them to your children with all care, talking of them when you are at rest in your house or walking by the way, when you go to sleep and when you get up.

8 Let them be fixed as a sign on your hand, and marked on your brow;

9 Have them lettered on the pillars of your houses and over the doors of your towns.

10 And when the Lord your God has taken you into the land which he gave his oath to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you; with great and fair towns which were not of your building;

11 And houses full of good things not stored up by you, and places for storing water which you did not make, and vine-gardens and olive-trees not of your planting; and you have taken food and are full;