Bible Dictionary
Frontlets
Frontlets were signs worn on the forehead, based on commands to keep God’s words continually before the people. In later Jewish practice the term referred especially to phylacteries containing written passages of the Law.
Definition
Frontlets were signs or ornaments worn on the forehead. The biblical command to keep God’s words as frontlets was understood initially as a call to keep His commandments continually in view, but later came to be practiced literally through worn passages of the Law.
Biblical Usage
The term occurs in commands concerning the words, statutes, and precepts given to Israel. These commands emphasized continual remembrance and careful attention to God’s instruction.
Historical Background
After the return from Babylon, portions of the Law were written on parchment, rolled into cases, and worn on the arm or forehead. The forehead case contained four parchment strips placed in separate cells and was called a tephillah on the head.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Occurs only in Ex. 13:16; Deut. 6:8, and 11:18. The meaning of the injunction to the Israelites, with regard to the statues and precepts given them, that they should “bind them for a sign upon their hand, and have them as frontlets between their eyes,” was that they should keep them distinctly in view and carefully attend to them. But soon after their return from Babylon they began to interpret this injunction literally, and had accordingly portions of the law written out and worn about their person. These they called tephillin, i.e., “prayers.” The passages so written out on strips of parchment were these, Ex. 12:2-10; 13:11-21; Deut. 6:4-9; 11:18-21. They were then “rolled up in a case of black calfskin, which was attached to a stiffer piece of leather, having a thong one finger broad and one cubit and a half long. Those worn on the forehead were written on four strips of parchment, and put into four little cells within a square case, which had on it the Hebrew letter called shin, the three points of which were regarded as an emblem of God.” This case tied around the forehead in a particular way was called “the tephillah on the head.” (See PHYLACTERY.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>frunt'-lets (ToTaphoth, from Tuph, "to bind"): Ornaments worn on the forehead, particularly phylacteries (which see), which were worn in this manner and also on the arms (Ex 13:16; De 6:8; 11:18; compare also Ex 13:9).</p>