A Sign on Your Hand...A Memorial Between Your Eyes - Cynthia Saladin 4.21.2016   

The last time we took the children to the Magic House, we were given a sticker to place somewhere, visibly, when we paid our admission. The sticker was a sign that we’d paid the admission price. Walking around the Magic House, it was fun to see where those stickers were placed on each person. Some wore them matter-of-factly on their left shoulder. Some were placed in very odd places that we won’t mention. But everyone had a sticker.

Then when we went through the Lewis and Clark exhibition in the basement, the attendants stamped our hands with “Seaman’s pawprint.” Having been once through this popular exhibit, we weren’t supposed to come back. The stamp was a visible sign that we’d already been through this exhibit once.

I couldn’t help thinking of our trip to the Magic House when I picked out the children’s memory verse for this coming Sabbath: “And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:9, ESV). The Passover was to be as a sign on their hands and as a memorial between their eyes! What? Where else are hands and foreheads mentioned?

How about Deuteronomy 6:8: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” talking about God’s law.

How about Ezekiel 9:4: ‘And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” ’

Even Revelation 14:1 has a reference to something on the forehead: the Father’s name - a very good thing for the 144,00.

Some have postulated that God intended for a physical thing to be placed on the forehead and the hand. The Jews called them phylacteries, and Jesus wasn’t particularly impressed with their effectiveness in writing His law on their hearts (Matthew 23:5). Likely Solomon had something quite different in mind than the legalism of the Pharisees when he wrote: “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3, ESV)

If the Passover and God’s law wasn’t to be physically written as a sign on the hand and the forehead, what did God mean? I suspect He meant that the observance of God’s Passover (Exodus 13:9) and the observance of God’s law (Deuteronomy 6:8) were to act as schoolmasters to bring them into a closer relationship with God. After all, God is the One who redeemed them. Recognizing that redemption through observing the anniversary could be a powerful way to deepen the relationship. That would be what the “hand” stood for - the things that God’s people did.

The “forehead” reference could very well refer to what the people spent their time thinking about. Look at Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (ESV).

I have been redeemed from sin. I need to guard myself from sinning against God. I believe that observing God’s Passover and His law and thinking about God’s Passover and His law are valuable tools for me, today, in deepening my relationship with Him.

There’s another interesting reference to the hand and the forehead - one that gets a lot of attention as the time for Christ’s return approaches. It’s Revelation 13:15-17: “And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

I believe that the mark of the beast is whatever you do (your hand) and whatever you dwell on (your forehead) that is against God. You aren’t going to get the mark of the beast unless you worship the beast. You aren’t going to worship the beast if you worship God. If you worship God, then His name is written on your forehead (Revelation 14:1), not the mark of the beast. So how do you keep from worshipping the beast and getting that mark - because it does say that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived? What can you do? I believe Psalm 119:11 gives us the answer. It’s the same answer we had in Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8. It’s just in the simple terms of a shepherd: “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” 

What’s on your hand? What’s between your eyes?