Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 13:9

9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand , and for a memorial between thine eyes , that the LORDS Law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

The celebration of this feast shall be to thee instead of a mark which a man makes, or a ring or any thing else which he puts, upon his hand or arm, to bring any thing to his remembrance. For such things his eye is most frequently fixed upon. Compare Cant. 8. 6. Isa. 49. 16. Ier. 22. 24. Hag. 2. 23.

In stead of any monument or memorial, which is placed between, and therefore directly before, a mans eyes, which he can scarcely overlook, and therefore must needs bring to remembrance the thing which he would not forget. Such proverbial phrases are usual in Scripture, as Deut. 6. 8. Prov. 3. 3. and 6. 21. and 7. 3. and are not to be understood literally as the superstitious Iews understood them, who hence derive their custom of wearing scrowls of parchment upon their foreheads and arms and garments, which they call Phylacteries, wherein they wrote certain portions of Scripture. But they might aswell have added parcels of Gods law to be kept in their mouths, because it follows, that the Lords law may be in thy mouth: from whence we may better infer, that neither mouth nor hand nor eyes are to be properly understood, for then it had been an improper method to fasten a parchment between their eyes that it might be in their mouths, but figuratively, as they are commonly understood in Scripture.

Marginal references: See Verse 16. Numb. 15. 38. Deut. 11. 18. Prov. 1. 9. Mat. 23. 5.