What is a Mezuzah? (And Should Christians Have One?)
Deuteronomy chapters 6 and 11 instruct Israel to affix the commandments to the doorposts of their homes. Some scholars connect this to a pagan practice designed to ward off demonic spirits. Most Christians would resist doing this. What is a Mezuzah? Is it wrong for Christians to use tools like this? I don’t believe that, and I’ll prove it to you in less than 10 minutes.
The tradition of attaching a cylinder or box with tiny scrolls of Hebrew Scriptures on them to Jewish doorposts goes back to well before the time of Jesus. Josephus wrote about the idea. The excavation of the Qumran community in the Dead Sea region of Israel has found these boxes, called “mezuzot,” on their dwelling places.
What Is A Mezuzah?
The Scriptures regarding this Jewish practice are the same ones we studied in our Mark of the Beast episode. In fact, the actual scroll placed in the mezuzah includes these verses:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV)
These commandments receive extra attention, along with blessings and curses, in Deuteronomy 11:
“And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the LORD is giving you.
You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:13-21 ESV)
Stop and really think about what Moses is telling ancient Israel. Their survival – rain; crops; livestock – is completely dependent on obeying the commandments of YHWH. This is a really big deal. No wonder Israel took these words so seriously.
Is The Mezuzah a Pagan Idea?
Something really interesting about mezuzot (mezuzah is singular; mezuzot is plural) is that pagan civilizations had a similar practice. Those worshipping false gods would attach amulets and symbols to their doorposts to ward off evil spirits. It’s not clear why YHWH introduced this practice into ancient Israel. Some scholars believe is was a way of taking something familiar to the Israelites and using it as a metaphor for the importance of the commandments. This is similar to the commonly taught – and easily disproven – belief that Christmas was a pagan ritual repurposed for Christianity. But that’s another episode altogether.
Whether the mezuzah comes from a pagan source or not, its purpose was clear: Israel believed they were supposed to have a physical reminder on their doorposts of the commandments.
The Mezuzah, Today
As it is with most Jewish traditions, the rules and regulations surrounding the mezuzah are very specific. The name “Shaddai” – which means “God Almighty” – is always inscribed on it. The scrolls inside included the verses we looked at earlier. These scrolls must be written by the right people in the right way. But the most interesting tradition of the mezuzah connects to prayer.
When a Jewish person enters or exits their home, they kiss their fingers and then place them on the mezuzah. Then, they quietly recite “May God keep my going out and my coming in from now on and ever more.” (Psalm 121:8)
Very few Christians use the mezuzah. But the idea is really common in Christian homes. We place verses on our walls and refrigerators. Lots of families have the 10 Commandments somewhere on their walls. These are really good ideas. But just like the mezuzah, they mean nothing if we don’t take time to think about them. We need to become more diligent about stopping and reading those verses and thinking about those commandments. Maybe we should even say a short prayer when we see them.
