< Previous | Contents | Next >
•PHUT Phut is placed between Egypt and Canaan in Genesis 10:6, and elsewhere we find the people of Phut described as mercenaries in the armies of Egypt and Tyre (Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 30:5; 27:10). In a fragment of the annuals of Nebuchadrezzar which records his invasion of Egypt, reference is made to “Phut of the Ionians.”
•PHYGELLUS fugitive, a Christian of Asia, who “turned away” from Paul during his second imprisonment at Rome (2 Timothy 1:15). Nothing more is known of him.
•PHYLACTERIES (Gr. phulakteria; i.e., “defences” or “protections”), called by modern Jews tephillin (i.e., “prayers”) are mentioned only in Matthew 23:5. They consisted of strips of parchment on which were inscribed these four texts: (1.) Exodus 13:1-10; (2.) 11-16; (3.) Deuteronomy 6:4-9; (4.) 11:18-21, and which were enclosed in a square leather case, on one side of which was inscribed the Hebrew letter shin, to which the rabbis attached some significance. This case was fastened by certain straps to the forehead just between the eyes. The “making broad the phylacteries” refers to the enlarging of the case so as to make it conspicuous. (See FRONTLETS.)
Another form of the phylactery consisted of two rolls of parchment, on which the same texts were written, enclosed in a case of black calfskin. This was worn on the left arm near the elbow, to which it was bound by a thong. It was called the “Tephillah on the arm.”
•PHYSICIAN Asa, afflicted with some bodily malady, “sought not to the Lord but to the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12). The “physicians” were those who “practised heathen arts of magic, disavowing recognized methods of cure, and dissociating the healing art from dependence on the