“... A practice related to the wearing of phylacteries is the affixing of mezuzot to the door posts and gates of a house (Deut 6:9 and 11:20). The word, mezuzah (plural: mezzuzot), means ‘door post’ and in the biblical text Israelites are enjoined to inscribe the divine instructions on it. As the tradition developed, the mezuzah itself (but not the ‘gate’) came to refer to the parchment of biblical excerpts to be attached to door posts. In rabbinic tradition these mezuzot are excerpted texts that include the first paragraph of the shema in its parallel passages of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21. In the Second Temple Period, the practice was attested by Pseudo-Aristeas (Aristeas to Philocrates 158) and Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 4.213). The discoveries in the Judaean Desert have brought to light nine mezuzot: 7 from Cave 4 (4Q149-155), 1 from Cave 8 (8Q4); and 1 from Wadi Murabba’at (Mur 5). As with the phylacteries, these mezuzot contain additional passages from the Decalogue (Exod 20) and Deuteronomy 6:6-18 and its text is likely to have been cited from memory. ...”

“... Later, the wearing of phylacteries and the posting of the commands on one’s property (Deut 6:8-9) would serve as devices for keeping the commandments in mind. [...] Rabbinic discussions of the laws governing the wearing phylacteries (e.g. Sanh. 88b; Men. 34b; Zeb. 37b; Sanh. 4b) and posting mezuzot on doorposts and gates (e.g. Men. 43b; Pes. 113b) are preceded by the evidence of Aristeas (158-59), Josephus (A.J. 4:213), and Matthew 23:5; ...”