The closing verses of Numbers chapter 15 can easily slip by unnoticed. They are about God telling the Israelites to tie tassels on the ends of their garments. He tells them to tie seven strands of white and then one strand of blue. It is really a fairly meaningless group of verses to Christians.
Yet the people of Israel throughout the centuries have seen great importance in these few verses. The tassels, known as tzitziot (fringes) became, through traditions of various rabbis, very detailed in the way in which the tassels were tied and how they were to be worn. The pattern and its numbers seem like something straight out of the TV show “Lost.” 7, 8, 11, 13…those are the numbers that are required. The Tzitziot were to be tied to a garment which is known as the tallit, which must have four corners and is to be “big enough to cover the infant who is old enough to walk.”
The important thing here is the tassels, not the garment that holds them; yet, the tallit became a huge part of the faithful Jew’s life and remains so to this day. The tallit, which can be any color but is traditionally blue and white, is the inspiration for the modern-day Israeli flag. It is said that two Zionists laid down their tallits and made a flag.
When Jesus gives instructions on prayer he says, “Go to your closet and pray…” This word that is translated as “closet” is the same word that is used to refer to the process of kneeling and pulling the tallit over one’s body to create a personal “tent”. We see this all the time on the news and in the media when we see Muslims and orthodox Jews at their times of prayer. The same process in scripture is referred to as being “under the wings of the Lord.”
This week we will look at this tradition briefly and talk about the significance we see in scripture of the “hems of garments.”
Mark
Yet the people of Israel throughout the centuries have seen great importance in these few verses. The tassels, known as tzitziot (fringes) became, through traditions of various rabbis, very detailed in the way in which the tassels were tied and how they were to be worn. The pattern and its numbers seem like something straight out of the TV show “Lost.” 7, 8, 11, 13…those are the numbers that are required. The Tzitziot were to be tied to a garment which is known as the tallit, which must have four corners and is to be “big enough to cover the infant who is old enough to walk.”
The important thing here is the tassels, not the garment that holds them; yet, the tallit became a huge part of the faithful Jew’s life and remains so to this day. The tallit, which can be any color but is traditionally blue and white, is the inspiration for the modern-day Israeli flag. It is said that two Zionists laid down their tallits and made a flag.
When Jesus gives instructions on prayer he says, “Go to your closet and pray…” This word that is translated as “closet” is the same word that is used to refer to the process of kneeling and pulling the tallit over one’s body to create a personal “tent”. We see this all the time on the news and in the media when we see Muslims and orthodox Jews at their times of prayer. The same process in scripture is referred to as being “under the wings of the Lord.”
This week we will look at this tradition briefly and talk about the significance we see in scripture of the “hems of garments.”
Mark
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