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37 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,
Numbers 15:37-39
These tassels are called tzitziot in the plural. The blue thread is t’chelet. Now, let’s dig in!
Verse 39 says, “…that you may look upon it…”. “It” in this verse refers to the blue thread inside of the tassels of the corners. The word translated “it” is oto in the Hebrew which is better translated as “Him”. That you may look upon it is better translated as “That you may look upon Him”.
Rabbi Meir said it like this, “The verse does not say, ‘You shall see them (the fringes) but ‘you shall see Him’ (oto). The verse means to teach us that whoever keeps the law of the fringe, it is as though he had seen the Divine Presence for the blue resembles the sea, and the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the throne of the divine glory…”.
As an aside, the blue chord is now often missing from the tassels because there is controversy over the exact color of blue for the chords. The original blue dye allegedly comes from a mollusk that surfaced ever 70 years. The tradition became more important than God’s law.
The blue chord represents God. God sits on the throne with sapphire (blue) pavement according to Ezekiel 1:26.
And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.
Ezekiel 1:26
Now, let’s look at the prayer shawl (tallit) of Jesus in scripture.
and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
Matthew 14:36
The word translated “hem” in this verse is kraspedon (Strong’s Concordance #2899) which means fringe or tassel. In fact, the word often translated as “edge” or “hem” in the New Testament is clearly referring to the tzitziot. We read of the most famous mention of the tassel or tzitziot of Jesus’s tallit.
25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
Mark 5:25-29
The word for “clothes” here is himateeon (Strong’s Concordance #2440) which means a robe or outer cloak which would be the prayer shawl (tallit) which contains the tzitziot or tassel.
The prayer shawl (tallit) is not a magic talisman. The tzitziot or tassels are not magic wands. The blue chord has no power to change anything. However, when people touched it, things changed.
I’m not trying to convince you to wear a prayer shawl. The prayer shawl is not what this post is about. This is about the God represented or symbolized by the blue chord.
I am here to tell you that the woman with the issue of blood was not healed because she touched the hem or tassel on a garment. She was healed because she touched the HIM – the one true HIM – the only HIM we will ever need – the HIM who is represented by the blue chord Who is seated on a throne with sapphire under His feet. She touched HIM, and He touched her back.
She had scripture to stand on, too.
But to you who fear My name
Malachi 4:2
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
This scripture in Malachi was known to be a Messianic prophecy. The Messiah would come with healing in His wings. The sides of the prayer shawl (tallit) were called wings and the tassels (tzitziot) were called feathers.
So the woman with an issue of blood was standing in faith on a scripture and acting on that faith. Her faith was not only in God, but that this man who wore the tallit was the Messiah who God had promised through the prophets and who was described by Malachi.
Why does this matter?
Our prayers are not wishing wells. During prayer, we are supposed to be the embodiment of the tzitziot or tassel. We are supposed to be a willing vessel for the power of God to flow through us. Just like the woman with the issue of blood, we will only be touched if we expect an encounter with God Himself. If we will come to Him anticipating nothing less than God Himself entering in, walking into our situations, our circumstances, our messes… then God will show up, show out, and He Himself will change everything.