Touching the Hem of His Garment, part 3

In ancient Israel, men wore four-cornered outer tunics with these tassels tied to the four corners. This outer garment became known as a “tallit,” and eventually this, “tallit,” evolved into the more formal prayer shawl that you see a lot of Jews wearing today, as they pray at the wailing wall, and in many pictures of worship within the Jewish synagogues.
 

But, why tassels? what are they put there for? These tassels were to remind each Jewish man of his responsibility to fulfill God’s commandments. In fact, these tassels are tied into 613 knots, to constantly remind them of the 613 laws of Moses, of which there are 365 prohibitions, the “thou shalt not” laws, and 248 affirmations, the “thou shall” laws. The knots also correspond with the Name of God, the unspoken YHWH, or in our language, Yahweh.
 

Because the tassels were hanging on the four corners of your garment, in full view of everyone, including yourself, they would be a constant reminder to walk according to God’s Laws.
 

The Hebrew word we translate as “Law” is “halacha,” and it literally means “walk.” You see, following God’s law, is a daily walk, and to stay on His path of righteousness, we all need constant reminding.
 

Wearing these tassels, to a Jew, is about like you and me, as Christians, walking around wearing a huge Bible hanging on a rope around our necks. How would we behave in public, how would we speak to others, where would we go if we had that Bible hanging there all the time? Would it matter? Would some things in our lives, and some of the attitudes we show to people, and some of the things we say to others, change at all? I dare say that for most Christians, the Bible would be more of an embarrassment, showing to the world that we sometimes get pretty hypocritical. To be sure, our imperfections would be glaring for all to see.
 

God intended these tassels to be a constant reminder of His Word when He told the Israelites to wear them. 

Today, because Jewish people wear western clothes, they keep this law by wearing a four-cornered garment as an undershirt. Even so, Orthodox Jews, and especially the Rabbi, bring the tassels out over their belt so that they can be seen by everyone. We also see the tassels on the corners of the various prayer shawls worn by the Jews as an outer garment or covering when they pray.
 

When they pray, Jewish men will put these prayer shawls over their heads to shut out the world and be in the presence of God. All the ones I have seen are white, to represent the purity of heaven, the dwelling place of the Lord. However, they also have the color blue on them, to represent the Holy Spirit; Gold is also on them, to represent the deity of God.

Therefore, praying under the “tallit,” or prayer shawl, represents covering yourself with the presence of God. All through the Bible, it can be seen that praying with this prayer shawl surrounding your head was like having your own personal prayer closet.
 

Some scholars say that this is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 6:6, when He told us to get into our closet, apart from the people around us, and pray in secret to the Lord.
 

Why did God tell the Jews to use blue thread throughout the making of the tassels and the prayer shawl? Blue had a very special meaning to the Jews in ancient times because it was hard to come by, very expensive, and it represented the fact that there is only One God, who dwells upon His throne in Heaven, and there is no other God, but Him.
 

In ancient times, the color blue (purple shades) could only be obtained from certain types of snails. Blue, used to create the purple color as well, was the most expensive color to produce. It was reserved mostly for royalty, and only a very few of the wealthy, who could afford it. Before synthetic dyes were discovered, the only source was a small gland in the murex snail. It took 12,000 snails to fill up a thimble of blue dye. In 200 BC, one pound of cloth, dyed blue, cost the equivalent of $36,000. By AD 300, the same pound of blue cloth, cost $96,000. This indicates that Lydia, the seller of purple and an early convert of Christianity, was one of the wealthiest women in the Empire (Acts 16:14).



Continued tomorrow