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Bringing your old life with you as you try to walk in a new way of life is a recipe for disaster. This is why there was so much grumbling and complaining after the children of Israel left Egypt. The wilderness was like a post-prison half-way house between Egypt and the Promised Land. A half-way house can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you see it as an opportunity for growth and renewal or an opportunity to long to return to your prior life.
This study focuses on Numbers 15, the seventh aliyah (Scripture portion) of the Torah reading שלח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15). This section focuses on the commandment of wearing tzitzitot (fringes) on four-cornered garments. A lot of ink has flowed for over 3,000 years discussing the what and the how of tzitzitot — colors, numbers of threads, who can wear them, to what they’re attached. This study will focus on the lessons of them.
Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner.
This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.
So that you shall remember and perform all My commandments and you shall be holy to your God.
I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord, your God.
Numbers 15:37-41, Judaica Press
The tzitzitot were given to us by HaShem so that when looking at them — either our own or those on other people’s garments — we remember “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and refrain from following the temptations of the heart.
We see in the Bible stories of how people would grab on the tzitzitot of another person as a demonstration of trust or faith.
The Hebrew word that is translated as “tassels” or “fringes” is צִיצִתות tzitzitot (H6734) in Hebrew or κράσπεδον kráspedon (G2899) in Greek.
Ezekiel 8: Israel’s love affair with foreign gods should have been hair-brained
The respected medieval Jewish commentator Rashi had two ideas regarding the meaning of the tzitzit:
- Resemble a lock or strand of hair, based on Ezek. 8:3.
- Attract the gaze, based on a similarly spelled Hebrew word.
You see in Numbers 15 that Moses was prophesying that the children of Israel would go astray, and Ezekiel lived through a time of great apostasy and soon-coming exile of Israel to a foreign land. God revealed to Ezekiel in a vision (Ezekiel 8:1–18) how the priests and the people had their backs to the Temple and were facing east to pray to the rising sun.
In a monarchy, you always approached the throne facing the king and when you left the king’s presence, you would back away from him, never show him your backside. Yet here Ezekiel is shown that the priests who were appointed to serve God and to bring others closer to God, had their backs turned to God and their faces pointed towards the sun, towards their false god.
“He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.”
Ezekiel 8:3 NASB
Ezekiel 5: Hair today, exiled tomorrow
The prophet is pulled up by what hair was left on his head after the Barber’s Prophecy (Ezek. 5:1–4; hair burned, scattered or attached to the corners of his garment) to reveal the “idol of jealousy” (Tammuz) at the north gate to the Temple’s inner court.
“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair. One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes. Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.”
Ezekiel 5:1–4 NASB
What does the Torah tell us about hair as a symbol, a spiritual lesson? The vow of the Nazir focused significantly on hair. When the Nazir shaved his head at the end of the vow or if he accidentally experienced ritual contamination, he had to be shaved which was a renunciation of his masculinity. King David’s servants had half of their heads, beards and bodily hair shaved off as an insult. King David’s son, Absolom, also was renowned for his long hair. Ancient people took their hair and beards seriously.
Yes, look now, they’re blooming amazing!
Rashi had another idea about the meaning of tzitzit, which is something to attract the gaze, like a pleasant bloom or flower. It is meant to attract attention.
“My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering [מֵצִ֖יץ metzitz; hifil of צוּץ tzutz H6692b] through the lattice.”
Song 2:9 NASB
Thinking about this, let’s go back to Numbers 15.
“It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after [תּוּר toor] your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot…”
Numbers 15:39 NASB
Here the Hebrew word צִיץ tziytz (H6731) means “flower, a blossom. It refers to the flowers, petals, or blossoms put forth by an almond rod.”1Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament
“To look” isn’t a casual glance. The literal Hebrew is a command: “You shall look at it.” The tzizitot are designed to attract one’s attention. They are not just a decoration. God knows human nature and that we can’t help but glance at anything that looks out of the ordinary.
Later in the Torah, in Deuteronomy, the second generation are told many times to remember what the LORD had done for Israel in the deliverance from the House of Bondage (Deut 4:23; 6:12; 8:11, 14, 19).
We see in Ezekiel the dangers of bringing in customs of the world and mixing them with the customs of God to the point that one can no longer distinguish which is which.
I spy with my wayward eye
We are not to follow after our own hearts but after God’s heart, revealed to us through His words (Scriptures) and the Word made flesh (Yeshua). The Hebrew verb is תּוּר toor (H8446, H3491) means “to seek out, spy out, explore.”2Brown Driver Briggs lexicon This word is used extensively in Numbers 13 talking about the actions of the original 12 spies.
The LORD uses the word toor to refer to His spying out the Land (Ezek. 20:6) and for places for Israel to camp (Deut. 1:33).
We are warned by God not to explore, seek out, or follow our own heart, because our hearts often have no ide where to go and following random inclinations is spiritually dangerous.
When Ezekiel looks back to the Exodus and Moses looks back over the experience of the first generation, they recall that 10 of the 12 spies only saw what they wanted to see and what they wanted to see was the difficulties and the bad things. They only saw conflict and war. They didn’t see how they were capable of successfully taking the land.
Yehoshua (Joshua) and Caleb were the only ones who saw the good of the land. They recalled that they had God on their side and they trusted the One who brought about the 10th plague, who parted the Red Sea and had guided them and protected them to this point.
Don’t ‘follow your heart’; follow God
The tzitzitot are there to help you remember the commands but also a reminder not to follow your heart. (“Heart” in the Bible refers to the mind, the seat of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and emotions.) Paul tells us that we have to take our thoughts captive to the laws of Messiah Yeshua.
“Heart” in the Bible refers to the mind, the seat of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and emotions.
We use the Torah to instruct our hearts. Do we have control of our hearts, or do our hearts have control of us? The tzitzitot are to remind us that God must be in control.
We live in a time that criticizes everything. It isn’t that things don’t need improvement but if that critique is not informed by Torah, the critique does not result in improvement. Criticism without Torah tends to tear down, rather than build up.
Healing in His tzititot
Yeshua wore tzitzitot on the outside of his garments and were seen, but there’s a difference between noticed and acting in such a way to attract attention. Tzitzit are not status symbols. Having a connection to God is more important than being seen by others as being connected to God.
Yeshua didn’t forbid His disciples from wearing tzitzitot or tefillin (phylacteries). Rather, He warned them about wearing them in a way to be noticed and praised (Matt. 23:5) by men.
Kaspedon is used for “fringe” or “hem” in the account of Yeshua’s healing of the woman who had been bleeding 12 years (Matt. 9:20–22). Other places where Yeshua went, crowds sought healing by touching His tzitzit/kraspedon (Matt. 14:34–36).
Why did the woman with the issue of blood and the other crowds have such faith in touching Yeshua’s tzitzit? It’s because of the prophesies of Malachi and Zechariah.
“‘But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.’”
Malachi 4:2 NASB
Billboards of hope for the Day of the LORD
The prophet Zechariah shows us that tzitzitot in the “last days” would become billboards of hope for those who don’t know God or His Torah.
Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”
Zechariah 8:18–23 NASB
Are we guarding and guiding our hearts with God’s Torah and will others learn about God’s Torah by watching how to treat others? That should be our hope.
Summary: Tammy