{"id":4199,"date":"2022-09-24T00:33:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T05:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-numbers-1537\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T00:33:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T05:33:19","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-numbers-1537","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-numbers-1537\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 15:37"},"content":{"rendered":"

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

37 41<\/strong>. Tassels to be worn as a reminder of Jehovah’s commandments<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

And the Lord spoke unto Moses<\/strong>,…. After the giving of the above laws, and the order for stoning the sabbath breaker; and the rather what follows is connected with them, because it was to put them in mind of these and all other commands; and of so much importance is the precept directed to, that the Jews say, and Jarchi particularly, that it is equivalent to all the commands, and which he makes to be the reason of its being placed here:<\/p>\n

saying<\/strong>; as follows.<\/p>\n

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

(cf. Deu 22:12<\/span>). The command to wear Tassels on the Edge of the Upper Garment appears to have been occasioned by the incident just described. The Israelites were to wear , tassels, on the wings of their upper garments, or, according to Deu 22:12<\/span>, at the four corners of the upper garment. , the covering in which a man wraps himself, synonymous with , was the upper garment, consisting of a four-cornered cloth or piece of stuff, which was thrown over the body-coat (see my Bibl. Archol<\/em>. ii. pp. 36, 37), and is not to be referred, as Schultz supposes, to the bed-coverings also, although this garment was actually used as a counterpane by the poor (see Exo 22:25-26<\/span>). “ And upon the tassel of the wing they shall put a string of hyacinth-blue,<\/em> ” namely, to fasten the tassel to the edge of the garment. ( fem<\/em>., from , the glittering, the bloom or flower) signifies something flowery or bloom-like, and is used in Eze 8:3<\/span> for a lock of hair; here it is applied to a tassel, as being made of twisted threads: lxx ; Mat 23:5<\/span>, “borders.” The size of these tassels is not prescribed. The Pharisees liked to make them large, to exhibit openly their punctilious fulfilment of the law. For the Rabbinical directions how to make them, see Carpzov. apparat<\/em>. pp. 197ff.; and Bodenschatz, kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden,<\/em> iv. pp. 11ff.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The Law Concerning Fringes.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD>

B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 1490.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE>

      37 And the LORD<\/B> spake unto Moses, saying,   38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:   39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD<\/B>, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:   40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.   41 I am<\/I> the LORD<\/B> your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am<\/I> the LORD<\/B> your God.<\/P>

      Provision had been just now made by the law for the pardon of sins of ignorance and infirmity; now here is an expedient provided for the preventing of such sins. They are ordered to make fringes upon the borders of their garments, which were to be memorandums to them of their duty, that they might not sin through forgetfulness. 1. The sign appointed is a fringe of silk, or thread, or worsted, or the garment itself ravelled at the bottom, and a blue riband bound on the top of it to keep it tight, v.<\/I><\/span> 38<\/span>. The Jews being a peculiar people, they were thus distinguished from their neighbours in their dress, as well as in their diet, and taught by such little instances of singularity not to be conformed to the way of the heathen in greater things. Thus likewise they proclaimed themselves Jews wherever they were, as those that were not ashamed of God and his law. Our Saviour, being made under the law, wore these fringes; hence we read of the hem or border, of his garment, Matt. ix. 20<\/span>. These borders the Pharisees enlarged, that they might be thought more holy and devout than other people. The phylacteries were different things; these were their own invention, the fringes were a divine institution. The Jews at this day wear them, saying, when they put them on, Blessed be he who has sanctified us unto himself, and commanded us to wear fringes.<\/I> 2. The intention of it was to remind them that they were a peculiar people. They were not appointed for the trimming and adorning of their clothes, but to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance<\/I> (2 Pet. iii. 1<\/span>), that they might look upon the fringe and remember the commandments.<\/I> Many look upon their ornaments to feed their pride, but they must look upon these ornaments to awaken their consciences to a sense of their duty, that their religion might constantly beset them, and that they might carry it about with them, as they did their clothes, wherever they went. If they were tempted to sin, the fringe would be a monitor to them not to break God’s commandments: If a duty was forgotten to be done in its season, the fringe would remind them of it. This institution, though it is not an imposition upon us, is an instruction to us, always to remember the commandments of the Lord our God,<\/I> that we may do them,<\/I> to treasure them up in our memories, and to apply them to particular cases as there is occasion to use them. It was intended particularly to be a preservative from idolatry: that you seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes,<\/I> in your religious worship. Yet it may extend also to the whole conversation, for nothing is more contrary to God’s honour, and our own true interest, than to walk in the way of our heart<\/I> and in the sight of our eyes;<\/I> for the imagination of the heart is evil,<\/I> and so is the lust of the eyes.<\/I><\/P>

      After the repetition of some ceremonial appointments, the chapter closes with that great and fundamental law of religion, Be holy unto your God,<\/I> purged from sin, and sincerely devoted to his service; and that great reason for all the commandments is again and again inculcated, I am the Lord your God.<\/I> Did we more firmly believe, and more frequently and seriously consider, that God is the Lord, and our God and Redeemer, we should see ourselves bound in duty, interest, and gratitude, to keep all his commandments.<\/P><\/p>\n

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Verses 37-41:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The text is a provision regulating the design of the outer garments which the Israeli men wore.<\/p>\n

“Fringes,” tsitsith, <\/strong>“lock (of hair),” as in Eze 8:3. It appears in this text to denote tassels.<\/p>\n

“Borders,” kanaph, <\/strong>“wings,” also translated “corner,” Isa 11:12; Eze 7:2.<\/p>\n

“Garments,” beged, <\/strong>the outer garment or cloak.<\/p>\n

“Ribband,” pathil, <\/strong>“a thread.”<\/p>\n

“Blue,” tekeleth, <\/strong>“violet.<\/p>\n

A translation: <\/strong>“That they put a string or thread of violet-blue upon the tassel of the wing or corner.” This appears to denote a prominent blue thread or ribbon in the tassel upon the four corners of the cloak worn as an outer garment.<\/p>\n

The purpose: <\/strong>a constant, visible reminder of the Law and its commandments, and that the one wearing this distinctive mark was set apart as belonging exclusively to Jehovah God. When their eyes strayed toward the immoral practices of the heathen, they were to see first the ribbon of blue which would remind them of their relationship to God, and would prompt them to be faithful to Him.<\/p>\n

This pictures the care that God’s child should take today to live a life pure and holy before Him, 1Co 9:26, 27; Ro 12:1, 2; 1Jo 2:15-17.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

C. LAW OF THE TASSELS vv. 3741
TEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num. 15:37<\/span>. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 38. Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue; 39. And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40. That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.<\/p>\n

PARAPHRASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num. 15:37<\/span>. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 38. speak to the children of Israel and tell them that they shall make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put on the tassel of each corner a blue cord. 39. And it shall be a tassel for you to see and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them. Do not seek after your own heart or your own eyes, after which you wander, 40. in order that you may remember to do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tzitzit, the Hebrew term used in Num. 15:38<\/span>, probably means tassels. Ezekiel used the word (Num. 8:3<\/span>) where its apparent meaning is lock of hair. They were placed at the corners of the garments, attached by a blue cord. Two purposes have been ascribed to the tassels: they are to remind the people of their living relationship to the Lord and His Laws; and, they serve as a readily recognizable means of identification for His people. Wherever they went, and among whatsoever people they might mingle, they were uniquely marked unless, in repudiation of this commandment, they should be ashamed or unwilling to comply with Gods requirement.<\/p>\n

Historically, the Israelites complied with the commandment by wearing the tallith, a special garment worn by all males beyond the age of thirteen. It was a long, narrow cloth with a tassel at each corner and a hole in the center. The head was passed through the hole, and the cloth fell to the chest and the mid-back. Among the many other aberrations and showy practices of the Pharisees, making these tassels extremely large was a practice which Jesus condemned (Mat. 23:5<\/span>). Their actions had become exhibitions of pridefar from the purpose for which the Lord had prescribed the tassels in the first place. Numerology has figured in the rabbinical attitude toward the tzitzit, whose gematria is six hundred. Adding eight threads and five knots (arbitrarily assigned as components of the garment), one arrives at the total of 613, the total number of commandments accepted as obligatory upon the Jews. Of further interest is the fact that the blue dye used for the tassels was derived from the blood of the hilazon, a shellfish, and was very expensive. It was later determined, perhaps because of the prohibitive cost, that the knotted cord might be white.<\/p>\n

Non-Jewish scholars have usually cited the psychological importance of the tzitzit as constant reminders of the individuals relationship to God. Following their own heart and their own eyes would mean spiritual defection according to their personal whims rather than the righteous laws God had delivered to them. Such a defection is termed a whoring here in KJa strong, symbolical term frequently applied to such conduct in both testaments.<\/p>\n

QUESTIONS AND RESEARCH ITEMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

288.<\/p>\n

Describe the tzitzit, its appearance and function.<\/p>\n

289.<\/p>\n

What use, and what abuse, was made of the tassels?<\/p>\n

290.<\/p>\n

Discuss the numerological significance attached to the tassels.<\/p>\n

291.<\/p>\n

For what reason were the Israelites later permitted to make the tassels white rather than blue?<\/p>\n

292.<\/p>\n

Do you find any memorials or instructions in the New Testament which resemble the one given here?<\/p>\n

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

MNEMONIC FRINGES, Num 15:37-41<\/span>.<\/p>\n

In condescension to the infirmity of the memory God appoints a token or memorial of all his statutes to be worn upon the person as a constant reminder.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

iv) Tassels on The Fringes of Their Clothing ( Num 15:37-41<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The requirement was now made that the children of Israel wear special tassels on their clothing. This was stated to be that they might look on them ‘and remember all the commandments of Yahweh and do them’. In other words they were to be an indication that the wearer was one of the covenant people. <\/p>\n

This would act as a witness to outsiders, and to each other, that the wearer was one of Yahweh’s people, and would enable every Israelite to recognise a brother when abroad or on the battlefield. In the heat of battle it was important that friend be discernible from foe. It would say, ‘here is one of Yahweh’s holy ones’. <\/p>\n

Num 15:37<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’ <\/p>\n

A further confirmation that we have here Yahweh’s words given to Moses. <\/p>\n

Num 15:38<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/strong> Speak to the children of Israel, and bid them that they make for themselves tassels on the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the tassel of each border a cord of blue,” <\/p>\n

The children of Israel were to place tassels on their outer garment (compare Deu 22:12<\/span>), and these tassels were to contain within them a cord of blue. The cord of blue would be a reminder of the Ark of the covenant of Yahweh which went before them covered with a blue cloth (Num 4:6<\/span>), visible for all to see. Such a cloth was also to cover all the furniture of the Holy Place when in transit, although in their cases not visible (Num 4:7<\/span>; Num 4:9<\/span>; Num 4:11<\/span>). Thus blue was an indication of what was sacred to Yahweh, what was heavenly, and they would see it as connecting them with the Ark (when the Ark was with them) as they went in to battle. It would also in their daily lives remind them of the Ark and the covenant that it contained. <\/p>\n

The blue dye necessary for this was both rare and costly. It came from the molluscs purpura and murex found on the coast of Phoenicia, and was testified to at Ugarit. <\/p>\n

Tassels were a regular feature on ancient garments. The rock engravings at Timna dating to the 13th century BC depict tribesmen wearing tassels, and tasselled garments are witnessed to both in Egypt and Mesopotamia. It was the cord of blue that was to distinguish the Israelite. <\/p>\n

Num 15:39<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/strong> And it shall be to you for a tassel, that you may look on it, and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them, and that you follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the harlot,” <\/p>\n

And the tassel would be there as a constant reminder of the covenant. They would look on it and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, and do them. Thus would they not walk after their own hearts and eyes which led them into sin and caused them to be unfaithful to God. To ‘play the harlot’ was to participate in idolatry and what was associated with it. <\/p>\n

Num 15:40<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/strong> That you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.” <\/p>\n

Note the repetition ‘remember and do all My commandments’ in order to seal and emphasise the commitment. They were to follow Yahweh and not their own hearts. Thus would they be holy to their God, distinguished by the purity and obedience of their lives. <\/p>\n

Num 15:41<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/strong> I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am Yahweh your God.” <\/p>\n

For, as their fathers had not done, they were to remember Who Yahweh is. He is Yahweh their God, Who delivered them from Egypt that He might be their God. He is Yahweh their God. Again we have the repetition for emphasis, paralleling the repetition of ‘remember and do all my commandments’. That indeed is why they were to remember and do, because He was Yahweh their God and Deliverer. And they were to remember that to them He had to be all in all. He would allow no other. <\/p>\n

The need for Israel to be dedicated to God and made pure before Him having been dealt with (see also Numbers 5-7 and Numbers 28-30), the question might now arise as to who could minister on their behalf. The new situation may well have placed doubts in people’s minds. <\/p>\n

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/strong> The Fringes Of The Garments<\/p>\n

v. 37. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,<\/strong> <\/p>\n

v. 38. Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments,<\/strong> blossomlike ornaments of twisted cords or tassels, in the four corners of the upper garment, which was used as a throw, or mantle, Deu 22:12<\/span>, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a riband of blue,<\/strong> fasten the tassels to the edge of the garment with a hyacinth-colored thread; <\/p>\n

v. 39. and it shall be unto you for a fringe,<\/strong> a tassel, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them, and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a-whoring;<\/strong> they should not act according to the ideas suggested by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, for the result would surely be spiritual unfaithfulness; <\/p>\n

v. 40. that ye may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God. <\/strong> These tassels, which our Lord Jesus also wore in obedience to the Law, Mat 9:20<\/span>; Luk 8:44<\/span>, and which were to remind the wearer of all the provisions of God’s holy will, were made exceptionally large and conspicuous by the Pharisees, for they wanted to make the impression of unusual holiness, Mat 23:5<\/span>. <\/p>\n

v. 41. I am the Lord, your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord, your God. <\/strong> While the garments of the priests had a special symbolical meaning, yet these distinctive ornaments on the dress of all the Israelites served to remind them of the special relationship which existed between them and the Lord. This fellowship between the believers and the Lord is still more intimate in the New Testament, and they ought to keep this fact in mind at all times, even without special reminders. <\/p>\n

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

EXPOSITION<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE<\/strong> LAW<\/strong> OF<\/strong> TASSELS<\/strong> (Num 15:37-41<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Num 15:38<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bid them that they make them fringes.<\/strong> , probably tassels. It seems to signify something flower-like and bright, like the blooms on a shrub; the word . is applied to the shining plate of gold upon Aaron’s head-band (Exo 28:36<\/span>). In Jer 48:9<\/span> it seems to mean a wing, and in Eze 8:3<\/span> is a lock of hair. The exact meaning must be gathered from the context, and on the whole that suggests a tassel rather than a fringe. The word , used in the parallel passage Deu 22:12<\/span>, seems to have this meaning. The Septuagint renders it by , <\/em>which is adopted in the Gospels (see on Mat 23:5<\/span>). In the borders of their garments. <\/strong>Literally, “on the wings,” . <\/em>The outer garment ( here, in Deu 22:12<\/span>) was worn like a plaid, so folded that the four corners <\/em>were dependent, and on each of these corners was to be hung a tassel. It was also used as a coverlet by the poor (Exo 22:27<\/span>). That they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband<\/strong> of blue. <\/strong>Rather, “that they put a string (or thread) of hyacinth-blue upon the tassel of the wing.” Septuagint, . This may have been a blue string with which to fasten the tassel to the corner of the garment, as if it were the stalk on which this flower grew; or it may have been a prominent blue thread in the tassel itself. The later Jews seem to have understood it in this sense, and concerned themselves greatly with the symbolical arrangements of the blue and other threads, and the method in which they were knotted together, so as to set forth the whole law with all its several commandments. The later Jews, however, have always contrived, with all their minute observance, to break the plain letter of the law: thus the modern talith <\/em>is an under, and not an upper, garment.<\/p>\n

Num 15:39<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That<\/strong> ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments. <\/strong>It was indeed a minute and apparently trivial distinction, and yet such an one as would most surely strike the eye, and through the eye the mind. It was like the facings on a uniform which recall the fame and exploits of a famous regiment. The tasseled Hebrew was a marked man in other eyes, and in his own; he could not pass himself off as one of the heathen; he was perpetually reminded of the special relation in which he stood to the Lord, whose livery (so to speak)or, to use another simile, whose colourshe wore. No doubt the sky-blue string or thread which was so prominent was meant to remind him of heaven, and of the God of heaven. And that ye seek not after your <\/strong>own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring.<\/strong> The office of the tassels was to promote a recollected spirit. As it was, their fickle minds were always ready to stray away towards any heathen follies which their restless eyes might light upon. The trivial but striking peculiarity of their dress should recall them to the <\/strong>thought that they were a peculiar people, holy to the Lord.<\/p>\n

Num 15:41<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am the Lord your God. <\/strong>This intensely solemn formula, here twice repeated, may serve to show how intimately the smallest observances of the Law were connected with the profoundest and most comforting of spiritual truths, if only observed in faith and true obedience. The whole of religion, theoretical and practical, lay in those words, and that whole was hung upon a tassel. It is further to be noted that this precept was given during the years of exile, and probably given as one which they could <\/em>keep, and which would be helpful to them, at a time when almost all other distinctive observances were suspended.<\/p>\n

HOMILETICS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num 15:37-41<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A DISTINGUISHING MARK OF THE FAITHFUL<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the ordinance of the tassels we have at once the height and depth of the old dispensationthe most trivial of outward observances married to the deepest truths and greatest blessings of true religion. Spiritually we are to see here the distinctive marks of the faithful Christian which separate between him and the children of this world. Consider therefore<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> THAT<\/strong> THE<\/strong> TASSELS<\/strong> WERE<\/strong> DESIGNED<\/strong> TO<\/strong> BE<\/strong> UNMISTAKEABLE<\/strong> MARKS<\/strong> OF<\/strong> DISTINCTION<\/strong> AND<\/strong> SEPARATION<\/strong> BETWEEN<\/strong> ISRAEL<\/strong> AND<\/strong> ALL<\/strong> OTHER<\/strong> PEOPLES<\/strong>; and that at a time when many other distinctions had fallen into abeyance. Even so it is exceeding necessary that the faithful disciple (who is the true Israelite) should not only be different, but be obviously different, from others; and this especially in an age when the old distinctions between the Church and the world are so greatly broken down. Nothing can be more abhorrent to God than a crypto-Christianity, which is ashamed of itself and endeavours to efface all visible distinctions between itself and the irreligion of the world. Christians were to be emphatically “a peculiar people,” and if they seem “peculiar” to those who are not governed by Christian motives and principles, so much the better. It does not follow that they are right because they are unlike others, but at any rate they would not be right if they were like them (Rom 12:2; 2Co 6:14-18<\/span>; Tit 2:14<\/span>; Heb 7:26<\/span>; Jas 4:4<\/span>; 1Pe 2:9<\/span>).<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THAT<\/strong> THE<\/strong> DISTINCTION<\/strong> HERE<\/strong> COMMANDED<\/strong> WAS<\/strong> TRIVIAL<\/strong> IN<\/strong> ITSELF<\/strong>, AND<\/strong> IN<\/strong> AFTER<\/strong> AGES<\/strong> TURNED<\/strong> TO<\/strong> SUPERSTITION<\/strong> AND<\/strong> ARROGANCE<\/strong> (Mat 23:5<\/span>). Even so all external distinctions, however harmless and even venerable by association, have an unalterable tendency to substitute themselves for the inward differences which they symbolize. Consider the reproach which has overtaken the very name of “Christian”a name so full of significance, warning, and encouragementamong heathens and Mahometans. And how little effect the high-sounding names of Christian bodies have had upon their lives, save indeed in fostering arrogance and self-righteousness. No external distinction is of any value unless it has a real correspondence to something inward and spiritual (Rom 2:29<\/span>; Rom 14:17; 1Co 8:8<\/span>; Gal 6:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> THAT<\/strong> THE<\/strong> TASSELS<\/strong> WERE<\/strong> INTENDED<\/strong> TO<\/strong> PRODUCE<\/strong> AND<\/strong> TO<\/strong> FOSTER<\/strong> A HABIT<\/strong> OF<\/strong> RE<\/strong>–COLLECTEDNESS<\/strong>, ESPECIALLY<\/strong> AMONG<\/strong> STRANGERS<\/strong>. The tasseled Hebrew was perpetually reminded that he shared in privileges, responsibilities, and dangers which the nations knew nothing of. Even so the faithful Christian has no greater or more necessary safeguard than a habit of recollectedness, and he is bound to cultivate it carefully by prayer and self-discipline. In the midst of innumerable entanglements, confusions, and perplexities, he has continually to call to mind whose he is and whom he serves. Mixing, conversing, dealing in every way with those whose aims, motives, and principles are avowedly worldly and selfish, he has to check himself at every turn by this recollection; and only thus can he escape from sin (Php 2:15<\/span>, Php 2:16<\/span>; 1Ti 6:1<\/span>, 1Ti 6:2<\/span>; Tit 2:8<\/span>).<\/p>\n

IV.<\/strong> THAT<\/strong> THE<\/strong> HYACINTHINE<\/strong> BLUE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> THE<\/strong> STRING<\/strong>, OR<\/strong> THREAD<\/strong>, WAS<\/strong> MEANT<\/strong> TO<\/strong> REMIND<\/strong> THE<\/strong> ISRAELITE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> HEAVEN<\/strong>, AND<\/strong> THE<\/strong> GOD<\/strong> OF<\/strong> HEAVEN<\/strong> (cf. the “jacinth” of Rev 9:17<\/span>). Even so there must be in the faithful soul a perpetual remembrance of heaven as at once his home and goal; for it is this remembrance only mingling with all other thoughts which will keep him from the subtle greed and from the base attractions of earth (Php 3:20<\/span>; Heb 12:1<\/span>, Heb 12:2<\/span>; 1Pe 2:11; 2Pe 3:12<\/span>, 2Pe 3:13<\/span>). And note that this spirit of recollectedness in these two particulars, viz; whose we are, and whither we are bound, is the true and distinctive adornment of all faithful Christians, no matter in what diversity of outward circumstance they may be arrayed. And this, without the least ostentation or self-consciousness, will at once make them known to one another (cf. Mal 3:16<\/span>), and mark them out for an instinctive wonder and admiration in the eyes of all who are seeking after God.<\/p>\n

V.<\/strong> THAT<\/strong> THE<\/strong> ONE<\/strong> GREAT<\/strong> AND<\/strong> BLESSED<\/strong> TRUTH<\/strong> WHICH<\/strong> GAVE<\/strong> REALITY<\/strong> AND<\/strong> MEANING<\/strong> TO<\/strong> THIS<\/strong> DISTINCTION<\/strong> WAS<\/strong>, “I AM<\/strong> THE<\/strong> LORD<\/strong> YOUR<\/strong> GOD<\/strong>.” Even so whatever may distinguish the faithful Christian from others has no other foundation than this, that God is his Godhis in Christ, his in a sense which is beyond words or thought. It is not the fact that he is more righteous than others which any distinctive conduct or observance is meant to proclaim; but simply that God has been more merciful to him, and has drawn him closer to himself in Christ (1Co 3:21-23<\/span>; 1Jn 1:3<\/span>; 2Pe 1:4<\/span>).<\/p>\n

HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num 15:37-41<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE USE AND ABUSE OF MEMORIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n

This law is one of the many illustrations of the minute particulars prescribed by the laws of Moses. We find other illustrations in precepts respecting ploughing (Deu 22:10<\/span>), sowing (Deu 22:9<\/span>), reaping (Le Num 23:22<\/span>), threshing (Deu 25:4<\/span>), killing (Le Num 17:13<\/span>), cooking (Exo 23:19<\/span>), clothing (Deu 22:11<\/span>), &c. All these laws had certain moral or spiritual significations. The precept respecting the fringes teaches us<\/p>\n

I.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> VALUE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> MEMORIALS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. To remind us of spiritual truths. The peculiarity of the Jew’s dress was a witness to him that he belonged to “a peculiar people” (Deu 14:2<\/span>) separated unto God. Possibly the blue colour (cf. Exo 28:31<\/span>) was intended to remind him that he belonged to a kingdom of priests.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. Such memorials are needed because of our treacherous memories, which, like sieves, may let pure water run away, but retain the sediment and rubbish.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. And they are valuable for the sake of others. The Jews taught that even a blind man must wear the fringe, because others could see it. Strangers may be impressed by our memorial services, even if we are blind to their significance. Our children and their descendants may learn by them. IllustrationsPassover (Exo 12:24-27<\/span>); altar and stones on Ebal and Gerizim (Deu 27:1-8<\/span>; Jos 8:30-35<\/span>). The Lord’s Supper, by which we “show Christ’s death till he come.”<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> DANGER<\/strong> OF<\/strong> THEIR<\/strong> ABUSE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. Because of our inveterate tendency to exaggerate the importance of what is external. Hence fringes were “enlarged” (Mat 23:5<\/span>) and phylacteries were invented (Deu 6:6-9<\/span>). The simple supper of the Lord has been developed into the pompous ceremonies of the mass.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. And thus to stop at the symbol and thereby prevent it. IllustrationsThe serpent of brass idolized (2Ki 18:4<\/span>); the ark treated as a charm (1Sa 4:3<\/span>).<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. And by so doing to “come short” of the promise of salvation which is “in Christ Jesus,” who is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” Nevertheless, God does not take away symbolic memorials from us, but throws on us the responsibility of using “as not abusing” them.P.<\/p>\n

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num 15:37-40<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

THE FRINGES: EVER-PRESENT REMINDERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. <\/strong>A NEED<\/strong> TO<\/strong> BE<\/strong> PROVIDED<\/strong> FOR<\/strong>. These numerous and all-important commandments must, if such a thing is possible, be kept continually before the minds of the people. God has already provided for the need, in fact, by appointing an atonement for sins of ignorance. These would be very largely sins of forgetfulness, and so, as prevention is better than cure, it was desirable to guard against forgetfulness. Sins of ignorance, when committed, may be atoned for, but it is better, if such a thing can be, not to commit them at all. Hence God, knowing the natural forgetfulness of the human heart, and bow many cares, pleasures, novelties, and objects of interest there are to draw it away from the consideration of his will, recognizes a need to be provided for in a special way. The will of God, moreover, needed to be constantly remembered. <\/em>It bears on all our conscious life, and through that in many unknown ways on the unconscious life beneath. There was no action of an Israelite’s life but could be done in God’s way or in his own. A moment’s incaution, and he might step into some great transgression. The law through Moses was a thing of details, and to neglect the least detail was to impair the whole. Evidently this need has still to be provided for. <\/em>The law through Christ for our life is also one needing to be constantly remembered. There is no moment when it does not stand before us in all its spirituality, and its searching for inward conformity. Nor can we pretend that our hearts are any better, any more in sympathy with God, than those in Israel of old. The human heart under Christ needs to be provided for just as much as under Moses. Thus we may be sure that if God saw the need then, he sees it equally now.<\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> GOD<\/strong>‘S PROVISION<\/strong> FOR<\/strong> THE<\/strong> NEED<\/strong>. He provided something that should always be before the eye. <\/em>Fringes or tassels on the garments were ever-present remembrancers. Many times a day the wearer could not but cast his eye on this addition to his garment, and he was at once to recollect that it was something not added by his own fancy, but that he might ask himself the question, “Am I at this moment doing the will of God?” Nor on his own garment only was the fringe of use; every time his eye rested on the garments of others, similarly adorned, he was reminded to treat them in a just, godly, and brotherly fashion, as being also Israelites, holy and privileged as himself (Gal 6:10<\/span>). And may we not say that we have reminders, so various, numerous, and increasing, as to the claims of God upon us, that they amount to something like a fringe on our garments? There may be nothing of distinct Divine appointment in many of these reminders, but if they are such as naturally turn our attention to holy things, then the presence of them adds very much to our responsibility. Every Bible that we see; every passage of Scripture set in other writing; every church spire rising to the sky, or even the humblest building given to religious uses; every known minister of religion, or indeed any one known to be a Christian; every grave-yard and burial processionthese and many such have all in them something of the fringes. We cannot afford to despise any helps towards knowledge and obedience. He provided the same memorial for all. <\/em>He did not count it sufficient there should be any memorial the individual might choose. There was to be no room for individual caprice. The memorial was a fringe, and it was always blue. Thus, while there are many things which may be used <\/em>to remind us of God’s will, there are some especially designed for this end. <\/em>Those who accept the permanent obligation of the Lord’s Supper are brought, on every observance of it, face to face with him whom only too easily we forget. “Do this in remembrance of me.” But since all do not accept <\/em>this obligation, and those who do meet in different ways and with varying frequency, we can hardly find here that which is to correspond in the gospel with the fringes in the law. Is there any one settled and definite thing which Christ gives us now the same for us all? May we not answer from Joh 16:13<\/span> : “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all (the) truth”? Where Moses gave commandments, Christ gave promises, which are only commandments in another form. We have now to do not with a body of positive precepts, to be understood and obeyed in our natural strength, but with a living and life-giving Spirit, <\/em>and the more we have the life of that Spirit in us, the more we shall be preserved from errors in doctrine, and from omissions, exaggerations, and defects in duty. We are not now called to manufacture lifeless and merely typical observances according to a pattern. Obedience now is to be a growth; and if there is heavenly, pure, and energetic life in us, then we shall not be lacking in strength, beauty, and fruitfulness. What signification, if any, may there be in the colour? <\/em>Perhaps it is not fanciful to suppose that it may have been chosen as having correspondence <\/em>with the tint of the skysomething to help in turning the thoughts of the people away from earth to him who dwells on high. Tennyson reminds us (In Memoriam,’ 51.) of<\/p>\n

“The sinless years
That breathed beneath the Syrian blue.”<\/p>\n

III.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> LIMITED<\/strong> USE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> GOD<\/strong>‘S PROVISION<\/strong>. It was as good a monitor as could be given in the circumstances, always moving about with the person who had to remember. But remembrance, even supposing it exact and opportune, would only reveal more and more the inevitable weakness in action. What could the fringes help in the doing? Could they turn men from seeking after their own hearts and their own eyes? By the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20<\/span>). Hence the better their knowledge of the law in its requirements, and the more exact their remembrance, the more painful and depressing would be the consciousness of their own sin. The holier they became in outward compliances, the more would they feel their pollution and their separation of heart from God. If any one ever knew the value of the fringes, we should judge it to have been David, yet read Psa 119:1-176<\/span>, and notice how he there gathers up his earnest longings for conformity with God’s law, and not unfrequently seems to tread the verge of despair. We must have more than mere admonitions, however frequent and earnest, if we are to do God’s will and be in truth holy before him. Hence we come back to that work of the Spirit of Christ, putting within us new life, and that love which is the best of all monitors. The fringe above all fringes, the riband made of heaven’s own blue, is to have love in the heart. Love never forgets. It has its object ever in its thoughtsfirst in the morning, last at night, and flitting even through dreams. Fringes may recall words and outward ceremonies, but love discovers fresh applications and larger meanings. Love does with the mere words of commandment as the chemist does with material things, ever discovering in them new combinations, properties, and powers (Joh 14:23-26<\/span>).Y.<\/p>\n

Num 15:41<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

GOD RECALLS A GREAT DEED AND THE PURPOSE OF IT<\/strong><\/p>\n

I. GOD<\/strong> RECALLED<\/strong> A GREAT<\/strong> DEED<\/strong>. I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. It was deliverance from a bitter bondage. <\/em>The Israelites had been making light of it of late, but in Egypt it was grievous indeed (Exo 1:13<\/span>, Exo 1:14<\/span>; Exo 2:23<\/span>; Exo 3:7<\/span>; Exo 6:9<\/span>). So God, by the work of his incarnate Son, delivered the world from a bitter bondage. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the whole world.” The act of Divine power by which Jesus rose from the grave did not sweep away all difficulties and make life henceforth a path of roses. But it is a great deal to stand on this side, historically, of the sepulcher from which the stone was rolled away. The generations before the resurrection of Jesus were, as we may say, in Egypt, waiting deliverance. The world since that event stands, as it were, delivered. He who brought life and immortality to light destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:14<\/span>, Heb 2:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>. It was a deliverance worked out entirely by God. <\/em>“I brought you out, &c.” There was no struggle against Pharaoh on the part of the people. We do not see the prisoner within conspiring with the deliverer outside. The bondage was so bitter, the subjection so complete, that the people were not moved to conspiracy and insurrection. We read constantly in history of servile and subject races winning their way to freedom through the bloody struggles of many generations, but these Israelites before Pharaoh were like oxen broken to the plough. They groaned, but they submitted. And in this Egyptian sort of bondage the world was fast before Christ came to deliver. Men groaned under the burdens of life; they were filled with the fruits of sin; they yielded at last to tile grasp of death. All was accepted as a mysterious necessity; men did not protest and struggle against calamity and death. The deliverance is from Jesus, and in it we have no hand. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6<\/span>). A delivered world was even incredulous as to its deliverance. It could not believe that as by one man came sin and death, so by one also had come conquest over sin, death, and the devil. Thomas, the very disciple, doubts, and before long Paul has to write 1Co 15:1-58<\/span>. Jesus may say to the world for which he died and rose again, “I brought you out of spiritual Egypt.”<\/p>\n

3<\/strong>. While the deliverance was being worked out, the Israelites were scarcely conscious of what was being done. <\/em>They saw the plagues, but only as wonders, stupendous physical calamities. They felt the grasp of Pharaoh alternately tightening and relaxing, but little did they comprehend of that great, significant struggle going on between Jehovah and Pharaoh. They waited, as the prize of victory waits on the athletes while they contend; it knows nothing of the energy and endurance it has evoked. And so it was and is in Christ’s redeeming work. It is wonderful to notice how unconscious the world was of that great work which was transacted between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, between the cradle of Jesus and his opened grave. The world looked upon him, and to a large extent it still looks, in any light but the right one. Let us know him first then, and fully in all that the work means, as Deliverer from spiritual Egypt. <\/p>\n

II.<\/strong> THE<\/strong> PURPOSE<\/strong> OF<\/strong> THIS<\/strong> GREAT<\/strong> DEED<\/strong>. “I brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God.” It is one thing for Israel to be brought out of Egypt; quite another for it to understand why it has been brought out. And so we find the people complaining of the wilderness quite as much as they had done of Egypt. Their expectations pointed in a direction opposite to God’s purpose, and never could the wilderness become a better place than Egypt until they did appreciate God’s purpose and make it their own. God did not bring them out as one might bring a man out of prison, and then say, “Go where you like.” They were brought out of a bitter bondage to enter upon a reasonable service, otherwise the wilderness would prove only an exchange of suffering, not a release from it. In like manner we need to ask how the world may be made better by the redeeming work of Christ. The difference between the state of the world before the death of Christ and since does not look as great from certain points of view as one might expect. A countless host of those for whom he died and rose again nevertheless goes about in a bewilderment and unbelief equal to that of the Israelites in the wilderness. Christ died for us and rose again, that we, rising with him, might live not to ourselves, but to him (Rom 6:4<\/span>, Rom 6:10-13<\/span>, indeed the whole chapter; Rom 12:1<\/span>; Rom 14:7-9<\/span>; 1Co 3:22, 1Co 3:23<\/span>; 1Co 10:31<\/span>; 2Co 5:15-18<\/span>; 2Co 10:5<\/span>; Eph 2:10<\/span>; Php 1:20<\/span>, Php 1:21<\/span>; Col 3:1-3<\/span>). Deliverance from Egypt is not equivalent to entrance into the promised land. The wilderness is a critical place for us, and all depends on what heed we take to this purpose of God. We must receive the gospel in its integrity. <\/em>If the full purpose of God becomes our full purpose, then all will be right. Christ died for us, not that we might just escape the penalty and power of sin, as something painful to ourselves, and know the luxury of a washed conscience; not that we might just pass into a perfect blessedness beyond the tomb; but that, becoming pure and blessed, we might engage in the service of God and set forth his glory. We must be pleased with what pleases him. The work of Christ brings us that highest of all joy, to serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind.Y.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

DISCOURSE: 161
THE USE AND INTENT OF FRINGES ON THEIR GARMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Num 15:37-41<\/span>. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: that ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A VERY principal distinction between the Christian and Jewish codes is this; that our laws are given in broad, general, comprehensive principles; whereas theirs descended to the most minute particulars, even such as we should have been ready to conceive unworthy the notice of the Divine Lawgiver. There was scarcely any occupation in life, respecting which there was not some precise limit fixed, some positive precept enjoined. If they ploughed<\/em>, they must not plough with an ox and an ass. If they sowed<\/em> their ground, they must not sow divers kinds of seeds. If they reaped<\/em>, they must not reap the corners of their field. If they carried<\/em> their corn, they must not go back for a sheaf that they had left behind. If they threshed<\/em> it, they must not muzzle the ox that trod it out. If they killed<\/em> their meat, they must pour the blood upon the ground. If they dressed<\/em> it, they must not seethe a kid in its mothers milk. If they ate<\/em> it, they must not eat the fat. If they planted<\/em> a tree, they must not eat of the fruit for four years. If they built a house<\/em>, they must make battlements to its roof. So, if they made a garment<\/em>, they must put upon it a fringe with a ribband of blue. This last ordinance, it may be thought, like all the other ceremonies, being abrogated, is quite uninteresting to us. But, if we consider it attentively, we shall find it by no means uninstructive. It shews us,<\/p>\n

I.<\/p>\n

The end which we ought to aim at<\/p>\n

That, for which the use of the fringe was appointed to the Jews, is equally necessary for us; namely, to preserve continually upon our minds a sense of,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Our duty to God<\/p>\n

[We are told to walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For this purpose we should have the commandments of God ever, as it were, before our eyes. It is not unuseful to have habitually some short portion of the word of God, some one precept or promise, for our meditation through the day, especially at those intervals when the mind has nothing particular to engage its attention. The expediency of such an habit appears from the text itself: for, if we have nothing good at hand for our meditations, the eye and the heart will furnish evil enough. In our unconverted state we uniformly, as God himself expresses it, go a whoring after these: our affections are estranged from God, and our thoughts from time to time fix on some vanity which our eyes have seen, or on some evil which our own wicked heart has suggested. How desirable were it, instead of having our minds thus occupied, to have them filled with heavenly contemplations; to be searching out our duty; to be examining our own hearts in relation to it; and to be inquiring continually wherein we can make our profiting to appear!]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Our obligations to him<\/p>\n

[How strong and energetic are the expressions in our text respecting this! I am your God: I have redeemed you in order that I might be so to the utmost possible extent: and I consider all that I am, and all that I have, as yours. If these mercies, as far as they were vouchsafed to the Jews, deserved to be had in continual remembrance, how much greater cause have we<\/em> to remember them; we<\/em>, who have been redeemed, not from Egypt, but from hell itself; and not by power only, but by price, even by the precious blood of Gods only-begotten Son; and who have such an interest in God, that he not merely dwells amongst<\/em> us, but in<\/em> us, being one with us, as he is one with Christ himself [Note: Joh 15:5<\/span>; Joh 17:21-23<\/span><\/u> and 1Co 6:17<\/span>.]! Methinks, instead of finding it difficult to turn our minds to this subject, it may well appear strange that we can for a moment fix them upon any thing else. Were we day and night to meditate on the loving-kindness of our God, our souls would be filled as with marrow and fatness, and our mouth would praise him with joyful lips [Note: Psa 63:3-6<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n

The ordinance before us goes further still, and prescribes,<\/p>\n

II.<\/p>\n

The means by which we are to obtain it<\/p>\n

True it is that no distinctions in dress are prescribed to us: the ordinance in this respect is annulled. But, as a means to an end, the appointment of the fringe may teach us,<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

To make a spiritual improvement of sensible objects<\/p>\n

[This was the direct intent of the fringes<\/em> on their garments: they were as monitors, to remind the people of their duty and obligations. And why may not we receive similar admonitions from every thing around us? Has not our blessed Lord set us the example? For instance, What part of husbandry is there which he has not made a source of spiritual instruction? the ploughing, the sowing, the weeding, the growth, the reaping, the carrying, the winnowing, the destruction of the chaff, and the treasuring up of the wheat, are all improved by him in this view. There are some things also which he has expressly ordained to be used for this end. What is the water in baptism, but to remind us of the answer of a good conscience towards God [Note: 1Pe 3:21<\/span>.]? What are the bread and wine in the Lords supper, but to be signs to us of his body broken, and his blood shed, for the sins of the whole world? We acknowledge that those things only which he has appointed<\/em> to be signs, are of necessity<\/em> to be used as such; but we are at liberty<\/em> to use every thing in that view; and so far from its being superstitious to do so, it is highly reasonable and proper to do it: it then only becomes superstitious, when it is rested in as an end, or used as a mean for an end which it has no proper tendency to effect<\/em>. Some have been offended with the use of the cross in baptism: and if it were intended as any kind of charm, they might well be offended with it: but it is, as the Liturgy expresses it, a token that hereafter the child shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified: and, if it serve to impress the minds of the sponsors in that light, it is well: if it do not, the fault is not in it<\/em>, but in them<\/em>. The same may we say in reference to the names, the titles, and the habits that are in use amongst us. Our Christian name, as it is called, should never be mentioned without bringing to our remembrance him, whose we are, and whom we are bound to serve. The titles which are given to men, either on account of their rank in society, or of their consecration to the sacred office of the ministry, may well be improved for that end for which they were originally given; not merely to shew to others what respect was due to the individuals, but to shew to the individuals themselves what might justly be expected of them, and what their rank and office required: the one should maintain his honour<\/em> unsullied; the other should be so heavenly in his deportment as to constrain all to revere<\/em> him. In this view, the use of the surplice was doubtless well intended; and happy would it be if all who wear it were reminded, as often as they put it on, how pure and spotless they ought to be, both in their hearts and lives. The very sight of a lofty church should remind us, that we are temples of the living God; whilst the spire pointing upwards, may well direct us to lift up our hearts to God.<\/p>\n

Let us not be misunderstood. We contend not for any of these things as necessary; but we learn from our text that they may be rendered subservient to a blessed end, and that it is our privilege to make every thing around us a step towards heaven.]<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

To get the law itself written in our hearts<\/p>\n

[Whilst the fringes had in themselves a practical use, they were also emblematical of benefits which were to be more fully bestowed under the Christian dispensation. As a sign they are abolished: but the thing signified remains in undiminished force. What the thing signified was, we are at no loss to determine: it was, that the law, of which a visible memorial was to be worn by the Jews<\/em>, was to be inscribed in lively characters on our<\/em> hearts. To this effect Moses speaks repeatedly, when giving directions respecting those other memorials of the law, which were to be worn on the forehead, and on the neck, and arms: These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart<\/em>: and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes [Note: Deu 6:6-9<\/span>.]. And again, Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart<\/em> and in your soul<\/em> [Note: Deu 11:18-20<\/span>. See also Pro 3:3<\/span>.]. Hence the real design of God even as it respected them<\/em>, and much more as it respects us<\/em>, is evident. Moreover, God has promised this very thing to us, as the distinguishing blessing of the new covenant: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts [Note: Jer 31:33<\/span><\/u> with Heb 8:10<\/span>.].<\/p>\n

Now this is the true way to attain that constant sense of our duty and obligations to God, which have been before mentioned. For, if his law be written on our hearts, we shall find the same disposition to meditate upon it, as a covetous man does to meditate upon his gains, and an ambitious man on his distinctions. It is true, the heart has more to struggle with in the one case than the other; but, in proportion as divine grace prevails, holy exercises will be easy and delightful.]<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

To exhibit that law in our lives<\/p>\n

[The fringe was a distinction which shewed to every one of what religion they were. Thus there is a singularity which we also are to maintain: we are to be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. If others will not walk with us in the narrow path of holiness, it is not our fault that we are singular, but theirs: we are no more blameable for differing from them, than Noah, Lot, Daniel, or Elijah, were for differing from the people amongst whom they lived. As to singularity in dress, it is rather to be avoided than desired. Our distinctions must be found only in the conformity of our lives to the word of God. Whilst the world are clad in gay attire, let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be clothed with humility: yea, let us put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. This is the way to honour God; and the more we strive to adorn our holy profession, the more peace and happiness we shall enjoy in it. In a word, holiness is our fringe: let us wear it: let us not be ashamed of it, but rather endeavour to make our light to shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Of course, I must not be understood to recommend any thing like ostentation: that<\/em> is hateful both to God and man: but a bold, open, manly confession of Christ crucified is the indispensable duty of all who are called by his name: and if we deny him, he will assuredly deny us. I say then again, let us wear the fringe, and not indulge a wish to hide it. But let us be careful that the ribband be of blue: it must not be of any fading colour: our piety must be uniform in all places, and unchanging under all circumstances. We must be the same in the world as in the house of God. We must be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; and then we are assured, that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

As Israel was a peculiar people, so their dress was to be peculiar. The fringes of their garments were not intended for ornament, but for memorandums. JESUS we may suppose wore them, for we are told that the poor women in the gospel desired to touch the hem (or fringe) of his garment. I am led to think that even here, in the dress of Israel, I behold somewhat leading to JESUS. As the sacrifices appointed in this chapter pointed to the atonement in his blood, so the garment with its fringes referred to his robe of righteousness, with which the true Israel must be clothed in, in order to appear before GOD. LORD grant, that I may look upon this and remember how my GOD and Saviour hath fulfilled for me all the commandments of my GOD, that I may never go whoring after the vanity of my own eyes, but be holy before my GOD in the holiness of JESUS my Redeemer.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

The Fringes and Their Meaning<\/p>\n

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Num 15:37-41<\/p>\n

The word garments<\/em> is used with a special direction. The Lord was very careful about the raiment or garment of his people. The Lord’s eyes are upon his people’s apparel. We want to make him simply a Figure in theology to confine him within the radiant lines of what to us is an invisible heaven. But God will not so be treated. He lives with us in the house; he will make our bed in our affliction; he will turn the house round that it may catch the morning light, if the morning light is best for us. He will keep our books, and watch all our steps; he will conduct the blind man across the busy thoroughfare, and he will set a singing bird in the poor man’s little house. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Why make a theological fancy of God? That is practical blasphemy. It is not worship; it is ill-treatment of the divine idea and the divine personality. God would have a seat in our house, a desk in our business, a pen in our library; he would rule our whole life, and make us his companions and friends. From the first he took an interest in the raiment of the people; he knew that poverty was no transient distress, but a part of the general life of the human family; so he made arrangements even about pawnbroking, saying, “If thou at all take thy neighbour’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down” (Exo 22:26<\/span> .) Pawnbroking was to be but for a few bright hours of the day; as soon as the chill evening came down the pledge was to be restored. Why? The garment referred to was a large foursquare cloth; in the middle of it a hole was cut through which the head could pass, so that the whole cloth fell round the body of the wearer. That garment was both a day garment and a blanket for the night. Allowing, therefore, such would seem to be the divine reasoning that a man can do without his outer cloth for a few hours whilst the sun is shining for the sunshine is a kind of cloak yet remember that the nights are cold and thy neighbour must not be allowed to lie down to sleep without being properly covered. This is what the Lord says in so many words in Exo 22:27<\/span> : “For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.” Let us understand the meaning of this gospel tone. When the cold man cries because for want of his raiment he cannot sleep when he had to pawn his raiment for bread, “I will hear” his cry. What is the reason for hearing the cry? “for I am gracious” I care for men who cannot sleep because of the cold; I care for children who cannot sleep because they are hungry; the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, how then can I forget my own image and likeness? my heart hears: my heart responds. At the four corners of this cloth were four tassels or fringes. The tassels or fringes were called Craspeda.<\/em> Great sanctity was attached to these tassels by the Jews: hence the poor woman’s declaration: “If I may but touch a Craspedon<\/em> I shall be healed.” We miss the whole meaning of the passage by thinking of the hem of the garment in the ordinary sense of the term. The garment was foursquare; the head was put through it; at each of the corners there was a fringe or a tassel; each tassel was called a Craspedon;<\/em> each tassel was regarded with great seriousness by the Jewish mind; it represented great thoughts, and even the divine presence itself: hence the poor woman, knowing this, said within herself “If I may but touch one of the tassels if I may but touch one of the fringes, I shall be healed.” So these Craspeda<\/em> were not mere ornaments in dress: they were full of typical ideas, if not of moral virtues. Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus Christ says ( Mat 23:5 ) “They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments” they are great in tassels and fringes: they enlarge them that they may in some way write upon them words from the law, and appear unto men, not only to be very learned in wisdom, but to be excellent patterns of virtue. The ordinary tassel was not enough for the Pharisee; the customary fringe is too small for the pedantic scribe, therefore the fringes must be enlarged, the writings must be multiplied, and a more ostentatious display of virtue must be made to the public eye.<\/p>\n

Is all this passed and done with? It can never be obsolete so long as human nature is human nature. If the Lord permit us to wear a fringe or a tassel, or any outward and typical sign of adoption and sonship, we are by so much exposed to insidious and mighty temptation. Yet we must have something to look at and something to touch, for we ourselves are in the body, and all the creation that we can see is a creation tangible, substantial, full of allegorical writing, it may be, which only skilled eyes can read. Still this visible creation must have some correspondence in the invisible creation into which we are called through Christ, the Keeper of the kingdom. We cannot be trained according to divine purpose except we have the outward, the material, and the visible. These gifts are of divine appointment. God recognises our need of them, and he supplies them, and names them, and specifies their uses. But who can be trusted with line or image, with tassel or fringe, with book or censer, with anything that appeals to the eye and the touch, without misunderstanding God and exaggerating the purpose of the thing visible and tangible, and thus passing through into all manner of superstition and idolatry? God has given us tassels and fringes to the great garment of the spiritual gift in Christ Jesus his Son, and we have misunderstood them, and what were divine gifts to begin with have been turned into temptations by which our worship has fallen into a species of feeble or contemptible idolatry. God has given us the Sabbath day. A most beautiful gift if we could have regarded it within the divine intention, and have accepted God’s sweet purpose implied in the great donation; but we must needs meddle with it and enlarge the tassel, and make broad the phylacteries and the borders, and write upon God’s spring day all manner of narrow-minded and evil writing of our own invention; or we must needs make hard what God made soft with pity, and gracious with love; we must make the day into the sourest of the week, instead of the smile of the passing time; we must be pedantic, stern, iron-bound, exacting in a most narrow-minded and despotic degree; and this we do to show our noble piety! This is Pharisaism. We condemn ancient Pharisaism the more vehemently that we do not understand what we are condemning, for ignorance has no bounds. But let us be careful whilst we recognise the divine tassel, fringe, or ribband of blue, that we accept it in God’s sense, and with God’s limitation and purpose; then it shall be unto us Heaven’s own sign a visible thing by which we enter into invisible meanings and invisible liberties. But Pharisaic virtue will be meddling; it will add one hour to the Sabbath day: it will begin a little earlier than was at first intended; it will make its face sour and its fingers hard, and it will lay upon people exactions intolerable, whilst it, by some way unknown to the people, will sneak off to the enjoyment of its own wicked luxuries. In this way the fringe of the Sabbath has been enlarged by Pharisaic impiety and ostentation, and the sweet idea of sleep, rest, renewal, reinvigoration, worship, psalm, sacrifice of a spiritual kind, all these have been subordinated or lost. He does not keep the Sabbath who merely talks about it. Sabbath-keeping is an affair of the heart. You cannot keep the Sabbath by Act of Parliament; you may close every business in the kingdom by imperial statute, but when you have done so, unless there be a consenting heart, every place devoted to business in the kingdom is more open on the Sabbath than it was on the common week day. We must cultivate love of the Sabbath spirit before we can have obedience to the Sabbath law; we must recall the idea of Christ’s resurrection and believe in its historical reality, or we cannot have a day to celebrate what never took place. We do not keep the birthdays of people who were never born. The birthday represents a historical reality in the family an advent, a sweet epiphany, an incoming of a stranger who shall never be stranger more. Lose the idea of the birth, and the birthday must go; lose the idea of the resurrection of Christ, and the Sabbath will come only to be misunderstood, and will pass away in contempt or in violation of its claims.<\/p>\n

The Lord has given us two tassels called the Sacraments. Look at the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. It was meant as a memorial; it was a sublime appeal to the memory of the heart. Said the dying Son of God, “This do in remembrance of me.” A simple feast: a Supper which the poorest man can have at his own little deal table, if so be he will drink one little drop of water and taste one crumb of bread, nay, he can even do without these things if he eat and drink with the Spirit Into what enlargement of priestly pomp and meaning has that Sacrament been brought! What magic has been used over the bread and the cup! What with transubstantiation and consubstantiation, and all the polysyllables of the theologues, we have lost the Supper. Memory has now next to no function to perform in connection with that Sacrament. The priest must operate upon the elements, some mysterious process must take place in the bread and in the cup; and not until such priestly pranks have been played may the common people touch these things, nay, in some churches, they may not touch them at all, especially one of the elements: it is enough if the priest drink in some kind of representative capacity. They have enlarged the borders of their garments. The blue ribband was right, the fringe was of divine appointment, God meant the robe to have its tassels; but we have enlarged and vitiated and perverted and played all manner of tricks, and exercised every possible species of invention. “God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” and God does not know the tassels he appointed because of the enlargements and the discolourings invented and accomplished by depraved human genius.<\/p>\n

God has given us another tassel in the Bible. He knew we could not do without a book: he made the Bible as small as possible; never book had so much matter crushed into it every line a living stem of a living vine; the very punctuation seems to be part of the common vitality. But it is possible to make a fetish or idol of the Bible; it is possible to make it a mere gathering of isolated texts to be fingered by men as they may be pleased to manipulate the thousand beads of heaven. So we have the Bible misunderstood little detached texts thrust into wrong perspective and relation. We have lost the Biblical spirit in pedantic reverence for the Biblical letter. We have never yet seen in all its fulness that the letter is trying to tell something which it can never tell in all the amplitude of its meaning, and we have been afraid lest we should lose the spirit by not properly regarding the letter. Believe me, God’s Book is a revelation. Everything is contained in it. The Book cannot be enlarged by human hands: it enlarges itself. You can enlarge the loaf of bread by your hands whilst that loaf is in process of formation, but you must keep your fingers off the growing blade and ear of wheat; let the baker deal with the dough he may not touch that living, golden thing which, through great agony and travail down in the darkness, has pierced the sod and come breathingly and lovingly up into the mellowing and ripening light. It is even so with God’s Book. It needs no vindication. Your manufactured bread may need to be announced and weighed and justified to the public examiner and the public taste; but God’s wheat is not to be so regarded. How it grew he has never told us; in all the information he has conveyed to the human family, he has never told us where the wind is, how the wheat grows; he has kept these things so palpable and obvious in their appearances to himself, as to the secret of their origin and movement. The vindication which the Bible asks for is to be seen, to be read. The Bible does not begin at the Book of Kings, or in the middle of the volume; the Bible simple as the statement may appear begins at the beginning, where so few people have ever begun; they have used the Bible as if it began nowhere, and could be opened promiscuously and understood in the most casual manner. The Bible has its own beginning, its own line of evolution, and it must be begun and perused according to its own genesis and law if its music is to be heard, and if human life is to fall into rhythm with its majestic purpose. Nothing is easier than to pervert the Bible. More mischief can be done by incompetent persons talking about the Bible and in its favour than ever can be done by the most skilful and obstinate assailants of its inspiration. The Bible has more to fear from its friends than from its enemies. I will vary the phrase and say, the Bible has nothing to fear from opposition; sometimes even it may tremble under the shadow of patronage.<\/p>\n

All these the Sabbath, the Sacraments, the Bible, the Sanctuary are divine institutions, tassels ordained and declared in heaven; but we must be careful to ascertain where the divine ends and the human begins. The Pharisees have meddled with the fringes; the scribes have performed magical tricks upon the tassels. It is so with the ministry of the Gospel. The ministry of the Gospel is a divine institution; but how we have meddled with it and made it less in trying to make it larger! The ministry of the Gospel is a ministry of brotherhood, sympathy great human love. It has been made into a priestly trick and has been invested with sacerdotal sanctions, and men constables of their own appointment have stood at the pulpit stairs to keep away persons who were supposed not to be authorised. The great authorisation of the preacher is first of God, and next of the common people. The common people will soon tell you whom God has called to the ministry. The congregation is judge. You cannot deceive the great common heart; it knows the elect man: the very first sentence he utters is recognised as genuine or as counterfeit. The people, the common people, all the people, they stand next to God in this matter: ” Vox populi, vox Dei<\/em> .” The question has sometimes been asked Do the common people hear us “gladly”? That question ought not to be asked until another has been answered: Do we preach to the common people in great human words, in tears of compassion, in genuine, manly, Christian sympathy? Blessed be God, the common people will never listen to theology, to polysyllables, to wordy refinements. The common people can understand the sunshine and respond to its sublimity; but they cannot understand many of the lights which men have invented and patented and heavily charged for. So with truth. The great fringe truth has been enlarged by opinions. Opinion has been enthroned. Not until we distinguish between truth and opinion can we distinguish between God’s fringe and the Pharisee’s phylactery. When any man has spoken whatever his name, intellectual capacity, moral pith, or rhetorical eloquence he has only announced a series of opinions. He can so announce them as to make himself ridiculous, offensive, as to usurp a divine position. But the truth underlies opinion, is different from opinion, admits of great variety of opinion. As the sun will grow all kinds of flowers, and the good old mother earth will let all flowers grow within the bounds of her hospitality, so truth will admit of all shades of opinion, all varieties of expression. Why can we not recognise this, and clasp hands in spiritual brotherhood, every man having a right to his own opinion and being bound to society in nothing but in the reality and sincerity of his soul?<\/p>\n

We must not go the other extreme, and do away with profession tear off the ribband of blue, and the fringe on the borders of the garment, and say, We will have nothing more to do with these things. They are all divine appointments. The sanctuary is God’s; the coming together of men to worship is itself a holy act. You cannot worship individually, in the fullest sense of the term. What is an individual? There is no such thing; society has rendered that impossible. God is the Author of society; God is the Author of humanity. Only in some narrow or limited sense can a man offer any worship in solitude. He is part of a band a great organisation built for music. In some sense it may be true that a man considerably under six feet high may take hold of a gun and sword and say he will go out and fight as an individual wherever the war may be; but such an action needs hardly to be named to bring upon itself the contempt which it deserves. The individual is part of a larger individuality; the person is part of the larger person called the army. To your ranks! To your regiments! When the trumpet-blast sounds, it sounds an appeal and an instruction to the whole body of men. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. A man who is not a churchgoer is a bad man, in some sense, or an incomplete man in others; he has fallen below a right comprehension of human relations and social connections and reciprocations. Behold the solitary wanderer who has gone away by himself on the holy Sabbath morning! he is going to “hear the birds sing” and “the brooks ripple and gurgle,” and “see the hyacinths and the violets” behold him there! Was ever irony more complete? He has missed the divine idea. He should have said, No; to the centre! to the meeting-place! to the rendezvous! together, all together, common prayer, common song, common study; and then radiate as you please, carrying the public personality with the narrow individualism, and enlarging the little unit by the infinite completeness of human nature. We need some outward help. We love to hear somebody pray when we are very lonely and dyingly sick. To hear another human voice is a hint of fellowship, a hint of consolidation, a hint of heaven. We could pray by ourselves, mayhap. Not altogether. It will do us good if some man has force enough to pray aloud; the very audibleness of the speech will bring a kind of society into the chamber; we shall feel the larger by hearing some sympathetic voice arguing, pleading, with God; the walls of the chamber will be broken down and the boundary line will be a horizon, the roof will be removed and the blue ceiling will be heaven. We need the Sabbath day, the memorial Sacraments, the Holy Book, the preaching man, the fellow-suppliant, the congregation; but let us take care not to make more of these tassels than God intended. Let us take care lest by enlarging the fringe we destroy its meaning.<\/p>\n

Note<\/p>\n

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The Law of Fringes. According to Herodotus, the dress of the Egyptians consisted of a linen garment, over which was worn a white woollen cloak or shawl. The former, which seems to have been often, if not generally, worn without the other, was fringed at the bottom. Concerning the form of this fringe perhaps nothing positive can be determined. Some endeavour to ascertain its character by examining the two Hebrew words by which it is expressed, tzizith<\/em> , in the present text, and gedilim<\/em> , in Deu 22:12<\/span> . The former of these words elsewhere (as in Eze 8:3 ) means a lock of hair; and the latter a rope, such as that with which Delilah bound Samson ( Jdg 14:11-12 ); and it is hence imagined that these fringes consisted of many threads which hung like hair, and were twisted like a rope. The “ribband” probably was either a blue thread<\/em> twisted with a white one through the whole fringe, or a lace by which the fringe was fastened to the edge of the garment. Many commentators of authority think, from the explanation in Deut. xxii., that the “fringes” were no other than strings with tassels at the end, fastened to the four corners of the upper garment, the proper use of these strings being to fasten the corners together. Of this opinion are the modern Jews. What they<\/em> understand by the direction of the text appears from Levi’s description of the tzizith or robe in question. It is made of two square pieces with two long pieces like straps joined to them, in order that one of the said pieces may hang down before upon the breast, and the other behind; at the extremity of the four corners are fastened the strings, each of which has five knots besides the tassel, signifying the five books of the law. The rabbins, under whose instruction this profound analogy has been established, further observe that each string consisted of eight threads, which, with the number of knots and the numeral value of the letters in the word tzizith<\/em> , make 613, which is, according to them, the exact number of the precepts in the law. From this they argue the importance of this command, since he who observes it, they say, in effect observes the whole law! The law seems to require that the fringes should be constantly worn; but as it would not consist with the costume of the countries through which the Jews are now dispersed to wear the fringed garment as an external article of dress, every Jew makes use of two a large one which is used only at prayers, and on some other occasions, and is then worn externally, and a small one which is constantly worn as an under-garment. The principal denomination of this article is Tzizith<\/em> , on account of the fringes, in which all its. sanctity is supposed to consist; but the proper name of the vestment itself is Talith, and by this it is commonly distinguished.<\/p>\n

There have been various conjectures as to the object of this law. The most probable is that, the “fringe” was intended as a sort of badge or livery, by which, as well as by circumcision and by the fashion of their beards, and by their peculiar diet, the Hebrews were to be distinguished from other people. Be this as it may, much superstition came in the end to be connected with the use of these fringes. The Pharisees are severely censured by our Saviour for the ostentatious hypocrisy with which they made broad the “border” of their garments.<\/p>\n

Pictorial Commentary.<\/p>\n

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Prayer<\/p>\n

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Almighty God, to thy throne we come as if by right of love. Surely we have no right of conduct. Our behaviour would turn us away from places of light, but because of a love thou hast created in the heart we cannot be content with darkness; we yearn towards the morning; we would stand up in places full of glory and take part in every hymn of praise which celebrates thy pity and thy grace. This is the Lord’s working in our hearts, this is the seal divine, this is the signature of Heaven; there is none like it, there is no mistaking it. We feel what we cannot explain that we have been born into a new life, have laid hold of a new relation, and are now standing in the strength and comfort of a covenant that cannot be broken. If for a moment we doubted this, we should be as men who think the clouds have put out the sun; we should reason wrongly, and make perverted use of thy promises and ministries in the soul. Yet it is difficult sometimes not to think that the sun is dead, that the clouds have conquered at last, and that the air is mightier than light. Thou wilt pity us herein, for our ignorance is our commendation as well as our infirmity. If we own it, thou wilt displace it by wisdom; if we obstinately cling to it, we may suffer the penalty of our folly. We are of yesterday and know nothing. We will not reason before thee; we will that thou wilt reason with us; so there shall be no argument on our side, except the argument of listening well, fixing upon thee the attention of our love and looking at thee with eyes of hunger. With this thou wilt be satisfied. Thou delightest in our upward look; to thee it is a great speech without words, a longing of the heart, a quick beating of the pulses. Behold, thou art worshipped by all the world in this form or in that; but it is after thee the nations yearn. They do not all know it, nor could many of them explain it, and some might even deny it; but, Lord, the earth groaneth for thee, and the peoples of the world are looking wistfully for thy coming. This day we all worship thee: some through the moles and the bats, some through hideous images; those of broader and livelier imagination through the sun and moon and stars, the dawning east and the purpling west; and some in this way and in that: some truly, wisely, by way of revelation, grasping the Cross, seeing the propitiatory Blood, owning the mighty Name, and sealing every prayer with the name of Christ; but the whole earth is thine. In our littleness we reject and classify and distinguish, but in thy greatness thou dost see the inner meaning of things the spiritual purpose, the ultimate design, and thou wilt judge righteous judgment and save many whom we would lose. We come before thee with different forms and conceptions of worship, but thou wilt interpret the motive and answer the heart’s desire. Hear the little child, who can but say, Father, and then wait in troubled silence because other and equal words will not come; tell him it is the greatest prayer the unfinished cry, and the cry that never can be finished. Hear the sinner broken, shattered, and confounded, who can but sob, God be merciful to me a sinner. Stop him there as thou dost stop men who have built a whole tower; there is no need for further word, or speech, or plea; thou wilt stop it with an infinite reply, and come with much of blessing, yea, with festival and banqueting of soul to those who are alive at every point, who commune with thee in high imagining, in gracious fellowship, in tender yearning, through every form possible to the human mind, through all the mediums open to the access of the creature; and thus give a portion of meat to each in due season, and make us all forget the difference of way, and speech, and degree, in the enthusiasm of a common thankfulness, the burning of a unanimous love. We put ourselves into thy keeping. They are well kept whom thou keepest. Stand by the gate; watch the way to the heart; set a burning word near the tree of life to keep it from all trespass. Help us to do our duty bravely, wisely, tenderly, as strong and trustful hearts should do it. May we walk through the night as if it were a new form of day, may we plunge into the sea assured that the plunge will divide the waters, and may we face the wilderness as if it were a garden planted from on high; and when the way is beauteous and summer-lighted, full of song and sweetness and manifold delight, keep us from its fascinations and help us to make it but a dim, poor symbol of the paradise and the heavens which we have yet to realise. Amen.<\/p>\n

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n

Visual reminders to keep the law 15:37-41<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps God initiated this command in response to the incident of Sabbath-breaking just mentioned. The Israelites were to wear tassels on the four corners of their upper outer garments (Deu 22:12). The text does not explain the size of the tassels, but old pictures of tassels on garments that ancient Near Easterners wore show that they were about six inches long.<\/p>\n

"The tassels were in fact extensions of the hem, as we learn from innumerable illustrations in ancient Near Eastern art.<\/p>\n

"To understand the significance of the tassel, we must first understand the significance of the hem. . . . The hem of the outer garment or robe made an important social statement. It was usually the most ornate part of the garment. And the more important the individual, the more elaborate and the more ornate was the embroidery on the hem of his or her outer robe. . . .<\/p>\n

"The significance of the hem and of its being cut off is reflected in a famous biblical episode [namely, when David cut off the hem of Saul’s robe; 1 Samuel 24]. . . .<\/p>\n

"The requirement of a blue cord . . . in the tassels lends further support to the notion that the tassels signified nobility because the blue dye used to color the threads was extraordinarily expensive. . . .<\/p>\n

"The Bible apparently assumed that even the poorest Israelite could afford at least four blue threads, one for each tassel. . . . Thus, weaving a blue thread . . . into the tassel enhances its symbolism as a mark of nobility.<\/p>\n

"The tassel with a thread of blue signified more than royalty or nobility, however. It also signified the priesthood." [Note: Jacob Milgrom, "Of Hems and Tassels," Biblical Archaeology Review 9:3 (May-June 1983):61-65.] <\/span><\/p>\n

The article just quoted also contains reproductions of ancient Near Eastern pictures of people wearing garments with tassels on them. The Israelite was to fasten the tassel to the garment with a blue thread, or it had to contain a blue thread. The blue color, as noted in our study of the tabernacle coverings, probably symbolized heavenly origin and royalty. Thus God apparently wanted the blue thread to remind the Israelites of their holy calling as a kingdom of priests. These tassels reminded the Israelites of their privileged position in the world and their noble and holy calling.<\/p>\n

The tassels were clearly a visual aid for the Israelites and probably produced a conditioned response in the minds of pious Jews (cf. Deu 6:6-9). They did not bring to mind any one commandment but reminded the observer that he should observe all of God’s laws. He was distinct by virtue of his calling, as was the garment he observed. Perhaps God also chose the outer garment because the Israelites were as His outer garment by which the world recognized Him. His people were to be an adornment to Him (cf. Tit 2:10). Thus God specified something that would warn His people before<\/span> they sinned; He did not just specify punishment after<\/span> they sinned.<\/p>\n

"There is an intentional selection behind the collections of laws found throughout the Pentateuch. The purpose of that selection appears clear enough. In reading through these laws we can readily see that God is concerned about every detail of human life. Nothing is too small or unimportant. It all has to be made available and dedicated to him." [Note: Sailhamer, p. 391.] <\/span><\/p>\n

This legislation is the basis for the custom of wearing a tallis or prayer shawl that modern observant Jews still wear. It is also the basis for the flag of the modern state of Israel’s blue color.<\/p>\n

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 37 41. Tassels to be worn as a reminder of Jehovah’s commandments. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges And the Lord spoke unto Moses,…. After the giving of the above laws, and the order for stoning the sabbath breaker; and the rather what follows is connected … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 15:37”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}