Written by: Damien Powell
Last week we discussed how the Torah which contains all of YHWH’s guidelines, instructions, commandments, and laws were obeyed by Abel, Noah, and Abraham before there ever was a Jew! Therefore, this shows that the Torah and Laws are eternal (everlasting) and apply to ALL who follow the One True Elohim YHWH and His Son YESHUA! So what are tassels (fringes) and do believers need to wear them?
The Command
Numbers 15:37-41
“And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and you shall say to them to make tsitsit (pronounced seat-seat, KJV says tassels or fringes) on the corners of their garments THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS, and to put a purple (some say blue) cord in the tsitsit of the corners. And it shall be to you for a tsitsit, and you shall see it, and shall remember all the Commands of YHWH and shall DO THEM, and not search after your own heart and your own eyes after which you went lusting, so that you remember, and shall do ALL My Commands, and be holy unto your Elohim. I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt pronounced Mitz-rye-eem), to be your Elohim. I am YHWH your Elohim.”
Deuteronomy 22:12
“Make tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.”
The tsitsit/tassels/fringes look like the tassels that are worn during graduation ceremonies with knots tied in them, and are worn at the bottom of the garment to remind us to keep His Commandments and be holy unto YHWH. The cord is usually referred to as a ribbon “a ribbon of purple/blue” (the 1862 Young’s translation says ribbon as well) at the border with the tassels under it. We know that the world goes astray from YHWH, yet schools borrow from His Living Words and apply to them to graduation ceremonies. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 is so true
“What has been is what shall be, what has been done is what shall be done, and there is none new under the sun. Is there a matter of which it is said, “See, this is new? It was here already, long ago.”
There is much debate about whether the color of the cord/ribbon is to be blue or purple, the Hebrew word "Tekayleth" (tek-ay-leth) was translated in the KJV to mean blue, however, the "Tekayleth" means violet in Hebrew, not blue and even the concordance agrees. Strong’s 8504 says this:
Strong's Concordance
tekeleth: violet, violet thread
Original Word: תְּכֵלֶת
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: tekeleth
Phonetic Spelling: (tek-ay'-leth)
Definition: violet, violet thread
According to hebrewgarments.com and other sources says: Why did the KJV use blue? The KJV is an Old English Translation of Hebrew Words. At the time of translation, blue was used to describe violet as violet contained more blue than red, it was only logical. However, this is corrected in the concordance which even describes this "blue" shade to actually be violet.
I personally do not think this was done intentionally to deceive anyone, it’s just two different languages. However, I do encourage anyone to refer back to the Hebrew as much as possible so you can get a better understanding of YHWH”s Words because one word can change the entire meaning of a passage. The same way the KJV translates grain as corn, the example of this is found in John 12:24
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
The passage should read like this “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a GRAIN of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Corn during that time period was referred to as any grain especially wheat, so reading that passage in KJV would be misleading, as we know there is no “corn of wheat” and it makes more sense knowing that it is “grain of wheat”. I strongly believe this is what happened with the color translation as well. I honestly, do not know how YHWH views this situation with the translations of colors, cords, and ribbons, but as always take it to Him in prayer and let the Ruach guide you. But without a doubt men and women who follow YESHUA are commanded to wear tassels on their garments!
Did YESHUA wear tsitsit/tassels?
We see in Numbers 15:38-41 YHWH Commands us to wear tsitsit and we know that YESHUA is the Word of YHWH made flesh; therefore, YESHUA would not break The Torah, He obeyed every commandment being without sin, and He cannot abolish any laws being that He is The Word or else He would be abolishing Himself, let it not be! And we are to walk as He walked. He is Elohim the Son who became fully human as we are and even received the Ruach ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit) just as we are supposed to. So He did not cut any corners because He is The Son of YHWH, He showed us how to walk and be obedient.
1 John 2:5-6
“But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. The one who says he stays in Him OUGHT HIMSELF ALSO TO WALK, EVEN AS HE WALKED.”
Mathew 9:19-20
“And YESHUA rose and followed him, His disciples too. And see, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the TSITSIT (Tassels) of His garment.”
Luke 8:43-44
“And a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who having spent all her livelihood on physicians, was unable to be healed by any, came from behind and touched the TSITSIT (Tassels) of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.”
Mathew 14:35-36
“And when the men of that placed recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding country, and brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him to let them only touch the TSITSIT (Tassels) of His garment. And as many as touched it were completely healed.”
KJV says hem or borders right?
The King James Bible translated the world tassel or fringes with border and hem which changes the meaning if you don’t go back at look at the original word as I pointed out earlier. This is how the KJV reads regarding the tassels:
Luke 8:43-44 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
Matthew 9:20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.
The Greek word used to translate "border" and "hem" in the above scriptures is the word kraspedon #2899 in the Strong's concordance:
Kraspedon means a fringe or tassel – border, hem. Even the Barkley-Newman Greek Dictionary defines it as: kraspedon, fringe, edge; tassel
YESHUA is Torah and pointed to the Torah
Mathew 5:17
“Do not think that I came to destroy (abolish) the Torah or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete.”
YESHUA pointed to The Torah when He healed the leper? Mathew 8:2-4
“And see, a leper came, and bowed before Him, saying, “Adonai, if You desire, You are able to make me clean.” And stretching out His hand YESHUA touched him, saying, “I desire it. Be cleansed! And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And YESHUA said to him, “See, mention it to no one. But go your way, show yourself to the Kohen (priest) and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a witness to them.” Ezra 7:6 shows Moses was given Torah by YHWH, Moses wrote the words.
Leviticus 14:1-4
“And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the Torah of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the Kohen (priest), and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look and see, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the Kohen shall command, and he shall take for him who is to be cleansed to live and clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet and hyssop.” Verse 32 “This the Torah for one who had an infection of leprosy, who is unable to afford his cleansing.”
What is the gift YESHUA was referring to? Leviticus 1:1-4
“And YHWH called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Appointment, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and say to them, ‘When anyone of you brings an offering to YHWH, you bring your offering of the livestock, of the herd or of the flock. ‘If his offering is a burnt offering of the herd, let him bring a male, a perfect one. Let him bring it at the door of the Tent of Appointment, for his acceptance before YHWH. ‘And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.”
We can see that YESHUA pointed back to the Torah concerning the healing of the Leper and YESHUA cleansed Him without the leper having to go through the entire ritual showing His power, but He did tell him to offer the gift commanded in the Torah as a witness.
Let us do ALL we can to be obedient and walk like YESHUA
Luke 6:46
“But why do you call Me Adonai (My Master), Adonai,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who is coming to Me, and is hearing My Words and is DOING them, I shall show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock. And when a flood came, the stream burst against that house, but was unable to shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But the one hearing and NOT DOING, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream burst, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Let us obedient to our Elohim of Yisra’el and follow Him as He commanded and walk how YESHUA walked! The tsitsit also make you stand out amongst a crowd because nobody is wearing them, so you will have a set-apart look from the world, plus it’s a great conversation starter. People will want to know what they mean because it is so rare to see them, which is a great time to tell them about YESHUA our awesome Mashiach/Messiah (Ma-she-ach) and all He has done for us! HalleluYAH!