TIZITZITH

She touched the hem of His garment.

 I know, already you’re saying, that is a hard word to pronounce. The King James Version translates this word “hem, garment, or fringes.” Have you ever wondered why when the Lady touched the hem of His (the Messiah’s) garment she was made whole? There is a serious word study here that can bless you real good. But you’re going to have to stay with me. Because you first have to understand the Jewish word Tizitzith, in fact, you will have to try to understand the Jewishness of the Messiah to some degree. Because what this lady touched was the Tizitzith of Yeshua.

The Mitzvah (good deed) of Tzitzith is mentioned twice in the Torah (first five books of the Bible). First in Numbers 15:38-40 “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make fringes in their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringes of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you as 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 you use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.”

Deuteronomy 22:12 Thou shalt make thee fringes (Tziztzith) upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

The High Priest would wear a Golden Plate on his forehead with the words “Holy unto God” it was called “Tzitz”. This would Tzitz comes from a root word in Hebrew that means to gaze upon. So the word itself means it is to be seen and something to be gazed upon. The Word of God goes further and describes that every mans Tzitzith (Fringes) is a model of the high priest’s Tzith or Golden plate, and should be seen by all, or gazed upon by all.

So the word in Hebrew “Tzitzith” alludes to the 613 precepts of Torah. For those of you who like numbers, the numerical value of Tzitzith is 600, add to that, 8 for the number of threads, then 5 for the number of knots, and you have the 613. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God always works things out to perfection!

The garment we are talking about is a small undergarment that has four corners and from each corner hangs a set of 8 strings with 5 knows in each. It is commonly called a “Talith Katan” meaning small Prayer Shaw. It is worn by orthodox Jews. The regular full size Prayer Shaw also has the same four corners with the 8 strings and each having 5 knots. It is called in Hebrew Talith Gadol, meaning large Prayer Shaw.

There are by the way fringes on all 4 corners of the garment, there are 8 strings to each fringe, one of which was to be blue. In each of the four fringes there are 5 knots. So lets take a look at these numbers. The number 4 in the Word always speak unto the world. So here we see that God is saying something to the entire world. The number 8 always says something about new beginnings, and this color of blue speaks to the color of the Oceans which is the color of the Heavens and therefore speaks of Heavenly Kingdom and Godly things. The number 5 is the number of Grace. So what is God saying to the world through Tizitzith, He is saying that through Grace, He will give you a New beginning.

So armed with this new information, let’s look at Matt. 9;20 “And, behold a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem (Tzitzith) of His garment.”

Again we read in Matt. 14: 36 “And besought Him that they might only touch the hem (Tzitzith) of His garment; and as many as touched were made whole.

So now lets look numerically at the Lady who touched the Tzitzith (Hem) of His garment. By Grace (5) she received a new beginning (8) from God (blue string). I know it’s a play on numbers but you have to admit it’s most interesting.

But the one thing you can be absolutely certain about, Yeshua “Jesus” always wore the Tiztzith on his garments and on his Prayer Shaw. They hung down in plain site for all to see, and this is what the Lady would have touched.

There are Jewish commentaries that go on and on from Rabbi’s of old, but all that would bore most non-Jewish Believers. So what I have given you is the drift of what is being said from a Jewish point of view. And after all we are talking about a Jewish Book, (the Bible) written by Jews, for Jews, and about the greatest Jew or man that has ever lived. So maybe to understand Jewish things would help you understand the Word of God.

Shalom, Jerry Golden