Hi all,
The word 'tzitzit' (tsit-zit) means 'fringes', which was commanded by God to be on the clothing of ancient Israelis as a reminder of the Word of God in Numbers 15:37-41:
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them to make tzitzit (tassels) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, with a blue cord on each tzitzit. You will have these tassels to look at to remind you of the Word of God, to do all His commands, that you may obey them and not follow your own hearts and eyes to fulfill your lusts. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and that you are consecrated to your God."
The strings (tassels) must be tied directly to the clothing which means no clip-on tassels are permitted. There are 4, one on each corner, with each made of 4 threads (one of them blue) looped over to make 8 total. Then 5 knots are made in the 8 tassels near the top, making the tassel (tzitzit) into one cord. Because the Hebrew alphabet has a number associated with each letter, the name 'tzitzit' in Hebrew is also the number 600. By including the 5 knots in the 8 tassels for a total of 13, they add up to 613 - the number of laws in the Law of Moses, reminding the wearer of the commands of the Lord.
Why a blue thread?
In ancient Israel every Israelite's clothing had a tzitzit at each corner of their clothes. Over time clothing styles changed, and now they have prayer shawls with tzitzit, usually of wide blue and white stripes. In ancient times God commanded a blue thread be included among the white threads. The blue dye was made from the chilazon snail, a type of Murex, that lives in the Mediterranean. Blue is the color of heaven and God; reminding each Israelite they were God's nobility, called as a nation to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6).
What David did
The whole of I Samuel 24 is about David cutting off the hem of Saul's robe while Saul was relieving himself in the cave where David was hiding. Verse 5 tells us David's conscience 'struck him', which is a good translation of the Hebrew 'nakah'. It means to 'strike, beat, give a wound, or punish'. David felt very convicted he had cut the hem of Saul's garment. In ancient times and in some funerals today, a person's tzitzit was cut off at their funeral, showing they are no longer bound to the Laws of Moses. Some customs bury the person with their prayer shawl, but with one of the tzitzit damaged or removed to show the same.
David's conscience bothered him because he had performed the funeral ceremony of cutting off a tzitzit from Saul, telling him that he is a dead man, released from having to obey God's Word - a direct reference to I Samuel 15 when Saul deliberately disobeyed the Lord - talk about putting salt in the wound David! David's repentance was so powerful Saul himself repented for trying to kill David, and went home.
What the woman of Mark 5 did
In Matthew 9:20, Mark 5:24-34 and Luke 8:43-44 we see a woman with a severe and chronic (12 years) hemorrhaging condition. "When she had heard of Jesus she touched his clothes, for she said within herself; If I just touch the hem of His clothes I will be whole.'" He told her:"Your faith has made you whole."
A few chapters later, in Matthew 14:35-36, we are told:"And when the people of the place recognized Jesus was there, they told everyone in the area. People brought their sick to Him and begged Him to at least let them touch the hem of His clothes, and all who touched it were healed."
We could speculate that because she is first mentioned in Matthew 9 of touching the hem (tzitzit) of His clothes and was healed, the crowds of Matthew 14 had heard how she was healed, and emulated her, full of faith because of her faith and actions. We don't know, but we do know the tzitzit stands for the Word of God, and there in the crowd before their very eyes was the Word of God in the flesh - the whole of the Word fulfilling the 613 commands perfectly, in the flesh - and just touching the Living Word through touching the tzitzit, healed many people.
The Lord's Supper - part of a larger communal meal
In most churches today, the Lord's Supper is celebrated as a separate part of a service. In the first century the Lord's Supper was part of the meal. Matthew 26:26:"As they were eating Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and gave it to His disciples saying; Take, eat, this is my body...." Mark 14:22:"While they were eating Jesus took the bread..."
In house church, food is integral, and in some cultures today resembles the way Jesus celebrated that first 'Lord's Supper'. In fact it was the celebration of these community meals that helped Christianity grow so quickly throughout the Roman Empire. This is because Roman, Greek, and Jewish culture all had these large family and friends meals as part of the basic social fabric of Mediterranean life in the first century. When Jews, Greeks, and Romans became Christians, they naturally incorporated Christ into the community meals they'd been doing all their lives.
In Judaism, Jews didn't eat with Gentiles, but they had their own community meal. Romans looked down on the Greeks, but each culture had their own community meals. A good example of them coming together is seen in Acts 18 with the founding of the church at Corinth. Paul led many Jews in the synagogue to Jesus, and as such needed to meet in someone else's house, which turned out to be a Roman name Justus. We are told "and many of the Corinthians (Greeks) also believed and were baptized." Later, in I Corinthians 11:17-34 some of those in this racially and socio-economically mixed body of believers, refused to eat with the rest.
For Romans, the community meal, the meal was open to family, friends, and neighbors, but segregated by social and economic status. For Greeks, usually only elite people were invited, the poorer classes were shunned. For Jews, only Jews were invited. The meal was about remembering their history, bonding around the things of God, reinforcing their unique identity and strengthening social and family bonds. Now imagine these 3 cultures thrown together for a community meal. They were all new believers in Jesus, and each had their own expectations of what these meals should look like. Additionally, Corinth was a sea port and it was known that the city's white collar workers never mixed with dock workers, sailors, and shop owners. It is no wonder Paul's first letter to the Corinthians addressed at least 10 major issues! At least 3 of those involved separating into insulated little groups who didn't associate with the others, and strife!
Paul brought it all together for them in I Corinthians 11:17-34 by writing to them to focus on the real reason they had come together:To celebrate the life, sacrifice, and promises of Jesus Christ. Paul urged them in so many words to lay aside that which divides; their prejudices, their preconceived ideas of what the traditional communal meal should look like, and focus on Jesus. Paul repeats what he said he learned directly from the Lord:Take the bread which represents the body broken, and the wine which represents the blood shed, and partake together.
Paul told those who chose to separate from the others; "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early, because you have not properly discerned the Lord's body." In context, the discerning of the Lord's body isn't about healing, but about the body of Christ. That He died and rose for Jew, Greek and Roman, and if you dismiss race, socio-economic, and life history issues from those in the room, you can focus on what Jesus did for each one present. This provides for a true community meal.
If you are in a house church, or maybe a Bible study or prayer group, consider this:Have a meal together and somewhere after everyone has eaten most of their meal but still talking and eating and sharing, step in to casually pass around bread and juice or wine. Get everyone's attention, and point out the rich conversations going on, how Jesus saved each person with no concern for who they were or where they came from, just that He loves each one - and then after a moment to consider and get one's heart right, eat the bread, drink the fruit of the vine....and then continue in the conversations, reflections, and appreciation for each one present.
More insights and understandings next week to close the series. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected] or [email protected]
The word 'tzitzit' (tsit-zit) means 'fringes', which was commanded by God to be on the clothing of ancient Israelis as a reminder of the Word of God in Numbers 15:37-41:
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them to make tzitzit (tassels) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, with a blue cord on each tzitzit. You will have these tassels to look at to remind you of the Word of God, to do all His commands, that you may obey them and not follow your own hearts and eyes to fulfill your lusts. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and that you are consecrated to your God."
The strings (tassels) must be tied directly to the clothing which means no clip-on tassels are permitted. There are 4, one on each corner, with each made of 4 threads (one of them blue) looped over to make 8 total. Then 5 knots are made in the 8 tassels near the top, making the tassel (tzitzit) into one cord. Because the Hebrew alphabet has a number associated with each letter, the name 'tzitzit' in Hebrew is also the number 600. By including the 5 knots in the 8 tassels for a total of 13, they add up to 613 - the number of laws in the Law of Moses, reminding the wearer of the commands of the Lord.
Why a blue thread?
In ancient Israel every Israelite's clothing had a tzitzit at each corner of their clothes. Over time clothing styles changed, and now they have prayer shawls with tzitzit, usually of wide blue and white stripes. In ancient times God commanded a blue thread be included among the white threads. The blue dye was made from the chilazon snail, a type of Murex, that lives in the Mediterranean. Blue is the color of heaven and God; reminding each Israelite they were God's nobility, called as a nation to be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6).
What David did
The whole of I Samuel 24 is about David cutting off the hem of Saul's robe while Saul was relieving himself in the cave where David was hiding. Verse 5 tells us David's conscience 'struck him', which is a good translation of the Hebrew 'nakah'. It means to 'strike, beat, give a wound, or punish'. David felt very convicted he had cut the hem of Saul's garment. In ancient times and in some funerals today, a person's tzitzit was cut off at their funeral, showing they are no longer bound to the Laws of Moses. Some customs bury the person with their prayer shawl, but with one of the tzitzit damaged or removed to show the same.
David's conscience bothered him because he had performed the funeral ceremony of cutting off a tzitzit from Saul, telling him that he is a dead man, released from having to obey God's Word - a direct reference to I Samuel 15 when Saul deliberately disobeyed the Lord - talk about putting salt in the wound David! David's repentance was so powerful Saul himself repented for trying to kill David, and went home.
What the woman of Mark 5 did
In Matthew 9:20, Mark 5:24-34 and Luke 8:43-44 we see a woman with a severe and chronic (12 years) hemorrhaging condition. "When she had heard of Jesus she touched his clothes, for she said within herself; If I just touch the hem of His clothes I will be whole.'" He told her:"Your faith has made you whole."
A few chapters later, in Matthew 14:35-36, we are told:"And when the people of the place recognized Jesus was there, they told everyone in the area. People brought their sick to Him and begged Him to at least let them touch the hem of His clothes, and all who touched it were healed."
We could speculate that because she is first mentioned in Matthew 9 of touching the hem (tzitzit) of His clothes and was healed, the crowds of Matthew 14 had heard how she was healed, and emulated her, full of faith because of her faith and actions. We don't know, but we do know the tzitzit stands for the Word of God, and there in the crowd before their very eyes was the Word of God in the flesh - the whole of the Word fulfilling the 613 commands perfectly, in the flesh - and just touching the Living Word through touching the tzitzit, healed many people.
The Lord's Supper - part of a larger communal meal
In most churches today, the Lord's Supper is celebrated as a separate part of a service. In the first century the Lord's Supper was part of the meal. Matthew 26:26:"As they were eating Jesus took the bread and blessed it, and gave it to His disciples saying; Take, eat, this is my body...." Mark 14:22:"While they were eating Jesus took the bread..."
In house church, food is integral, and in some cultures today resembles the way Jesus celebrated that first 'Lord's Supper'. In fact it was the celebration of these community meals that helped Christianity grow so quickly throughout the Roman Empire. This is because Roman, Greek, and Jewish culture all had these large family and friends meals as part of the basic social fabric of Mediterranean life in the first century. When Jews, Greeks, and Romans became Christians, they naturally incorporated Christ into the community meals they'd been doing all their lives.
In Judaism, Jews didn't eat with Gentiles, but they had their own community meal. Romans looked down on the Greeks, but each culture had their own community meals. A good example of them coming together is seen in Acts 18 with the founding of the church at Corinth. Paul led many Jews in the synagogue to Jesus, and as such needed to meet in someone else's house, which turned out to be a Roman name Justus. We are told "and many of the Corinthians (Greeks) also believed and were baptized." Later, in I Corinthians 11:17-34 some of those in this racially and socio-economically mixed body of believers, refused to eat with the rest.
For Romans, the community meal, the meal was open to family, friends, and neighbors, but segregated by social and economic status. For Greeks, usually only elite people were invited, the poorer classes were shunned. For Jews, only Jews were invited. The meal was about remembering their history, bonding around the things of God, reinforcing their unique identity and strengthening social and family bonds. Now imagine these 3 cultures thrown together for a community meal. They were all new believers in Jesus, and each had their own expectations of what these meals should look like. Additionally, Corinth was a sea port and it was known that the city's white collar workers never mixed with dock workers, sailors, and shop owners. It is no wonder Paul's first letter to the Corinthians addressed at least 10 major issues! At least 3 of those involved separating into insulated little groups who didn't associate with the others, and strife!
Paul brought it all together for them in I Corinthians 11:17-34 by writing to them to focus on the real reason they had come together:To celebrate the life, sacrifice, and promises of Jesus Christ. Paul urged them in so many words to lay aside that which divides; their prejudices, their preconceived ideas of what the traditional communal meal should look like, and focus on Jesus. Paul repeats what he said he learned directly from the Lord:Take the bread which represents the body broken, and the wine which represents the blood shed, and partake together.
Paul told those who chose to separate from the others; "Many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early, because you have not properly discerned the Lord's body." In context, the discerning of the Lord's body isn't about healing, but about the body of Christ. That He died and rose for Jew, Greek and Roman, and if you dismiss race, socio-economic, and life history issues from those in the room, you can focus on what Jesus did for each one present. This provides for a true community meal.
If you are in a house church, or maybe a Bible study or prayer group, consider this:Have a meal together and somewhere after everyone has eaten most of their meal but still talking and eating and sharing, step in to casually pass around bread and juice or wine. Get everyone's attention, and point out the rich conversations going on, how Jesus saved each person with no concern for who they were or where they came from, just that He loves each one - and then after a moment to consider and get one's heart right, eat the bread, drink the fruit of the vine....and then continue in the conversations, reflections, and appreciation for each one present.
More insights and understandings next week to close the series. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected] or [email protected]
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