I was given the idea the woman had to reach to the ground or near the Lord's ankles to touch the hem of His robe to be healed of her 12 year ailment. (Mark 5:27-29) What we are talking about here is the Jewish prayer shawl. The shawl is called a Tallit (pronounced tal-eet) which means "little tent".
It has fringes on each end and a techelet (blue) thread interwoven into the tassels on each corner. This is symbolic of the tent Tabernacle Israel had in the wilderness. Anytime someone wanted to pray, they could pull the tallit up over their head and have a symbolic tent Tabernacle to commune with the Lord in privacy.
Tallit
This is the prayer closet the Lord spoke of. (Matt. 6:6) (Luke 12:3) When the head was covered, this would symbolically keep the "spirit of the world" outside and one could pray undistracted without being double-minded. The tassel is called a Tzitzit. The Tzitzit strings are usually tied in knots numbering 613, symbolic of the number of the Laws of Moses (Torah). This is what people from the cities, villages and country touched to be well. (Mark 6:56)
The origin of the tallit seems to follow a harsh lesson. A guy had just been caught gathering firewood on the Sabbath. They did not know what to do with him. God said to stone him to death outside the camp. When they were done, the next thing recorded is God's instruction to make the tallit, to remember the commandments of the Lord and do them. (Num. 15:36-40)
Let's think about this possibility for a minute. They may very well have grown up with this guy, worked with him, been neighbors for years or his kids played with their kids all the time. Now they are wearing a prayer shawl with the memory of throwing at least one of the stones to kill him. If they threw stones hesitantly and reluctantly, would it have been a longer more drawn out execution? What about having to look into the eyes of the surviving widow and kids you just had a BBQ with a week before? Ugh!
This tallit is what the Lord was poking fun at the Pharisees about in when he spoke of them making extra long fringes. (Matt. 23:5) The fringe or tassel on His tallit is what the woman touched for healing. Why did she come trembling? She would have been ritually unclean according to the Torah (Law of Moses). To touch anyone, especially a rabbi would have brought severe reprimand.
When the Lord was in villages, cities or the country the sick besought him that they might touch the fringe or tassels of his garment and were healed. Different translations of the Bible use the terms "hem (or) border of His garment", "edge of His cloak", "fringes" or sometimes even "tassels" for the above verses.
This would be the mantle (ornamental covering) that Elijah passed on to Elisha. This is the same mantle that Elijah and Elisha used to part the Jordan River. The four corners of the Tallit are called "wings". This is associated with us being under the protective wings of the Lord. The same Hebrew word translated "corners" in Numbers 15 is interchangeably translated into "wings" in Malachi 4:2.
Hem of His Garment
Copyright June 2009 by Peter B.
You will be amazed at how much more can be found in the Bible than we are told. Our research and information is contained in the new book "The Bible I Thought I Knew", available at website: http://www.djmercer.com/liestoldme.htm
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