Welcome and Praise Yahweh! We are going to be talking about what I really believe is an important topic today. Maybe some people might not see it as the most important commandment in Scripture, but we are going to talk about a commandment in Scripture that is often ignored or regarded to be no longer binding on believers today. No pun intended.

When I first started to observe Yahweh’s Law in 1990, I met a dear brother who, unlike almost anyone else I had ever met that believed in keeping the Law of Yahweh, was practicing this commandment. And I asked him where it was in Scripture, and he showed me.

And me? I was fairly young in this– maybe six months or so. I think it was maybe ’90 or ’91 when he showed it to me. And so, I saw it and thought, “Well, what is holding us back?”

So we looked at it and we began to practice it as well. And then I began to wonder why there were so few others who, even though they believed in keeping the Law of Yahweh, they were not willing to practice this particular commandment.

And so, I began to ask around, and even Torah observant– that means commandment keeping believers– they even considered this commandment to be abolished. And so, maybe some of you listening today may have never heard of this commandment, which I am going to share with you in a minute.

Others may have heard of it, but perhaps took the position, “Well, that has been set aside in favor of the indwelling of Yahweh’s Spirit.” And so, we are going to talk today about the commandment to wear tassels: “Why we All MUST Wear Tassels (tzitzit).” That is right– tzitzit! “Tzitziyot” in the plural.

The commandment to wear a tassel is found in Scripture. It is important. It is a part of what Yahweh has told us to do. Just like anything else He has told us to do, we want to do it and we do not want to delay. We want to practice it when we hear about it.

If you look at these things on the right, you will notice that there are four of them– four tassels. And the four tassels are to be worn on four places on the clothing that we wear. And these tassels were worn by Yahushua the Messiah.

The disciples, who walked as Yahushua walked, would have worn them as well. And it is all part of Yahweh’s will for our life. It is not, in my view, any less binding or less important than anything else Yahweh says. It is all part of His Word. So if His Word says it, we want to do it. No reason to delay.

So looking here, you will notice there are four tassels. There is one here, one here, one here, one here. And they are to be worn on four corners of our garments. And we are going to get into the Hebrew here: “tzitzit.”

The word “tzitzit” is translated “tassel” in most of our bibles. And it is the four Hebrew letters: tsade, yod, tsade, tav. And you notice the “chireq” underneath. And you will see that this particular letter (“tsade”) is pronounced “Tza” (Tzadek). Sort of like the “ts” in “Tsunami” or the “ts” sound in “Pizza” (Peetsa).

It is not a letter that we normally use. But since what happened with the tsunami, I found that a lot more people at least can get some kind of a familiarity with it and an understanding of what this actual sound might be, because most of us can say “tsunami” without a problem.

And so, yes, “tzadek.” “Tsade” is the Hebrew letter. And so, we pronounce this (tzitzit), “tseet-tseet,” “t-s,” “t-s.” “Tseet-tseet.” If you were going to say it in the plural, as in “tassels,” then you would say “tseet-tsee-oat.” And so, that is the way you pronounce it.

It is not pronounced “zeet-zeet.” A lot of people end up pronouncing it that way because they do not think about using “t-s” and they call them “zeet-zeets.” But it is “tseet-tseet” with a hard “t” to begin it.

And it says: Numbers 15:38 – “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels (tzitzit) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels (tzitzit) of the corners.”

And so, that is all commanded and expected. And the full context is:

Numbers 15:38 – Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

39 – And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of YAHWEH and do them, and that you [may] not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,

40 – and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your Elohim.

So that is the commandment. That is what we are told to obey. And most people do not even realize that this commandment even exists in the Scripture. But it is there.

Now some people believe that this particular commandment has now been set aside or abolished or done away with; we do not have to do it anymore because now we have the Holy Spirit to remind us of the commandments and we do not need a set of strings to remind us of commandments. But let’s look at their reasoning for a minute.

Yahushua did say:

John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

So they believe, those who regard this as being abolished, that the Holy Spirit now is what Yahweh has given us to bring to memory the things that we are told to do. But we have to be careful about using human reasoning to scratch out or abolish Yahweh’s commandments. We have to be real careful about that.

Just because the Holy Spirit is able to bring Yahweh’s Word to our remembrance does not mean we no longer will have any kind of reminders at all about Yahweh’s Word and that the Holy Spirit substitutes everything. Because the truth is, we have all kinds of reminders in Scripture.

To “New Testament” believers it is written:

Hebrews 12:4 – You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

5 – And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of YAHWEH, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

How could they have forgotten if they have the Holy Spirit to remind them? This is a scripture from Proverbs:

Proverbs 3:11 – My son, do not despise the chastening of YAHWEH, Nor detest His correction;

There are several other scriptures along this line, and yet, he is telling them (he is talking to believers in Messiah) they have forgotten this Word. Well, how could they forget? They have the Holy Spirit, right?

You see, the truth is the Apostles wrote to the brethren for the purposes of reminding them of the Word of Yahweh. And they would remind them of various commandments and principles in the Scriptures.

Paul charges Titus to remind others. He says:

Titus 3:1 – Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

2 – to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

Don’t they have the Holy Spirit? Why do they need Titus to remind them? Do you see what I am getting at? We make these blanket statements. We make connections through human reasoning. And, by that, we end up taking away from one of Yahweh’s commandments.

And 2 Timothy 2, verse 13, says:

2Timothy 2:13 – If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

14 – Remind [them] of these things, charging [them] before YAHWEH not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.

Remind them? What do they need a reminder for? They have the Holy Spirit. Because, yes, the Holy Spirit does remind us; it does not mean the Holy Spirit is the sole reminder and nothing else can be used to remind us.

2Peter 1:10 – Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

11 – for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Master and Savior Yahushua Messiah.

12 – For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

So even though they know it, he is going to remind them. He is not going to be negligent to remind them.

Well, if they have the Holy Spirit, I am going to ask the question again. Why do they need a reminder?

Continuing, verse 13…

2Peter 1:13 – Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding [you],

14 – knowing that shortly I [must] put off my tent, just as our Master Yahushua Messiah showed me.

15 – Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

So he is going to continue to make sure that they are reminded “of these things.” So who among us would rebuke the Apostles for reminding people? I mean, the reality is the Scriptures are full of precepts for which purpose it is to bring things to our remembrance.

Even Yahushua said in Luke 22:19:

Luke 22:19 – And He took bread, gave thanks and broke [it], and gave [it] to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.

How could we ever forget Yahushua? If we have the Holy Spirit, how could we forget Him? How could we forget the One who died for us? Yet we are expected to partake of Him as an act of remembrance. Would any among us say that we do not need to do what Yahushua said because we now have the Holy Spirit to remind us of what He did for us?

So we are clearly to do this act and remember Yahushua the Messiah, who is the Living Word made flesh.

And if He is the Living Word made flesh and we are expected to keep this precept to remember Yahushua, who is the Word, who dwells in us, to whom we say, “It is no longer I who live, it is Messiah who lives in us,” and we do not reject this commandment…

Then why do we reject any other commandment given for the purposes of bringing Yahweh’s Word to remembrance?

Besides this, are we really any better? Really? I mean, yes, we know that Israel was told to wear tassels, and the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit in our life should not cause us to ignore any of Yahweh’s Word, right?

If the presence of the Holy Spirit is in you, and the Holy Spirit is supposed to remind you to keep the commandments, isn’t one of the commandments to wear tassels? You can’t go in circles here with this. You have to accept the fact that one of the commandments is to wear tassels, to wear the tzitzit.

In fact, the Spirit itself will remind us of this statute. Yahweh says:

Ezekiel 36:27 – I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do [them].

So the Spirit of Yahweh– unless we are resisting it, unless we are saying, “Oh, I don’t need that,” unless we are thinking, “Oh, what will people say about me if I wear that?” unless we are thinking, “Oh, that is the Old Testament; I don’t need to do that anymore”– the Spirit will convict us.

It is the commandments and doctrines of men which say, “You do not have to do what Yahweh says,” that take these things out of people’s minds and cause them to disregard it as unimportant.

So the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit does not negate the commandments. The presence of Yahweh’s Spirit reminds us to keep the commandments, yes. And if Yahweh says, “Wear them,” why do we go around finding reasons why we do not have to do that? I mean, maybe Yahweh has other reasons besides telling us, “Wear this so you will remember the commands.”

Maybe He has 55,000 other reasons He has in His mind. He just only told us one of them. I mean, He told Eve, “Do not partake of the fruit. If you partake of the fruit, you will die.” And Eve did not know all the possible reasons why “don’t eat the fruit.”

“Well, so your children will not be cursed. So Messiah will have to come and die for your sins.”

There were all kinds of reasons why Yahweh gave the commandment to not partake of the forbidden fruit. But He did not give them all. He just said, “Do not do it. If you do it, you will die.”

And so, what did she say? The enemy came in, and said, “Oh well, hath Elohim said, ‘You shall not eat’?”

So we have to ask ourselves, what spirit is telling us, “Hath Elohim said, ‘Wear the tassels’?” I mean, maybe it seems silly to some of you. But Yahweh did not give the commandment for comic relief. He did not give the commandment to make a big joke. He did not give the commandment to have Israel look silly to their neighbors.

He gave the commandment for a good reason. And believers in Messiah, yes, we need reminders every once in a while. And I challenge any believer in Messiah to claim they have never forgotten something they read in Scripture. I mean, who has the entire Bible memorized cover to cover? Nobody.

Why do we teach our children to memorize Scripture? The same people who will say, “Oh, we do not need reminders,” will be the same people who will make sure their children have scriptures memorized.

And so, I hope that lays to rest any thought that we can erase one of Yahweh’s commandments and scratch it out and abolish it and set it aside simply because we have the Holy Spirit performing the same functions that this is supposed to do. Otherwise, why even bother reading Scripture? I mean, you have the Holy Spirit, right? You do not need it.

But Yahweh does have His Word for a reason. For a good reason.

So moving on here…

Numbers 15:38 – Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

39 – And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of YAHWEH and do them, and that you [may] not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,

40 – and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your Elohim.

And we are told in the New Testament– 1 Peter says: “Be holy, for I am holy.”

So it is good to have memorials, reminders, things that bring Yahweh’s Word to the forefront of our minds, because we are still humans. We are still prone to forgetting even though we have Messiah and we have the Holy Spirit.

We are prone to letting our eyes and hearts turn away from the commandments of Yahweh. And so, He says He knows that. Your own eyes, your own heart– they have this inclination.

Now imagine if you were to be one who normally wore tassels all the time, and you did so for many years. And suppose you were to get very weak spiritually to the point of where you were kind of slipping away and you were not serving Yahweh as you should.

And you get dressed every morning and you have these tassels that you put on your clothes every day. You know, you would have to overcome this hurdle of habit, first of all, and physically take those tassels off your garments. And if you have any conscience left, that would be hard to do.

And so, don’t you see where wearing the tassels can be a way of life that can draw you back to Yahweh again?

Suppose you are being tempted to look at pornography or commit adultery. Having those tassels sitting there reminding you of who you are in Messiah, reminding you Yahushua is imploring, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. Do you love Me?”

And the Torah of Yahweh saying, “Love Yahweh with all your heart, soul, might, strength and mind– everything. Love your wife, love your husband, as yourself.”

Those tassels are speaking to you as reminders of Yahweh’s Word, and if you have any conscience at all, it would be hard to look at those things, to look at those tassels, and yet, still, turn away from the commandments of Yahweh.

See, Yahweh gave us commandments to make our lifestyle different than the lifestyle of the world. And yet, it is those commandments which happen to affect our lifestyle which seem to be met with the most resistance in traditional Christianity.

I know a man who committed adultery against his wife, and he had fallen away. He went back into the bars, and someone came and pulled him out of the bars and took him to a restaurant. And the man went to order some food. And he asked the question to the waitress, “Can you tell me what ingredients are in this particular food?”

And she says, “Why?” And he was still not in the right place, spiritually, and he kind of ignored her. But she insisted. “Why? Why do you want to know that?” And he had to explain to her. He had to go in the witnessing mode. And it pulled him back into the faith.

See, we have lifestyle things that can pull us back in.

Now, for me, if there is any question as to whether we should keep the commandment, we only need to look at the perfect example of Yahushua the Messiah. We know He had the fullness of Yahweh’s Spirit, and if there was anyone who could claim that he did not need a reminder, it would be Him.

If there is anyone who could say, “I have the Holy Spirit; I do not need this tassel commandment,” it would be Him.

But you may remember the time the woman who had the flow of blood was healed.

Luke 8:43 – 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.

This is the Greek word “kraspedon.”

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.

She touched the “kraspedon” of His garment. What was she touching?

The “Full Thayer Lexicon” (not the abbreviated one), says here: “In classical Greek the extremity or prominent part. of a thing, edge, skirt, margin; the fringe of a garment; in the N. T. for Hebrew [tzitzit], i. e. a little appendage hanging down from the edge of the mantle or cloak, made of twisted wool; a tassel, tuft:

“Matthew 9:20; Matthew 14:36; Matthew 23:5; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44. The Jews had such appendages attached to their mantles to remind them of the law, according to Numbers 15:37f. Cf. Winers RWB under the word Saum; (B. D. under the phrase, Hem of Garment; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, 1:624; especially Ginsburg in Alex.’s Kitto under the word Fringes).”

This is the word in Hebrew: “tzitzit.” So that is one Lexicon.

Another Lexicon, the “Friberg Lexicon,” says: (1) as the outer limit of something; of a garment: hem, border, edge; (2) in Jewish usage, the tassel or fringe on the four corners of the outer garment, worn as a reminder to observe the commandments (cf. Numbers 15:38-41; Deuteronomy 22:12).

That is what the woman with the flow of blood was actually touching.

And, also, the du Tillet, which is a 450 year old Hebrew manuscript of the book of Matthew, contains “Tzitzi” in these passages, as well as other passages we are going to examine.

Now this woman with the flow of blood was healed by touching the “tassel” or the “tzitzit” of His garment. So not only did Yahushua wear the tassels, but Yahweh used them in a mighty way to bring healing.

And this, to me, indicates the tassels probably have some kind of spiritual significance, in addition to the reasons given, to remind us of the commands.

Maybe there is something spiritual we do not even know about and realize. Maybe there is some extra measure of protection. Now I am not talking about a talisman or a good luck charm. But when we keep the commandments of Yahweh, we know we are on the side of righteousness and the side of good.

And we can always trust that Yahweh knows what He is doing and He has reasons for what He tells us to do. And He may not give them all.

Matthew 14:34 – When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret.

35 – And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick,

36 – and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched [it] were made perfectly well.

The “tassel” [#2899 kraspedon] of His garment. All He had to do was sit there and let people come up and touch His tassel and they were completely healed. That is awesome!

Mark 6:56 – Wherever He entered into villages, cities, or in the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.

The “tassel” [#2899 kraspedon] of His garment. So we see, Yahweh used the tassels that Yahushua wore in a powerful way, and people were begging to touch the tassel of His garment so that they could receive the healing.

We know Yahushua had the fullness of Yahweh’s Spirit. He is the example. Yahushua is the example of what a Spirit filled person should do with this commandment to wear the tassels. And the answer is simple: Keep it. Do what Yahweh said.

When you are Spirit filled you still wear tassels. Why? Yahushua was Spirit filled. He was far more Spirit filled than any of us. And what did He do with the commandment to wear tassels? He still wore it. He is our example.

1John 2:5 – But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of Elohim is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

6 – He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

What did He do with the tassel commandment? What did He do with it? He kept it.

So we want to walk just as Yahushua walked. And when we walk as He walked, it shows and demonstrates that, yes, Yahushua lives in me. He does. He lives in me. And that is the proof. That is the evidence that He lives in me– that I am doing the things that He did.

Yahushua said, “Greater works than these will they do.” How could Yahweh use your tassels?

I know in the community around us, I can recognize someone who is like me (they believe in keeping the commandments) because they are wearing the tassels.

I can speak from my own experience that unbelieving Jews will ask, “Why are you wearing the tassels?” I went to Israel in 2009 and I was wearing the tassels. And it opened up the door to speak to innumerable people who asked me what I believed because I wore the tassels but I did not have a kippah on my head. They wanted to know, “What are you about?”

“Well, I do not follow rabbinic tradition. I am a follower of Yahushua the Messiah, but I also believe in keeping the Torah. The Torah tells me to keep the tassels.” And so, it opened the door for me to share with them the truth that Yahushua did not abolish the Torah and that He would never accept the way in which mainstream Christianity portrays Him.

And so, it is an opportunity. And unbelievers also ask me, “What are the strings?” And it opens up the door for me to share the good news. And many people, even of Christian background, are amazed it is even in Scripture. And it seems like maybe the Spirit is kind of leading us.

Those who are Christian, in mainline Christian churches, and so on, they have this thing that they do– this “WWJD.” A few years ago, it was a fad, you know. You put a bracelet on or something on your body that said “WWJD.” “What would…” and I say “Yahushua do?” And they say “Jesus do?”

Well, first of all, what would He do? He would wear tassels. But, you know, they wore that to be a reminder to live as Yahushua lived. And so, let’s do it! What are we waiting on?

I was in Galilee and I was standing there reading one of the plaques, and there was this tour guide who walked over to me, and he says to me, “Hey, I was just talking about what you are wearing there to this group. Can you come over here and I will show them what you are wearing?”

And so, I walked over. And there was this tour guide– he was leading a group of Christians– and he used me as an object lesson. And he said, “This is what they wore. And the Messiah wore them.” And so, I became an object lesson for a few minutes. And I just said to them, “I wear them because my Savior wore them.” And so, it became a testimony.

And so, we should not be ashamed of wearing them. We should not be ashamed, but also we should not be prideful about wearing them, because both can happen.

In Matthew 23, verse 5, it says:

Matthew 23:5 – But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

That is #2899 “kraspedon.” That is the tassels.

Matthew 23:6 – They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

7 – greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, `Rabbi, Rabbi.’

So in the days of Yahushua, actually the quality of your tassel may have indicated your social rank. It is certainly not the case today, that’s for sure. You might even receive ridicule from wearing them now.

But, I see sometimes, we have to be careful (even among those who believe in keeping Yahweh’s Law and wearing the tassels) that we are not letting pride seep in. I wouldn’t want to wear these big old super long tassels just to show people how serious I am about the commandments. But at the same time we do not want to be ashamed either.

Luke 9:26 – For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His [own] glory, and [in His] Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Whoever is ashamed of Yahushua and His words it says. Not just ashamed of Him, but also His words. He is the Living Word. He is the One who inspired the tassel commandment back in Deuteronomy and the book of Numbers. The Son of Man will be ashamed if you are ashamed of His Words.

I am not going to be ashamed of His words. I want to be thankful for His words, not be ashamed– but also not be to a point where I am trying to exalt myself. So we do not want to go either direction.

Now men in this age come up with all kinds of reasons not to do what Yahweh says. I have given you a lot of reasons to do what Yahweh says. And I hope this is encouragement for you to consider heeding this command to wear the tassels.

Now getting back to this actual command. We are going to examine it here. We are going to look at it in detail and try to understand exactly what Yahweh is asking us to do.

In Numbers 15:38, it says:

Numbers 15:38 – Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

Let’s look again at this word translated “tassels.” From the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon: [BDB] 06734 tsiytsith {tsee-tseeth’} Meaning: 1) fringe, tassel, lock (like the lock of your hair) Origin: from 06731; TWOT – 1912; n f Usage: AV – fringe 3, lock 1; 4.

Strong’s Lexicon has: [STRONG’S] 6734 tsiytsith tsee-tseeth’ feminine of 6731; a floral (that is flower) or wing-like projection, i.e. a forelock of hair, a tassel:– fringe, lock.

So that is the meaning according to the Scriptures. An example of where it is used to represent a “lock of the hair” is in Ezekiel chapter 8 and verse 3.

Ezekiel 8:3 – He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of Elohim to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner [court], where the seat of the image of jealousy [was], which provokes to jealousy.

This is Yahweh who actually appeared to Ezekiel. And He said, “… and took me by a lock of my hair.” And the word there, actually, in Hebrew, is “tzitzit.”

And so, we see here that the word “tzitzit” does not just refer to the thing we are wearing on the four corners of our garment. As we see here, it is actually referring to the lock of hair.

And if you look at a tassel, you kind of see the strings there. It kind of resembles a lock of someone’s hair. And so, I can understand why when they make tassels, they do have that kind of appearance.

So what exactly is this thing? Looking at the word family that Scripture speaks of here (BDB and Strong’s Lexicons), you see that it is rooted in word #6731. So let’s take a look at #6731 and find out what that particular word means.

It is the feminine of this word, and we see: [BDB] 06731 tsiyts {tseets} or tsits {tseets} Meaning: 1) flower, bloom 1a) flower, bloom 1b) shining thing (of gold plate on high priest’s mitre) (metaph.) 2) feather, wing 2a) meaning dubious.

Here we have in Strong’s: 6731 tsiyts {tseets} or tsits {tseets}; from 6692; properly, glistening, i. e. a burnished plate; also a flower (as bright-colored); a wing (as gleaming in the air):– blossom, flower, plate, wing.

So that is what they are saying the definition is. And they are basing that on looking at some places where this particular word is found in the Scriptures.

The “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament” [TWOT] says: “The verb tsuts refers to the growth of plants and to the gleam of a crown. The crown of the ruler of Zion shall shed its luster in contrast to the shame with which his enemies will be clothed. Injustice too may blossom forth, but [Elohim] comes to destroy it on the day of doom (Ezek. 7:10).”

Some examples of where it is used (this is the root word from where we get “tzitzit”):

Exodus 28:36 – You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, [like] the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO YAHWEH.

“Plate” is that Hebrew word.

And then, “flower of the field” in Psalm 103:15.

Psalms 103:15 – [As for] man, his days [are] like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

In Numbers 17:8, it talks about Aaron’s rod, that it produced “blossoms” and yielded ripe almonds.

Numbers 17:8 – Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.

And so, we see how this word is used in different contexts. Pretty interesting how it is used.

And another example of where this word is used:

Jeremiah 48:9 – Give wings to Moab, That she may flee and get away; For her cities shall be desolate, Without any to dwell in them.

And it is for this reason there are some believers who consider the tassels to be sort of like wings, and they will make a connection between this “wings” and the word in Malachi chapter 4, and verse 2, which I want to show you here in a second. It says:

Malachi 4:2 – But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

This particular word “wings” is a little bit different. It is referring to the border or edge of a garment. And so, some say, “Well, when Yahushua came, He did have healing in the corner of His garment. People touched a corner of His garment and they were healed.” So I could see that possible connection.

But, actually, the context of Malachi 4, verse 2, is judgment. It says Yahweh will rebuke the proud with flames of fire. And it appears to be, at least to me, something that happens when Yahushua returns more so than something that happened when He was here the first time.

I mean, when He was here the first time He came to save. The second time He comes for judgment. So the real context here is the day of Yahweh coming. But to those who are righteous, He will bring healing in His wings.

Malachi 4:1 – For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, Says YAHWEH of hosts, That will leave them neither root nor branch.

2 – But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

3 – You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do [this], Says YAHWEH of hosts.

I don’t know. I understand there are some studies on tassels that make that connection, but I am not 100% sure I make that connection completely.

But what we see here with the tassel commandment is that it seems to be rooted in a word that has to do with outgrowth. Here [TWOT] we have the growth of plants. We have blossoming going forth. We have flowers of the field coming up. Some kind of outgrowth. You have something flat and something growing out of it.

In the case of the High Priest, you have the turban on the head, and then coming up out of the turban was this crown. And so, perhaps there is a consistent pattern of the root of the word referring to something that is standing out or sticking out or something along those lines.

In the same way this blossoming comes out of a rod, the flower comes out of the earth, the plate appears as something that is standing out beyond the top of the turban, the tassel, then, would be an extension of some kind on a garment. Some kind of extension.

So getting back to the scripture here in question.

Numbers 15:38 – Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

“Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments.” Being a student of the Word, we always want to make sure that, yes, it really is corners and doesn’t mean something else, actually.

Maybe the translators, because they do not keep Torah, were a little careless with this. And so, we are going to investigate and find out what the corners are. But first, we are going to investigate what this word “make” actually means, because that is interesting.

It wasn’t just the blue cord that was commanded. We see that they were told to put this blue thread “in the tassels of the corners.” They were also told: “Make tassels.” Make them.

So that tells me that they did not necessarily have anything like that on their clothes at that time. And so, Yahweh had to tell them to make the tassel (because they did not have a tassel), to make the tzitzit, make the thing that sticks out in an extension of some kind.

And then, once they have made this extension, He said to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. So after the tassel is made, they are going to put a blue thread on it.

And so, there were two things they were told to do: Make the tassels, and then put a blue thread on the tassels.

Now as far as the corners are concerned, the location of the tassels being on the corners, the Hebrew word there is: 03671 “kanaph” {kaw-nawf’} Meaning: 1) wing, extremity, edge, winged, border, corner, shirt 1a) wing 1b) extremity 1b1) skirt, corner (of garment) Origin: from 03670; TWOT – 1003a; n. f.

Usage: AV – wing 74, skirt 14, borders 2, corners 2, ends 2, feathered 2, sort 2, winged 2, misc 8; 108.

Look at this word. Seventy-four times it is translated “wing,” and one of them is in that Malachi 4:2 – “healing in His wings.” So “wings” is the most commonly used word to translate this word “kanaph.”

So, as you can see, it is usually speaking of the wing, like the wing of a bird or symbolically someone coming under Yahweh’s wings for protection.

We see in Genesis 1:21:

Genesis 1:21 – So Elohim created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that [it was] good.

“Winged [3671 Kanaph] bird.”

Ruth 2:12 says:

Ruth 2:12 – YAHWEH repay your work, and a full reward be given you by YAHWEH Elohim of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.

“Wings” is “kanaph.” So it can refer to “wings” spiritually or physically. And it for this reason some have suggested that we should wear the tassels on our sleeves, because this would be the human equivalent of wings right here, these corners of our sleeves. And so, our arms are like wings.

But there is a problem with that thinking because I do not know of any shirts or anything that have four locations for wings. It says:

Deuteronomy 22:12 – You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover [yourself].

So what kind of clothes are actually going to have four locations or four places for wings? We only have two arms. We don’t have four arms. So that is problem number one.

It is actually supposed to be “four corners of the clothing,” not of the body. So it may not even be talking about our arms at all. It is talking about whatever is on the clothing there would be four of this “kanaph.”

Now I have met a few who have placed two tassels on their shirt sleeve– one on each shirt sleeve. Some people have put two on each shirt sleeve. But I am looking for the third and fourth wing on that. And others I have met have put two on the bottom of their pants and then two on the shirt sleeve.

I understand their reasoning, but I personally do not see that. I mean, first of all, ancient Israel did not even wear pants, most of them.

There was the High Priest. He wore an inner garment, and he wore trousers inside that. Most of Israel wore an inner garment, known as a tunic, and an outer garment, which would have been a robe or a coat.

Neither of them had four locations for tassels, in and of themselves, unless they were cut a certain way. Now only the High Priest is said to wear trousers underneath everything else.

So the term “kanaph” or “corner” or “wing”– in the sense of a wing referring to the sleeve of a shirt or a robe– you would almost have to have four sleeves on a garment to make that really fit.

So it seems like it would require two garments (you know, a pair of trousers), whereas Scripture seems to speak of one piece of clothing with which you cover yourself. And the tunic itself is the clothing that is used to cover your body, and the robe is used to cover the tunic and to keep you warm.

Now to further that point, and I also want to discover the actual location of the tassel, let’s look at a few places where this particular word “kanaph” is speaking in relation specifically to clothing.

1Samuel 24:2 – Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

3 – So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there [was] a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

The Hebrew there has, literally, “cover his feet.” “Saul went in to attend to his needs [Heb. Cover his feet].”

1Samuel 24:4 – Then the men of David said to him, This is the day of which YAHWEH said to you, `Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

“And David arose and secretly cut off a corner [3671 Kanaph] of Saul’s robe [#4598 me’iyl].”

The word “robe” is from the Hebrew word “me’iyl.” So here we have an example of the word “corner” and a garment being connected in another place besides Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22.

This particular garment was a “me’iyl” or “robe.” And the Hebrew reads here that Saul came in to “cover his feet.” Now this is commonly believed to be a euphemism for what we call “using the restroom.”

When a person would squat to use the restroom, their feet, which were normally exposed, would be covered. And so, I think this is kind of a nondescript way of describing the necessary bodily function there.

And notice that it says that David cut off the “kanaph,” or whatever that is right there, of Saul’s robe.

Now another place in Scripture that talks about the corner being cut:

1Samuel 15:27 – And as Samuel turned around to go away, [Saul] seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

Again, “me’iyl.” “Saul seized the edge of his robe [Heb. #4598 me’iyl].” And this word “edge” is “kanaph.”

And so, what would be the “kanaph” portion of a robe? We know the High Priest wore this garment.

Exodus 28:31 – You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

“Robe [Heb. #4598 me’iyl].”

Exodus 28:32 – There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear.

So what does that look like?

Well, according to Josephus, it says, in Antiquities 3:161: “Now this vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor was it sewn together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was one long vestment so woven as to have an aperture for the neck (as the scripture said earlier); not an oblique one, but parted all along the breast and the back.

“A border also was sewn to it, lest the aperture should look too indecently; it was also parted where the hands were to come out.”

So it does not have any sleeves. And so, it was parted here and it was parted here (at the top near the shoulder). Other than that, it did not have any sleeves.

So I am not sure that the portion of the garment that David would have grasped and cut off and that Saul himself took from Samuel would have been a sleeve if it is the edge or the “kanaph” of a garment.

And, actually, I have some difficulty believing that Saul would not notice David cutting off his shirt sleeve here (his robe sleeve) if he had one. I mean, if Saul was squatting down, covering his feet, I could see where the robe would kind of be gathered up or fanned out behind him.

And that would easily enable David to come up and kind of sneak behind him and cut the corner off the robe unnoticed.

So, to me, it appears that that would be the logical location, these corners here (there are two there and then two in the back), as far as the location of the tassel.

Now to look at this further, we find the Hebrew word “kanaph” also in Deuteronomy 27, verse 20.

(KJV) Deuteronomy 27:20 – Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

This word translated “skirt” is actually “kanaph.” So does it mean he uncovered his father’s shirt sleeve? Or is it, you know, you are taking the bottom part of this four cornered garment down here and you are lifting it up this way?

It would seem to me to be referring to the corner of that particular kind of garment, whether it be a robe or it be the tunic underneath. So it seems to me that we are talking about the bottom of someone’s garment being lifted up rather than the top near the shoulder around his sleeve.

Now this word is also used to describe the pretty commonly quoted verse referring to the “four corners of the earth.”

Isaiah 11:12 – He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.

And so, is it really corners? I mean, it is a euphemism here. You might say “southwest,” “northeast,” “northwest,” “southeast” would be the four corners. But the corner does seem like an appropriate location.

And when we look at Deuteronomy 22, and verse 12, it says:

Deuteronomy 22:12 – You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover [yourself].

That is the four “kanaphim.” And so, when you are looking at a tunic, we know that tunics often would have four corners.

And here is a photo of a tunic, and hopefully you can see it good enough there on video. But you notice here that there is one corner. There is the other. You can kind of see this other corner behind it. And they even have these tassels hanging down on each corner. And so, that is a tallit katan.

The difference between a tallit and a tallit katan was the tallit katan had this opening for the head so that you could wear it over your shoulders. Whereas the other tallits that you see Jews wear do not have a hole in the center.

And so, the four corners would be a logical location. It says that it should be on the four corners with which you cover yourself. Now the actual garment that does the covering is not the robe. It is the tunic. The tunic is what covers the skin of the body. And the outer garment or the robe would then cover the tunic.

And so, when I am looking at Scripture here, it seems that it would make sense that this is the logical location of the tassels.

You know, we are trying to understand what Yahweh says and what He wants of us. This is the kind of research that we can do to try to understand what His will is for our lives. So we are going to put the tassels on these four corners.

Now I want you to notice one other thing here. Numbers 15:38 says: “Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments,” He says, “throughout their generations.” And so, that means the commandment was not just for that generation in the wilderness, but it was for every succeeding generation.

Their children were to wear them. Their grandchildren were to wear them. And all the way down the line through each generation to come. There is no indication that one day He would no longer require that of them.

Now the next thing we want to look at here is that He tells them to make the “blue thread.” And this word right here (“blue”) we are going to look at.

“Blue” is from the Hebrew word “tekeleth.” And “tekeleth,” we see, they have it being translated “violet” or “violet stuff,” “violet thread.” Or (and they reference the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) “blue (covering a spectrum from brilliant red through deep purple).”

Lexicons: 08504 tekeleth {tek-ay’-leth} Meaning 1) violet, violet stuff 1a) violet thread 1b) violet stuff or fabric 2) (TWOT) blue (covering a spectrum from brilliant red through deep purple) Origin: probably for 07827; TWOT – 2510; n f Usage: AV – blue 50; 50.

And so, I got curious about this because there is already another color for “violet.” It is “argaman.” And that is basically purple, which is similar to violet.

Lexicons: 0713 ‘argaman {ar-gaw-mawn’} Meaning: 1) purple, red-purple Origin: of foreign origin; TWOT – 157b; n m Usage: AV – purple 38; 38.

And so, I would have a hard time believing that the “tekeleth” would actually be purple in color. I mean, violet and purple are pretty close to each other, and we already have a word for purple. I know violet is a little bit closer to the blue than the purple is. Purple is closer to the red. I recognize that.

But, thankfully, they actually discovered a 2000-year-old fabric. It was discovered in the Murabba’at Caves in the Judean Desert. And this is what they found. This was the color of the garment they found, which contained the tekhelet color. And you see it is kind of similar to our modern blue jeans. A “pure blue,” basically.

Now this color is thought to come from the Murex snail (Hexaplex trunculus), and until recently the only evidence of them even using this snail for dyes was the presence of piles of snail shells.

Now, recently, this particular garment here was analyzed by Dr. Na’ama Sukenik from the Israel Antiquities Authority. And this person found that this particular dye here did in fact come from the Murex snail.

Now the Murex snail has a gland which secretes a mucus. And this mucus would have been used for the dyes. And so, I thought that was interesting that they were actually able to analyze that ancient garment and they were able to find the actual color of it as well.

Now, in 2009, I was blessed to take a trip to Israel, as I mentioned earlier, and actually visit this tekhelet factory that extracts the dyes from the snail and then produces and sells tassels which contain the blue dye.

And one of the reasons I was really interested in this place was I wanted to know about their methods, about how they are getting the dye out of the snail. Because I know we get honey, and the honey comes out of a honey bee, right? And that is not forbidden in Scripture.

And so, if it is an extraction or an excretion coming from an insect, or something coming from a snail, that is fine and not unclean. But if we are killing the snail first and then taking snail parts and making dye out of the snail parts, then that is a bit of a problem, because Scripture tells us:

Leviticus 11:7 – `and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, [is] unclean to you.

8 – `Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They [are] unclean to you.

9 – `These you may eat of all that [are] in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers — that you may eat.

Leviticus 11:10 – `But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which [is] in the water, they [are] an abomination to you.

11 – `They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.

So the carcasses should not be touched. They are an abomination. And so, if they are touching these carcasses and actually making the dyes out of these carcasses that Yahweh says not to do, then I do not want that kind of dye on my tassel.

Anyway, we went to visit this place, and I am going to show you some video of what we experienced when we were there.

And here we are. We are at the factory. And it didn’t quite look like a factory that I would think of as a factory. This was more like a farm.

And I am walking around. I am looking… “Okay, where are the tassels being produced?” We see, it looks kind of like… in our area we would call this “Redneck-ville.” I mean, there are the chickens running around. Look, there is a horse. There is some, I don’t know, stuff, just junk lying around in different places, and little shacks.

It doesn’t quite give me the picture of a factory that I anticipated. There are some goats or something there. And there is a DOG!! I thought that dog was going to eat me alive it was so huge. And so, I am looking around and I am like, “What are these dogs doing? Are they going to eat me at the factory here? Are these my last days?”

And so, there is my brother, Bill Hood, who, praise Yahweh, took me over there on his own dime… and… these dogs are massive! And looky here– we have a herd of goats coming through. And I am thinking, “Okay, where are the tassels?” I don’t know where they are at, but here come some people they recognize, thankfully.

And so, then we began to see some of the machinery here. We found a place where they are making this and they are getting all these threads together, I guess, is what they are doing, and putting the tassels together.

I don’t know if they are putting them on spools or tying them. I don’t know what this machine is supposed to do, but it is pretty interesting. There is the audio…

And so, that was interesting. And so, we went in, and we were able to find the snails where they were in these fish tanks. And in the fish tanks they are growing and harvesting the snails. And I thought, “Okay, are they getting this out of the snail somehow, the secretion? How are they doing it?”

And then they showed me this box here that contained dead snails. And there are the dead snails, and, obviously, they had to kill them. And I thought, “Well, that’s not good. That is not a good sign.”

And then there was this container that contained, basically, snail carcasses. And I didn’t know it at the time. I was trying to take this top off. But it contained the carcasses of the actual gland. This is the actual gland of the snail, and, of course, all the different kinds of… There were a lot of snails that made up that box there.

So then I thought, “Okay, I want to get confirmation. I want to get verbal confirmation from the guy running the place. And so, I did. I talked to the gentleman who runs the place, thankful that he was there.

EliYah: The granules you have in there…

Gentleman: Yeah?

EliYah: The granules that are in there that are crumbs? Is that only the dye or does it have a little bit of the snail gland in it?

Gentleman: A lot of it is the snail gland.

EliYah: I am sorry?

Gentleman: A lot of it is the snail gland.

EliYah: A lot of it would be snail gland?

Gentleman: Yeah.

EliYah: OK.

Gentleman: But it is not pure. You cannot purify it directly.

EliYah: There is no way to separate the two?

Gentleman: There is a way, but it is not worth it, you know.

EliYah: Correct.

All right. So he confirmed for me that, number one, there was snail gland in those little granules. And he also confirmed for me that there is a way to do it without getting the snail gland in there… and he said, “But it is not worth it.”

And so, I am going to play that one more time, just so we have confirmation.

EliYah: The granules you have in there…

Gentleman: Yeah?

EliYah: The granules that are in there that are crumbs? Is that only the dye or does it have a little bit of the snail gland in it?

Gentleman: A lot of it is the snail gland.

EliYah: I am sorry?

Gentleman: A lot of it is the snail gland.

EliYah: A lot of it would be snail gland?

Gentleman: Yeah.

EliYah: OK.

Gentleman: But it is not pure. You cannot purify it directly.

EliYah: There is no way to separate the two?

Gentleman: There is a way, but it is not worth it, you know.

So, “There is a way, but it is not worth it.”

And so, I am thinking, if they ended up doing this in ancient Israel, if they wanted to really do it the way Yahweh commanded it to be done, they would have separated and followed the way of being able to have the dye without the carcass being mixed in with the dye.

Now that was one thing, but here is the thing for me that pretty much took the cake:

EliYah: This is the dye boiling in the sun, I guess. All kinds of flies hanging around here. In fact, there is a dead fly inside the boiling dye. I guess he didn’t make it.

So, anyway, there is the dead fly in the actual dye– a dead fly in the dye. He died in the dye.

And they would set that out there. And the reason they set it in the sun would be because it would change its color over a period of time, and then they would get the blue color out of it.

It started off being purple, and then, eventually, over time, the sun will actually cause it to change color to the blue that you saw on the garment that we looked at earlier. This garment right here.

So, yeah, I guess I was not too impressed with making tassels out of the Murex snail dye, at least not how he is doing it. And so, it is not something I can recommend at all. I just can’t. Because of the scripture which plainly tells us their carcasses are to be regarded as an abomination, which means you do not touch it, and you do not eat it.

So he said there is a way to extract it without resulting in the death of a snail, but he didn’t think it mattered. And I actually talked to the other gentleman who was there about that, and I asked him, “What about the scripture that says this?”

And he went up over to the bookshelf and pulled some book out and said some rabbi said it was okay and that was good enough for him. But for me, that, and then the dead fly, that only adds to my concerns.

So, as far as blue, as long as it is blue, does it matter if it comes from a snail, or whatever? It doesn’t matter to me. It really doesn’t, as long as it has the color– and as long as it is kosher and not unclean.

But the same colored thread, or cord, or whatever, was actually used to fasten the tassels. You would put this on a tassel. But it also was used to fasten the breastplate onto the High Priest.

Exodus 28:28 – They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.

The blue cord would fasten the breastplate onto the priest. It was also used to fasten the crown that was worn, the “HOLINESS TO YAHWEH” crown that was on the turban.

Exodus 39:30 – Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription [like] the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO YAHWEH.

31 – And they tied to it a blue cord, to fasten [it] above on the turban, as YAHWEH had commanded Moses.

So they used a blue cord to fasten this engraving, this extension, onto the High Priest’s turban.

Now the High Priest’s robe was also this color blue.

Exodus 28:30 – And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before YAHWEH. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before YAHWEH continually.

31 – You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

We saw that earlier– that High Priest, the blue ephod he was wearing. The robe of the ephod was all blue.

Exodus 28:32 – There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear.

So they used the same color for this particular robe.

Now whenever the tabernacle was moved, they would use this same color. Numbers 4:6-12– we can read that:

Numbers 4:6 – Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over [that] a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.

7 – On the table of showbread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring; and the showbread shall be on it.

8 – They shall spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles.

Numbers 4:9 – And they shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it.

10 – Then they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of badger skins, and put [it] on a carrying beam.

11 – Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of badger skins; and they shall insert its poles.

Numbers 4:12 – Then they shall take all the utensils of service with which they minister in the sanctuary, put [them] in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of badger skins, and put [them] on a carrying beam.

Now if this blue cloth was made of abominable snails and had abominations in it, do you really believe they would cover the tabernacle things with it? I just have my doubts.

Now I can’t find anything specifically in Scripture that would directly give us the spiritual significance of the color blue as to why the tassel is blue.

But just looking at the earth– the sky is blue, the sky being toward heaven, is the place of Yahweh’s indwelling. And so, when they saw this blue cord on the tassel, this blue thread, perhaps it was a reminder of Yahweh’s presence.

You know, the sky is blue. That is the place from which Yahweh dwells, up in the sky, up in the heavens. And it would be a reminder of Yahweh’s presence and knowledge of His watchful eye at all times. And they would be reminded to keep the commandments of Yahweh. And so, that is how we can use it as well.

I know it is conjecture, but I think it is a reasonable point. At least as good as anything else I have heard anyway.

Now in Deuteronomy, it says:

Deuteronomy 22:12 – You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover [yourself].

This word for “tassels” is different. It is not “tzitzit.” It is “gedilim.” And this word, “gedilim,” is from the word “gedil.” And it means: “twisted threads,” “tassels,” “festoons.”

Lexicon: 01434 gedil {ghed-eel’} Meaning: 1) twisted threads, tassels, festoons 1a) tassels (on clothes) 1b) festoons (on capitals of columns) Origins: from 01431 (in the sense of twisting); TWOT – 315c; n m Usage: AV – fringe 1, wreath 1; 2.

And so, it is in the sense of twisting, and it is rooted in word #1431. And I think it is for this reason the tassels involve twisting threads around. And so, when we are making tassels, we want to do something that would cause the threads to actually twist around some.

But it is from this word “gadal,” which means: “to grow,” “become great or important,” “promote,” “make powerful,” “praise,” “magnify.” All kinds of ways it is translated dealing with causing to grow or become great or important.

Lexicon: 01431 gadal {gaw-dal’} Meaning: 1) to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to grow up 1a2) to become great 1a3) to be magnified 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to cause to grow 1b2) to make great, powerful 1b3) to magnify 1c) (Pual) to be brought up.

(Continued) 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to make great 1d2) to magnify 1d3) to do great things 1e) (Hithpael) to magnify oneself. Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 315; v Usage: AV – magnify 32, great 26, grow 14, nourish up 7, grow up 6, greater 5, misc 25; 115.

So, once again, we see this being an extension, a growth, coming out of the garment.

We see in the “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament” (TWOT): ” The root is used for physical growth of people and other living things, as well as for the increase of things tangible and intangible, whether objects, sounds, feelings or authority.

“It overlaps in meaning with rabab or raba, but unlike these roots, it never refers to being numerous, only to being great in size, importance, etc.”

So what we are looking at, and what I am gathering here, the blue cord in the tassel is supposed to twist in some way and stand out and be noticeable. It is supposed to extend beyond the garment, becoming large.

And for that reason, we want to make it stand out. And that is why I actually use white threads in my tassel and then wrap the blue cord around the white tassel, because the white causes the blue to stand out more. And so, the idea of standing out, the idea of something that is magnified or seen or visible.

Now most Jews actually do not use a blue cord on their tassels. As you saw earlier, the tallit katan is all white. There is no blue in it. And then a normal tallit, they have the corners right here, and their tassels are completely white. There is no blue in them at all. They are all white.

And the reasoning was that, at least until recently, they were unable to secure the ancient dyes used for the thread. But, to me, it is more important that we get some kind of blue cord than it is to have the color blue come from a snail.

Snails may have been the ancient method of acquiring a blue dye, but is that what is important or is it the actual color that it produces? I mean, without the blue cord, there is no reminder. The commandment of Yahweh is not really being obeyed, which says to put this tekhelet thread on the tassels of the corners.

Numbers 15:38 – Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.

Now on this particular verse, I want you to notice that there are actually two commandments: 1. Make tassels. 2. Put a blue thread on the tassels.

Now, regrettably, for whatever reason, this New King James Version says: “Put the blue thread IN the tassels.” But when you look at things in the Hebrew (I like to look at the Hebrew if I can), this word translated “in” actually does not mean “in.” It means “on” or “above” the tassel. So the actual Hebrew here is: “Al-Tzitzit.”

And this word “al,” in the “Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament,” (1624p), would actually mean “above.” TWOT Lexicon: “Al is used usually as a preposition or conjunction. Al, which usually functions as a preposition, is translated over thirty different ways in the OT, the most common being above, against, beside, concerning, on, over, upon.”

So the predominant meaning of this would mean that the blue thread would be ON the tassel. Not in the tassel, but on it. So they make the tassel, and they put the blue thread on the tassel.

So it is for that reason that when we are making the tassels, we wrap the blue cord around the tassel so that the blue thread is actually on the tassel. And there are two ways of doing these wraps.

There is the Sephardic, which is this one right here. And then there is the Ashkenazic, which is this one right here. Now you will notice the differences between the two. The Ashkenazic has one-two-three-four (wraps). And these wraps are larger than the wraps here in the Sephardic method. There is a difference between the two.

Now the Ashkenazic method, when they are wrapping the threads around the tassel– so that the actual blue cord is on the tassel– this is their thinking. First of all, they are going to have five knots– one-two-three-four and five. They are going to have five knots.

And then they are going to have, as far as the wraps are concerned, a different series of wraps, which, when you add them all up, spell out “tzitzit.” Mishnaic Spelling… (Tsade-Yod-Tsade-Yod-Tav) 90 + 10 + 90 + 10 + 400 = 600. They spell out “tzitzit,” and then that adds up to 600.

And then they have the eight threads that are used inside the tassel. And then they have the five knots. And when you add them all up (600 add 8 + 5), you come to 613 (mitzvot). So they are trying to arrive at this number 613. That is kind of their goal what they are trying to accomplish here through the different wraps.

And I have never done it this way. I do not like it. First of all, I do not really believe there are 613 commands in the Old Testament (or Tanakh or Torah). I think there is more than that. And there are some of those on their list I don’t know that I would agree with. And there are some they miss.

And besides that, Yahweh’s Word is not supposed to be a list of dos and don’ts. The Torah is supposed to be principles that we abide by. There are many different ways, when you look at a commandment, different applications in which it can be applied.

And so, I do not use that method. I use the Sephardic method, which uses ten wraps here, five wraps, six wraps and five wraps– which those numbers (10 + 5 + 6 + 5) make up the letters in Yahweh’s name. The “yod” represents “10”; the “hey,” a “5”; the “waw,” a “6”; and the “5,” another “hey.” And so, I like that.

But, you know, you do not have to do either one. But you do have to have the twisting of the threads. You do have to have the tassel, and the blue thread has to be on the tassel. Those are the guidelines.

You do not have to follow either method. It does not specifically tell you how to make it, but you do need to have those principles down– the twisting, and you do have to have the blue cord on the tassel. And it has to be four of them. Those are all scriptural mandates.

Now if you make your own tassel, make sure you do not put a linen tassel or a cotton tassel on a woolen garment or put a woolen tassel on a plant-based garment.

Yahweh specifically says, in the context of tassel making:

Deuteronomy 22:11 – You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, [such as] wool and linen mixed together.

12 – You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover [yourself].

So He says do not mix them together when you make your tassels– the wool and the linen. And so, I think, actually, Jewish tradition is that you do mix them. And so, that concerns me. I am not sure whether the tallit actually has them mixed or not. But that does concern me.

But where do we put this? It says here to put them on four corners. Where can we put this on our modern clothing? I mean, most of our clothing styles today do not have corners. We are not wearing like what they wore. And most of them do not have four corners, especially if you are wearing a dress or if you wear a shirt and pants (most shirts).

But I have found that there are actually some exceptions and there are some shirts that do have four corners. And the first one I am going to show you is a shirt. And I will spell it out for you just so you have the correct spelling here: RIGGS. This is called “Riggs Workwear.”

And I want you to notice right here. They have a slit at the very bottom– and there is one on the other side here as well– of where you can actually attach a tassel on each corner. There is a little slit going up right here at the very bottom.

And you can attach a tassel on each one of these corners and fulfill this commandment to wear the tassels on the four corners of your shirt. And this particular shirt is what I wear almost all the time. Almost 100% of the time I wear this particular kind of shirt.

You will notice that my clothing style does not change very much from the broadcast. It is usually the same kind of shirts. That is because that is what I normally wear. And the Riggs shirts, some of them are button-up. Some of them are not. This has a pocket. I like them having a pocket.

And, also, there are some other shirts. Some polo shirts have the four corners. Look here. We have this corner here. This corner here. This corner there. You could put a set of tassels on that polo shirt, and that is actually a child’s shirt. They have these slits on the side. And so, it is a perfect kind of a garment for hanging your tassels from.

And, also, you could take a normal shirt that doesn’t have this slit and simply slit the sides with a pair of scissors. Maybe your wife, or someone you know, is good at sewing a seam. If you want to, you could have them create a seam on the side so it does not rip any further.

But you could easily just take a pair of scissors and cut one side and cut the other. You have a four cornered garment just like that.

Now some people hang them on belt loops. That is not my favorite way because it is not really four corners on your belt loops and it does say the four corners. So, I think, really, to be exact in our obedience, we would want to have a four cornered garment of some kind.

Even if you want to wear a button up shirt, you could certainly wear a four cornered shirt on the inside and a button up shirt that doesn’t have four corners on the outside.

Now I do believe women and children are to wear tassels. I want to show you what I did– actually, this week. I want to step back here so I can show you a little easier. If you have a dress, and you are a female, you can buy these kinds of garments… even at the local Wal-Mart, for children.

I bought these for our girls. And this one has “L” for Leanna. And at the bottom, I went ahead and cut this and slit it open so you can have a four cornered garment. I just took a pair of scissors and cut that section and attached tassels to it using safety pins.

And so, that way we have a four cornered garment, and they wear this underneath their dress so that they can fulfill the commandment to wear tassels as well as adults.

Now some people say that women should not wear tassels. In fact, that is the Jewish tradition, that only the men actually wear the tassels. And one of the scriptures they use for saying, “Yes, only the men should be wearing the tassels,” is in Numbers chapter 15:38, where it says:

(NKJV) Numbers 15:38 – “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.”

Another translation has:

(NAS) Numbers 15:38 – “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.”

The word “children” or “sons” is from the Hebrew word “B’nai.” And you see: bet, nun, yod– “b’nai.” And there is a “tsere” at the bottom, so it is “b’nai.”

And this comes from the Hebrew word “ben” {bane}, meaning: “son,” “grandson,” “child,” “member of a group.”

Lexicon: 01121 ben {bane} Meaning: 1) son, grandson, child, member of a group 1a) son, male child 1b) grandson 1c) children (plural – male and female) 1d) youth, young men (plural) 1e) young (of animals) 1f) sons (as characterisation, i.e. sons of injustice [for unrighteous men] or sons of God [for angels])…

(Continued) 1g) people (of a nation) (plural) 1h) of lifeless things, i.e. sparks, stars, arrows (figuratively) 1i) a member of a guild, order, class. Origin: from 01129; TWOT – 254; n m Usage: AV – son 2978, children 1568, old 135, first 51, man 20, young 18, young + 01241 17, child 10, stranger 10, people 5, misc 92, 4906.

So they theorize, or believe, that since this (Numbers 15:38) is speaking to the “sons of Israel” that this is not incumbent upon women. But there is a problem because there are other commands that are also given to the “sons of Israel”:

(NKJV) Leviticus 11:2 – “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth:’ ”

(NAS) Leviticus 11:2 – “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth.’ ”

The commands regarding clean and unclean, and what animals you should eat, what animals you should not eat, those are also given to “sons of Israel.” Does that mean that women can eat pork?

There are other places. Leviticus 18:2– this whole chapter is prefaced with: “Speak to the sons (or children) of Israel (b’nai Israel), saying to them: ‘I am Yahweh your Elohim…’ ”

Leviticus 18:2 – Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: `I am YAHWEH your Elohim.

Leviticus 18:6 – `None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I [am] YAHWEH.

7 – `The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She [is] your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

Now, if we use the same logic that we use to say, “Well, the tassels are only for men,” and we carry that over into this particular chapter, we are going to say, “Well, I guess that means that women can commit incest and they can uncover their parents nakedness.” But, of course, that is not real. That is not what we believe.

Then there is Leviticus 19…

(NKJV) Leviticus 19:2 – “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I Yahweh your Elohim am holy.

3 – ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am Yahweh your Elohim.

4 – ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded elohim: I am Yahweh your Elohim.’ ”

This is actually “sons of Israel” (b’nai Israel).

(NAS) Leviticus 19:2 – “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I Yahweh your Elohim am holy.

3 – ‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am Yahweh your Elohim.

4 – ‘Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten elohim; I am Yahweh your Elohim.’ ”

So does this mean that only males are to revere their parents? only males need to keep Sabbaths? Does that mean only males have to refrain from idolatry?

Do you see what I am getting at? There are a lot of commandments where, you just… you know. The reason why He gave these commands to the sons of Israel, to b’nai Israel, is so that Moshe would communicate it to the males, the heads of the household. The heads of the household would then communicate that to their families.

And so, the fact that it is given to b’nai Israel does not mean that the commandment is only for men. Otherwise, women could eat pork chops and make molten elohim. But there is nothing in Scripture– NOTHING WHATSOEVER — which can prove that this commandment was only for men.

If the commandment was only for men, then these other commandments would only be for men. So, it seems to me, besides that, that women are not necessarily more likely to remember commandments than men. I mean, women could use a reminder.

And so, for the four cornered garments you make, ladies, you can use your shirts and cut slits on them, or whatever, but you can also do something like we have done here with my daughters– this real light kind of a shirt– and put that together for yourself or for your family.

I wish I had been more consistent with this in the past. And, you know, reviewing this topic has helped motivate me to be more consistent with my children’s clothing.

Now, if you are interested in making tassels, and you do not know how, you can go to our Website: http://eliyah.com/maketassels.html. And there is a video there and instructions below the video. And, hopefully, between the video and the instructions that are there, you will be able to figure out how to make tassels.

If for some reason you cannot figure out how to make tassels… I mean, you can get the strings at Wal-Mart. You can get them at Jo-Ann Fabrics. You can get the strings anywhere.

But if for some reason you cannot figure out how to make them, even though the video is there, I will personally mail you a free set. For you, for each member of your family, I will mail you a free set because I want to see Yahweh’s Word being fulfilled among His people.

And so, you can go to the bottom of this particular page: http://eliyah.com/maketassels.html. I have a link at the bottom of that page. All you have to do is click that link. It will take you to a form. You fill out the form, and I will send you a set out this coming week.

And if you feel led by Yahweh to help make sets, we do have volunteers who have made these tassels. They send them in. It is a labor of love. It is a tremendously, tremendously awesome, rewarding thing, because you are helping people keep the commandments. I mean, that is an awesome thing to be able to do.

So if you feel led, you can send in some free sets once you learn how to make them. We have had families send in sets after sets. I still have a nice little stash there. I don’t know how many I will have after today. But you can participate and become tassel makers and be a part of this movement to get people wearing biblical clothing.

And that is what we want. We want our clothes to glorify Yahweh. We want our lives to glorify Yahweh. We want to glorify Yahweh with our body and our spirit, which are His.

He is the one that says, “Put on that body that I have made, that body that I have created, that dwelling place for My Spirit, I want you to put this on you, and I want you to wear this.

“And I want you to use this as something that will remind you of Me, that will remind you of My Word, that will bring conviction to your hearts, clarification to your hearts.”

Hey, you are Messiah’s. This is a mark that you belong to Him. This means you are Messiah’s. This means you are walking as He walked. This means that He lives in you, that it is no longer you who live anymore. You have an outward profession everywhere you go of faith if you wear them on the outside, which I think is ideal.

But you have an outward profession of your faith. And people will come to you and ask you, “What are the strings? Why do you have those?” It can be used in ministry just as it was used by Yahweh when Yahushua walked the earth. Just as Yahweh used me wearing those tassels in Israel and all these Jewish people wanted to know what I believed.

Yahweh can use it today, not just as reminders, but there are all kinds of other ways that He can use, because it is His Word. And when His Word says it, what do we have to argue with? Who can argue against it?

And if we are wearing them, and if we are mocked and we are ridiculed, so what? If Yahweh be with us, really, really, who can be against us? Nobody… nobody.

So I believe it is important, brothers and sisters. Is it the most important command in all of Scripture? No. But if we love Yahweh, what does it matter? If He came to you in a bolt of lightning right now, and said, “Do this for Me,” it wouldn’t matter what He said to you. You would do it, right?

Well, He came to Moshe with lightnings and clouds and thunders, and He spoke to Moshe, and He told Moshe in the book of Numbers, He said, “Wear these. Have them wear these.”

Yahushua did it. We do it. That is all I need to know. Did Yahushua do it? Once I figure that out, there shouldn’t be any question as to what we would do. WWYD? That is what we do.

And so, as you do so, my brothers and sisters, may Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on us all.