The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them to make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout the generations to come, and they will put a ribbon of blue on the corners of their garments. And it will be for you a tassel, and you will see it, and you will remember all the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them, and you will not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So shall you remember and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

Numbers 15:37–41

Living in South Florida offers a chance to encounter Jewish folk regularly. Some of the men wear tassels on their garments. They are whimsically visible, drawing some attention. They serve a designated purpose.

The tassels are white and blue. It is a specific blue color called tekhelet in Hebrew. At the giving of the law, it was a very rare color dye. It was expensive being derived from a specific marine creature. These tassels are called tzitzit which means fringes in English. These tzitzit are attached to the corners of the garment. Corner is the English translation of the Hebrew word kanaph. This is how covering or being under the law enters. Kanaph is related to the protection of a covering. Think like the Psalmist did using a related word, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall find protection” (Psalm 91:4.)

The significance of wearing tzitzit is to identify oneself as being under the Jewish Law (keeping Torah.) The four tzitzit encircled the body and would be easy to identify from any direction, even when behind the person.

The Significance of the Fringes

The men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I am giving your enemy into your hand. You may do with him as seems good in your eyes.’ ” Then David arose and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 24:4

To many of us, we would not understand the significance of such a thing. The next verse offers a clue as to the importance of what David did.

Afterward David’s heart troubled him because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him. For he is anointed of the Lord.” So David dispersed his men by these words and did not let them rise against Saul. And Saul arose from the cave and went on his way.

1 Samuel 24:5–7

David’s heart troubled him because he cut off the corner—the kanaph. David still honored Saul as God’s chosen king. Yet what he did troubled him. David had cut off Saul’s covering, his protection.

David arose afterward and went out from the cave. And he called after Saul saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David had bowed down with his face to the ground and paid homage. David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men saying, ‘David seeks your harm’? This day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave. So that some said to kill you, but my eye had compassion on you. And I said, ‘I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is anointed of the Lord.’ See, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand. Indeed, I cut off the corner of your robe, but I did not kill you. Observe and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand. I have not sinned against you, but you are lying in wait for my life to take it.
The Lord will judge between me and you, and the Lord will avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘From the wicked comes forth wickedness,’ but my hand will not be against you.

1 Samuel 24:8–13

David showed Saul that he had no evil intent toward him. By showing the corner of the garment it would prove Saul’s vulnerability. It also shows that David will not avenge himself.

The unspoken significance, and one we would probably miss… This was a visible demonstration that Saul was no longer keeping Torah. He was operating outside of the law and outside of the covering of God. In other words, Saul would practically know that God’s hand is now against him.

When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. And he said to David, “You are more righteous than I. For you have rewarded me with good, while I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown today that you have dealt well with me, when the Lord delivered me into your hand and you did not kill me.
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him safely go away? Therefore may the Lord reward you well for what you have done for me this day. Now, listen, I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Therefore swear to me now by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s household.”

1 Samuel 24:16–21

Saul testifies in his own words what the missing corner signified.

Fringes of Jesus

Now consider what happens in the Gospels when we find Jesus on the way to Jairus’ home, there is an encounter we all know well. As people pushed in on and crowded after Jesus on the way…

And a woman having a hemorrhage for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, but could not be healed by anyone, came behind Him, and touched the fringe of His garment. And immediately her hemorrhage dried up.
Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When everyone denied it, Peter and those who were with Him said, “Master, the crowds are pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched Me, for I perceive that power has gone out from Me.”
When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling. And falling down before Him, she declared to Him before all the people why she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. Then He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:43–48

Did you catch what part of the garment the women touched?

Luke is the only account to provide this small detail. She touched the fringe of His garment. Perhaps it was the only thing she could reach. Mark’s Gospel provides another detail.

For she said, “If I may touch His garments, I shall be healed.”

Mark 5:28

We see her mindset. She believed if she touched His garment she would be healed. Maybe there is just a bit more going on.

The woman is most likely Jewish by the reference that Jesus called her daughter. But, how did she know if she touched His garments healing would come?

It’s that word kanaph. It is translated as corner in some places in the Tanakh. In others it connotes wings… Which are kind of fringy with the feathers. This woman probably knew the Tanakh well. She would know something we might not get because of the way translating works.

Healing in What?

But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. You will go out and grow up like calves from the stall.

Malachi 4:2

These are among the last words of God to Israel before the advent of Jesus. The book of Malachi is prophecy of the last days that would include the coming of the Messiah. Over a century had passed since Malachi wrote these words and when Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem.

I’m certain you may see the significance in the text. (I dropped the hint.) The woman with the hemorrhage knew the significance of the kanaph. Read it like this: the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its fringes. Sun of Righteousness is considered a messianic title. And Jesus being born under the law would most certainly have tzitzit on the kanaph of His garments. The same tzitzit (fringe) she touched.