Numbers 15:38

_SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND BID THEM THAT THEY MAKE THEM FRINGES IN THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS, AND THAT THEY PUT UPON THE FRINGE OF THE BORDERS A RIBBAND OF BLUE:_ BID THEM THAT THEY MAKE THEM FRINGES. These were narrow strips, in a wing-like form, wrapped over the shoulders, and on various parts of the attire. 'Fringe,' however, is the English rendering of two distinct Hebrew words-the one meaning a narrow lappet or edging, called the 'hem or border' (Matthew 23:5; Luke 8:44) which, in order to make it more attractive to the eye, and consequently more serviceable to the purpose described, was covered with a ribbon of a blue, or rather purple colour; the other term signifies strings with tassels at the end, fastened to the corners of the garment. Both of the

38_Speak unto the children of Israel. _A little farther on I will explain the object of this precept more fully: although it is plain from the next verse that God had no other object but to exercise the Jews in constant meditation upon the Law. For there was no religion contained in the fringes themselves, nor had that material texture any value in itself; but since men are lazy and forgetful in the cultivation of piety, God would by this aid make a provision for their infirmity. For when He says that they should “look upon it and remember,” He hints that they have need of these coarse rudiments, which may strike even their outward senses; and again, that, unless their memory was kept awake, nothing was more likely than that forgetfulness should steal upon them. But he presently adds, that God has no satisfaction in mere empty knowledge, but that He demands serious affections and practic...

37-41 The people are ordered by the Lord to make fringes on the borders of their garments. The Jews were distinguished from their neighbours in their dress, as well as in their diet, and thus taught not to be conformed to the way of the heathen in other things. They proclaimed themselves Jews wherever they were, as not ashamed of God and his law. The fringes were not appointed for trimming and adorning their clothes, but to stir up their minds by way of remembrance, 2 Peter 3:1. If they were tempted to sin, the fringe would warn them not to break God's commandments. We should use every means of refreshing our memories with the truths and precepts of God's word, to strengthen and quicken our obedience, and arm our minds against temptation. Be holy unto your God; cleansed from sin, and sincerely devoted to his service; and that great reason for all the commandments is again and again repe...

Verse 38. _BID THEM - MAKE THEM FRINGES_] We learn from Numbers 15:39 that these _fringes_ were emblematical of the various _commands_ of God. That there was any analogy between a _fringe_ and a _precept_, it would be bold to assert; but when a thing is appointed to _represent_ another, no matter how different, that first object be comes the regular representative or sign of the other. There is no analogy between the term _bread_ and the _farinaceous_ nutritive substance thereby signified; but because this term is used to express and represent that thing, every person thus understands it; and when the word bread is seen or heard, a perfect knowledge, not of the _letters_ which compose that word, but of the _thing_ signified by it, is conveyed to the mind. So the _fringes_, being appointed by God to represent and bring to mind the...

THAT THEY PUT UPON THE FRINGE OF THE BORDERS A RIBBAND OF BLUE - Reader that they add to the fringes of the borders (or corners) a thread of blue (compare the marginal references). These fringes are considered to be of Egypttian origin. The ordinary outer Jewish garment was a quadrangular piece of cloth like a modern plaid, to the corners of which, in conformity with this command, a tassel was attached. Each tassel had a conspicuous thread of deep blue, this color being doubtless symbolic of the heavenly origin of the commandments of which it was to serve as a memento. Tradition determined that the other threads should be white - this color being an emblem of purity (compare Isaiah 1:18). The arrangement of the threads and knots, to which the Jews attached the greatest importance, was so adjusted as to set forth symbolically the 613 precepts of which the Law was be

EXPOSITION THE LAW OF TASSELS (Numbers 15:37-4). NUMBERS 15:38 BID THEM THAT THEY MAKE THEM FRINGES. צִיצִת, probably tassels. It seems to signify something flower-like and bright, like the blooms on a shrub; the word צִיץ. is applied to the shining plate of gold upon Aaron's head-band (Exodus 28:36). In Jeremiah 48:9 it seems to mean a wing, and in Ezekiel 8:3 צִיצִת is a lock of hair. The exact meaning must be gathered fro

SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... Whom it only concerned, and all of them, except women and children; for priests, Levites, Israelites, proselytes, and freed servants, were bound to wear the fringes, but not Gentiles; nor might the Gentiles make them, what were made by them were not to be used z, since it follows: AND BID THEM THAT THEY MAKE THEM FRINGES IN THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS, THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS: the garments on which these fringes were put were such that were made either of linen or of woollen; no other were obliged to them by the law; but according to the Rabbins other garments were also, yet only square garments, which they call the Talith; and if that had not four skirts to it, it was free from them a: on this square garment, and the four corners or skirts of it, were the fringes put; which were a sort of pendants or tassels, which hung down from it, which...

RIBBAND OF BLUE The ribband of blue. Blue, the heavenly colour, used upon the borders of the priests' garments signified that the servants of God were to be heavenly in obedience and character, and separate from earthly ambitions and desires....

5. VARIOUS LAWS, THE SABBATH-BREAKER, AND THE TASSELS ON THE GARMENTS CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Concerning offerings in the land (Numbers 15:1)_ 2. The second communication concerning offerings (Numbers 15:17) 3. The Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:32) 4. The tassels on the garments (Numbers 15:37) The historical account is here interrupted. What the critics have to say about this chapter speaking of it as an evidence of the patchwork of different persons, we care not to follow. Our space is too valuable for that. The chapter is beautifully in order at this point. God gave two communications to M

NUMBERS 15. A NUMBER OF DETACHED REGULATIONS (from P). NUMBERS 15:1. THE QUANTITIES OF FLOUR, OIL, AND WINE APPROPRIATE TO VARIOUS SACRIFICES. The practice of adding such accompaniments to flesh-offerings preserves the primitive idea that certain sacrifices were meals of which the deity partook (_cf._ Judges 9:13; 1 Samuel 1:24, Bel. 3- 6). The use of corn and wine in sacrifice could have come into vogue only after Israel had ceased to be a pastoral and had become an agricultural people. Wine probably replaced milk, which, though it does not occur among the offerings prescribed in the Jewish law, was offered by the Arabs, as also by the Carthaginians (a Phœ nician race). Milk formed the libation at the earl