Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them tassels on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they attach to the tassel of the corners a lace of blue;
A man has just been put to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. Right after that, God gives Israel something small to wear on the edge of their clothes. Why put the colour of heaven on a hem that drags in the dust?
The tassels were not a human custom that God approved later. Notice when the blue first appears in Israel's story, and who was given it to wear.
The institution of the ribbon of blue was of God, and it is very beautiful. It was not worn in Egypt while they were slaves to Pharaoh, but after God had brought them out by redemption. A ribbon of blue worn by a slave of Pharaoh, or a slave of Satan, would be a contradiction. Blue is the heavenly colour, the colour that is of God. Who then were to wear the ribbon of blue? The nation of Israel, and the foreigner who came to live among them. As circumcision was a mark before the eye of God, so the ribbon of blue was to be a constant sign of remembrance before their own eyes.
The word behind "tassels" carries its own message, and so does the place where the tassels hung.
The word for "tassels" is said to mean "flowers," from a root meaning "to shine." The same word describes the plate on the high priest's forehead (Ex. 28:36), which was also fastened with a lace of blue. The borders of the garments were of course next to the ground. So when a man looked down, the blue reminded him of heaven and encouraged him to look up. Had the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath worn this on the border of his garment, it might have turned his eyes up from the sticks on the ground.
Blue was no random choice, and clean living by itself is not the same as wearing it.
Blue is the colour of heaven and the fitting witness of a heavenly character. White commonly stands for purity, as crimson or scarlet is the image of the world's glory... The Lord wants His people to give constant testimony that they belong to heaven. He wants it in the commonest things of daily life, before their own eyes as well as the eyes of others... It is not enough just to keep away from what is evil, or to cultivate godliness... But suppose all this, and suppose each one wore his garment ever so undefiled — would that be the ribbon of blue? Does it not mean reminding our souls from day to day of the place to which we belong?
That colour was meant to show up exactly where life is least glamorous.
Wives, husbands, and children; servants and masters, are all to show the heavenly colour in these relationships... The blue was to be always with them, even in those walks of life where they touched earthly things.
The chapter has just dealt with open, deliberate sin. The tassels answer a quieter failure, and God gave them for the road rather than the land.
But another case is provided for, and a far more common one — forgetfulness. It is closely linked to presumptuous sin, since it also implies earlier knowledge. The difference is that the presumptuous sinner did not forget. He disobeyed on purpose... Where there are excessive desires for earthly things, heavenly things are forgotten. Any object before the soul other than Christ is a practical denial of our separation from the world... God did not put this ordinance off until they came into the land. The earlier ordinances begin with "when you come into the land." Here those words are missing. It is an ordinance suited to their pilgrim character, journeying through the wilderness, and so it has a special application to Christians passing through the world.
The fringe hung low, where dirt gets picked up.
The fringes of the garments reached to the earth, and might come into contact with defilement. God's precepts and directions alone can keep us walking after Him... The precepts of the gospel are like fringes to our garments, attached to those places where sin can touch us... If I were spiritual and walking in fellowship with God, I would not need precepts. But I am foolish and fleshly, so I need God's precepts to keep my soul mindful of Him.
One writer traces what people later made of this institution.
God had given that very thing to lead them to remember Jehovah, and to obey His precious word humbly. They turned it into an occasion of self-exaltation and religious pride. Instead of thinking of God and His word, they thought of themselves. They thought of the place they held in the opinion of their fellows... Let us make sure we do not turn the heavenly memorial into an earthly badge. What ought to lead to humble obedience must not become an occasion of self-exaltation.
- Redeemed first. No slave in Egypt wore the blue. It marked Israel, and the foreigner living among them, after God brought them out. The sign follows deliverance; it never earns it.
- Look down, look up. The tassels hung at the hem, nearest the dust, so that a downward glance turned into a reminder of heaven.
- Wilderness wear. The earlier laws began "when you come into the land." This one came for the journey — a guard against forgetting on the road.
- Precepts for the hem. God attaches His commands where sin can touch us. A spiritual walk would need none; our weakness does.
- Memorial, not badge. God gave the fringe to turn their thoughts to Him. Men turned it into a display of themselves.
and it shall be unto you for a tassel, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye seek not after [the lusts of] your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye go a whoring;
The fringe with its blue cord was a small thing to wear and a large thing to mean. Writers ask why God gave it just here, why the colour was blue, and why the danger named is the wearer's own heart and eyes.
The command comes right after Israel refused the land. Writers find that setting remarkable.
The context is indeed remarkable. In Numbers 14 we find Israel murmuring, in rebellion so serious that if God had dealt with them in judgment, they would have been destroyed. Then we have the intercession of Moses. The Lord hears and pardons. Still there is continued rebellion and sin. Then grace shines out in Numbers 15, and also government. They had pledged themselves to do all the commandments of the Lord, in Exodus 19. So the ribbon of blue was a badge of the pledge they had taken to do all the commandments of the Lord.
Blue is not decoration. It carries a meaning found all through Numbers.
As to the general meaning of the "blue," which we often find in this book of Numbers, there cannot be any doubt about it. It is the colour of heaven and the fitting witness of a heavenly character... The Lord wants His people to give constant testimony, even in the most ordinary things of daily life. That testimony is for their own eyes and for the eyes of others: they belong to heaven... I believe God's aim in the blue on the fringe was this. He would mix into the most ordinary ways of daily life the constant token that we are heavenly now — not merely that we shall be there by and by.
Where the fringe sat on the robe is itself part of the lesson.
Let us note too that this fringe, with its border of blue, was not placed on those parts of their garments that were noticeable to the eye. It was placed on the border of the robe — "the hem," which came nearest to the ground.
Because it hung where a person walks, it touched the details.
The smallest detail of life — what was connected with the pathway, and came down to the common things of every day — was to be heavenly in character. It was to call to their mind each day and hour, by its heavenly blue, that they belonged to Him who is heavenly... They were to "remember," and to "do" — to be obedient in all details.
The sin this ordinance targets is quieter than open defiance, and it belongs to the road rather than the destination.
But another case is provided for, and a far more common one — forgetfulness. It is closely related to presumptuous sin, because it too assumes the person already knew. The difference is that the presumptuous sinner did not forget — he disobeyed on purpose. Where there are excessive desires for earthly things, heavenly things are forgotten. Any object before the soul other than Christ is a practical denial of our separation from the world... This ordinance was not put off until they had come into the land. The earlier ordinances begin with "when you come into the land"; that is now left out. It is an ordinance suited to their pilgrim character, journeying through the wilderness.
The verse names the rival guide plainly, and the fringe was set against it.
The fringes and the ribbon of blue were to be a reminder of the sacredness of the commands of God, and a protection against the doing of their own wills. As the centuries passed even this was perverted, as Matthew 23:5 strikingly shows. The Pharisees showed a false piety by enlarging the borders of their garments. They were the very men who were setting aside the commands of God in favour of their own tradition.
That reversal is the warning to keep close.
The spirit of the original institution was completely lost, while the outward form was kept up for selfish ends. Let us make sure we do not turn the heavenly memorial into an earthly badge. What ought to lead to lowly obedience must not become an occasion of self-exaltation.
Wearing it never proved the wearer kept it.
Look at the setting in which the ribbon of blue was given. It was not a sign that Israel did in fact walk in heavenly purity. It showed rather what a holy God must require. He must have a perfect obedience to all His commandments, if man is to stand on that ground before Him.
God did not leave remembering to chance. He gave a means.
He uses a means, and a very weighty means, of reminding them of His word. The ribbon of blue was a continual reminder for the people of the Lord. And have we nothing to remind us? Indeed we have... There is nothing that better enables us to walk on earth than the consciousness that we are of heaven. Is not this the meaning of the ribbon of blue?
- Restored — the blue came right after Israel's rebellion, in the chapter where grace shines out; it was a badge of the pledge they had made to keep all the Lord's commandments.
- Reminded — it targets forgetfulness, and God gave it for the wilderness road, not for the land later on.
- Restrained — it guarded them from following their own heart and eyes, and from doing their own will.
- Reversed — the Pharisees widened the same fringe for show, so writers warn against turning a heavenly memorial into an earthly badge.
- Required — it never proved Israel was pure. It showed what a holy God requires, and the lasting help is knowing we belong to heaven while we walk on earth.