With Healing In His Wings

We live in an unusual time in history. Recently I described how the indoor plumbing we take for granted is only about 100 years old - No Hot Showers [1]. Another thing that sets this age apart is simply how colorful it is. Any color you think of is easily acquired - paints, inks, dyes, etc.  But it was not always so. Until the discovery of analin dyes in 1856, all dyes came from nature. BTW, unlike stains which only affect the surface, dyes penetrate the material and don't wash out. Nature provides most colors in abundance so the human world was not THAT drab, with the exception of purple and blue. But one might say the sky is blue and water is blue – yes but blue pigments in nature are rare. Nowadays blue is common, just think of the two billion pairs of blue jeans sold each year - ZipDo [2].

Our Blue Planet

Seen from space, earth appears as a blue and white planet. But up close, on land, one sees earth tones like browns, greens, reds. Outside of blueberries, can you think of another blue food - BlueFoods [3]? Even birds and butterflies that look blue don't get their color from blue pigment, but from fine scales that refract blue light - ZeFrank [4]. It took Shuji Nakamura [5] over 20 years to develop the blue LED - Veritasium [6], critical for flat screen TVs and smart phones.  He won a Nobel Prize for it Nova [7]. The reasons that blue is rare go into physics, chemistry, and biology, which even if I understood, aren't the reason I bring this up. Consider the Tabernacle.

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The curtains, the veil, the door of the Tabernacle in the wilderness all contained blue. The High Priest of ancient Israel was to wear a robe of blue. The word for blue is tekhelet [8], and tekhelet is used over 50 times in the Hebrew, nearly all of them in connection to the Tabernacle or the Temple.

Exo 28:31 “You shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue

Not just the High Priest, everyone was supposed to wear a little tekhelet blue.

Num 15:37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels for the corners of their garments, and put a blue (tekhelet) cord on the tassel at each corner. 39 These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the LORD’s commands and obey them and not become unfaithful by following your own heart and your own eyes. 40 This way you will remember and obey all My commands and be holy to your God.

Murex snail

Tassel is translated from the Hebrew tzitzit [9], which is only used here and Ezek 8:3 where it means a lock of hair. Blue and purple dye was more costly than gold, so purple cloth was highly prized by royalty. It was noteworthy enough that a woman named Lydia was identified as a seller of purple in Acts 16:14. What was the source? Nature only provides two sources for purple dye, plants that produce Indigo, and a snail called murex trunculus. The Talmud (not the Bible) says that only murex trunculus dye is acceptable as tekhelet.

Each spot is
one murex gland

 

 

 

This ancient dye costs $2,700 per gram. It takes 120 pounds of snails to make just one gram of pure purple dye powder, in a labour-intensive process. One gram allows you to dye 10-15 grams of fabric (the sleeve of a shirt), and that’s why the dye was, and still is, so expensive. MiddleEastEye [10]

The only other OT verse that mentions fringes is Dt 22:12, but a different word is used.

Dt 22:12 You shall make yourself tassels (gedilim) on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

Tallit from Jerusalem

I'm not an expert on 21st century fashion, much less fashion of ancient Israel. I couldn't figure out how a garment had four corners. According to chabad.org(tallit) [11], this garment was more like a poncho, just a rectangle of cloth maybe with an opening for the head. Jews today often attach tzitzit to a large prayer shawl (tallit) worn externally, or a small undergarment similar to a sleeveless T-shirt, or some even fasten the tzitzit to their belt loops. And they have an unbelievable number of rules about tzitzit.

These are tzitzit I bought at Walmart online [12], made for Jewish consumers. Traditions vary among the various Jewish sects regarding color of threads (usually white), number of threads, knots,  length,  attachment, and so on - Tallit Shop [13]. BTW, this NOT a murex dyed tzitzit. 

Tzitzit are never mentioned again in the OT, but do make a couple appearances in the NT, somewhat buried in translation.

Lk 8:43 And a woman who had suffered a chronic flow of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, 44 came up behind Him and touched the FRINGE of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had left Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and admitted in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

She touched the kraspedon [14] of His cloak. We can know that Greek kraspedon is Hebrew tzitzit. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek, Num 15:38 tzitzit is translated as kraspedon - Septuagint [15]. She touched the tzitzit of His cloak, and was healed. She was not the only one.

Mt 14:34 And having crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And the men of that place having recognized Him, sent to all that surrounding region, and brought to Him all those being sick, 36 and were begging Him that only they might touch the FRINGE of His garment, and as many as touched were cured.

As many as touched the tzitzit of His cloak were healed. Remember, tzitzit are attached to the corners of one's garment, the word corner is translated from the Hebrew kanaph [16], the primary meaning is wing.

Num 15:38 they are to make tzitzit for the kanaph of their garment

Doesn't Mal 4:2 sound like a prophecy of these healings?

Mal 4:2 But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.

It's S-U-N, not S-O-N, though most commentaries agree that Jesus is the sun of righteousness - Ellicott Commentary [17]. Jesus clearly had healing in His wings, that is, in the tzitzit of His kanaph. Prophecy can have a dual fulfillment, a small former and a large latter fulfillment. At His return, He will have MUCH healing in His wings, and the earth will need it. I marvel at the symbolism in even a small detail like a tzitzit.

Shades of Murex Dye

The tekhelet blue dye industry thrived for over 2000 years, but the dye industry died around 650AD. The knowledge was lost too. Ancient writings were unclear what animal produced the dye, and unclear about the process as well. The murex snail was rediscovered in 1858 when a fisherman demonstrated the color change to a zoologist.

(The details of that story are told in the book “The Rarest Blue” [18] by Baruch Sternman. Much of the information here came from that book. I read it several years ago, and I wanted to write an article about it. Recently, I learned about the connection to the stories of healing in the New Testament, and the link to Malachi 4:2 - Kraspedon Mystery [19], so it was time.)

It took another 100 years and many scientists and scholars to rediscover the process of creating tekhelet blue dye from the murex snail. By this time, artificial dyes had taken over the marketplace from natural dyes, which caused the collapse of the Indigo plantations in India. For over 1300 years, observant Jews could not buy murex dyed tzitzit, so they were obliged to omit the blue thread chabad.org(blue_thread) [20]. But artisan dye makers are again making murex tekhelet blue dyes and genuine tzitzit - tekhelet.com [21]. When the third Temple is built, if the priesthood believes they need murex tekhelet blue for the curtains, clothing, there are now sources for it.

The original purpose of the tzitzit was to remind individual Israelites of God and His commandments. The colors white and blue certainly make one think of the sky, that is of the heavens. Tekhelet IS sky blue. That colorful reminder is meant to lift you up, to consider God in all your ways, and not follow your own heart. I have to question whether it worked very well to remind the wearer of the commandments. In Jesus' day, many wore the tzitzit, but they were scolded by Jesus Himself for missing the point.

Mt 23:5 But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels (kraspedon) of their garments.

Now we have the law written on our hearts and minds, but that doesn't always stop us from sin, just like tzitzit didn't stop ancient Israel from sin.

Not everyone who wears the tzitzit is trying to remember the Commandments. One of the Hamas terrorists killed in Gaza was wearing a green tzitzit, Israeli military issue Israel365News [22].

Summary

We have seen:

• God commanded the Tabernacle to use tekhelet blue.
• The priests wore garments of tekhelet blue.
• Israelites were instructed to wear tzitzit with a tekhelet blue thread in it.
• The blue dye industry was very important in ancient times.
• The process to make dye from the murex snail was lost, but has been restored.
• The blue thread of the tzitzit was to remind Israel to obey God.
• The tzitzit symbolizes the healing in His wings

References

1. https://jlfreeman-1.blogspot.com/2023/12/no-hot-showers.html

2. https://zipdo.co/statistics/jeans-industry/

3. https://preparedcooks.com/foods-that-are-blue/

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-s714RNXHY

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuji_Nakamura

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF8d72mA41M

7. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-blue-leds-work-and-why-they-deserve-the-physics-nobel/

8. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/8504.html

9. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/6734.html

10. https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/colour-purple-dyeing-techniques-phoenician-sea-snails

11. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/537949/jewish/What-Is-Tzitzit-and-Tallit.htm

12. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Holy-Land-Market-Tzitzits-Set-of-4-Royal-Blue/870351212

13. https://tzitzit.tallit-shop.com/blog/ashkenazi-vs-sephardic-tzitzit-strings/

14. http://lexiconcordance.com/greek/2899.html

15. https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuagint/chapter.asp?book=4&page=15

16. http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/3671.html

17. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/malachi/4.htm

18. https://www.amazon.com/The-Rarest-Blue-Remarkable-Rediscovered/dp/0762782226 Baruch Sternman

19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8njdkPEzeNM

20. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/530127/jewish/Tekhelet-The-Mystery-of-the-Long-Lost-Biblical-Blue-Thread.htm

21. https://www.tekhelet.com/

22. https://www.israel365news.com/385954/the-hamas-terrorist-wore-tzitzit/