In part 1 we explored how Matthew explicitly connected Jesus to Zechariah’s singular Judean, and in doing so he demonstrated that Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us. We’ll continue working through Amy Elizabeth Richter’s work on this topic in her dissertation The Enochic Watchers’ Template and the Gospel of Matthew (156-160).
Grasping the fringe of Jesus’ garment provided healing power. This is a common understanding, and Matthew draws attention to this again in 14:36 enforcing the point that Jesus is God with us.
34 And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 36 and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
Matthew 14:34-36, ESV
For Matthew, Jesus is the Judean whose fringe is grasped in Zechariah 8. While Zechariah points to a future time in an eschatological sense for this fulfillment, Matthew’s account of the bleeding woman, and then the crowds being healed, illustrates that the future is now. “Jesus’ identity as Emmanuel, which begins in Matthew’s infancy narrative, means that eschatological righteousness has become a present reality in Jesus” (Richter 159).
Richter then points to work done by Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis that connects the fringe incident to a priestly tradition in Ezekiel arguing that “Jesus saw himself as the eschatological high priest, ‘the physical, human, embodiment of the divine Glory'” (Richter 159). Apparently holiness is contagious, communicated through the touch of a garment.
16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments.
Ezekiel 44:16-19, ESV
We find a similar idea in Exodus with respect to the priestly instruments.
25 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26 With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy.
Exodus 30:25-29, ESV
So there is this idea that simply touching even the fringes of the garment transmit contagious holiness, and this idea is held by the woman and the crowds. If a connection can be made between Jesus’ garments and those worn by the high priest that also transmitted holiness, then Jesus is the high priest – and possibly something more.
Fletcher-Louis thinks the fringe of Jesus’ garment is the tassels described in Numbers.
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Numbers 15:37-40, ESV
These tassels are worn by the general Jewish population. In this case they are not priestly ornamentation.
In the Masoretic Text (MT), the word used for tassel is tzitzit. Here is the Numbers 15 passage in the MT.
37 Adonai said to Moshe, 38 “Speak to the people of Isra’el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread. 39 It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of Adonai’s mitzvot and obey them, so that you won’t go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves; 40 but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God.
Numbers 15:37-40, Complete Jewish Bible
Fletcher-Louis points out that the tassels – the tzitzit – are the ordinary person’s “equivalent of the tsits, the rosette that bears the Name of God on the high priest’s forehead” (Richter 160). Following this line to a conclusion, the argument is that because all Israelite males wear the tassels, then the entire nation is a kingdom of priests, e.g. Exodus 19:6.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Exodus 19:5-6, ESV
Fletcher-Louis’ argument goes something like this:
- The tassels that the people wear are an equivalent of the rosette that the high priest wears. The people share in the priesthood as a “kingdom of priests”
- Jesus mediates contagious holiness, the evidence of which is demonstrated through the touching of the fringe (tassels) of Jesus’ garments.
- Perhaps Jesus was interested in the fulfillment of the call for the nation to become a nation of priests sharing the contagious restorative holiness of the high priest.
Richter concludes her ideas saying the idea of a kingdom of priests fits well with Matthew emphasizing the participation of Jesus’ followers in all aspects of his ministry, including teaching:
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20, ESV
Matthew’s Jewish audience would have understood the implications of the fringe, tassels, and the transmission of holiness through priestly garments. Matthew puts an exclamation point on the identification of Jesus as the eschatological fulfillment of Zechariah’s Judean.
Bibliography
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mt 14:34–36). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Complete Jewish Bible: an English version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament) (1st ed., Nu 15:37–40). Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications.