Category: Eschatology

Zechariah’s Judean and the Fringe of Jesus’ Garment – Part 2

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:

  1. 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”
  2. Jesus mediates contagious holiness, the evidence of which is demonstrated through the touching of the fringe (tassels) of Jesus’ garments.
  3. 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.

Zechariah’s Judean and the Fringe of Jesus’ Garment – Part 1

she, perhaps even unwittingly, shows Jesus to be Zechariah’s Jew whose tassel is grasped because his presence mediates God’s presence.

I’ve posted a couple times about content in Amy Elizabeth Richter’s dissertation, The Enochic Watchers’ Template and the Gospel of Matthew. The details are interesting. Richter spends some time explaining the relationship of Jesus as Emmanuel, or God with us, to the singular Jew in Zechariah 8:23. This is part 1 of 2 where we’ll work through Richter’s thoughts. You can find her exposition on pages 156-160.

Matthew writes to a Jewish audience. It’s natural that he uses examples and Old Testament passages that his audience would be familiar with. In 9:20-22 Matthew recounts the story of the bleeding woman. In this case she touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment.

And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

Mt 9:20-22, ESV

And this detail in Matthew that a broader Jewish audience understood that those who touched the fringe of Jesus’ garments were made well.

And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 3and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. 

Mt 14:35-36, ESV

Matthew chooses the Septuagint (LXX) as a frame of reference for “fringes.” A Greek speaking Jewish audience would most likely be familiar with translation and phrasing, and these passages in Numbers 15:38 and Deuteronomy 22:12 would come to mind.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying “Speak to the children of Israel and instruct them that they should make fringes for themselves upon the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and place upon the fringes of the borders a blue thread. 39 And so it will be for you in the borders, and you will see these things, and you will recall all of the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them; and you will not distort them according to your intentions and your eyes, by which you committed fornication by going after them, 40 so that you will recall and observe all my commandments and will be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord, your God, the one who led out you of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord, your God.”

Numbers 15:37-41, LXX

You shall make twisted braids for yourself on the four edges of your cloak that you throw around yourself.

Deuteronomy 22:12, LXX

The Numbers reference makes clear the purpose of the fringe to take the Jewish mind back to God’s commands and drive observance as a holy people (Num 15:40)

Broadly, eschatology is the study of the final events of history and the ultimate destiny of humankind. Zechariah points to “those days” (Zech 8:23) in an eschatological sense as a time when people of all nations return to Jerusalem to seek the face of the Lord.

And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying, 19 “The Lord Almighty says, ‘The fourth fast and the fifth fast and the seventh fast and the tenth fast will be for the house of Judah for joy and merriment, and for a good feast, so you will rejoice and love truth and peace.’ 20 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Yet many people will come, even ones who dwell in many cities. 21 And those who dwell in five cities shall come together into one city, saying, “Let us go to pray before the face of the Lord and to seek out the face of the Lord Almighty; and I myself will go.” 22 And many people and many nations will come to seek out the face of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem and to make atonement ⌊before⌋ the Lord.’ 23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In those days if ten men from every tongue of the nations should seize, then let them seize the fringe of the garment of a Judean man, saying, “We will go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.”

Zechariah 8:18-23, LXX

The grasping of the fringe by men of all nations signifies the eschatological realization that God is with the Jews. Matthew leverages this thinking and makes the explicit connection that God is with us through a Judean man – Jesus.

The eschatological significance of Matthew’s retelling of the incident becomes clearer against the retellings of Mark and Luke. Mark does not refer to the fringes of the garment.

27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29

Mark 5:27-29, ESV

And Luke, while appealing to the eschatological sense of the fringe, has the woman somewhat arbitrarily touching the fringes without her statement to herself that she would be made well by doing so.

43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”

Luke 8:43-45, ESV

In any case, it may be the woman does not understand the eschatological significance of her action – that “she shows Jesus to be Zacharias’ [Judean] whose fringe is grasped because his presence mediates God’s presence.” (Richter 158). But Jesus surely does. Unlike the accounts in Mark and Luke where Jesus asked who had touched him, in Matthew “Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” Jesus knows she has touched his fringe because of her faith and perceives the significance of her actions, even if the woman herself does not. Jesus is Emmanuel – God is with us, foretold in Zechariah and witnessed by the bleeding woman.

Bibliography

Brannan, R., Penner, K. M., Loken, I., Aubrey, M., & Hoogendyk, I. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Septuagint (Dt 22:12). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mk 5:27–29). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.