When the knot was finished, on each side there would be three white strands, and one blue one; then on the other side, three white strands and one blue one - three in one, so you had the nature of God there.
So you had the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, and the nature of God, all tied up on you - all tied to His presence.
When they tied the tassel correctly, it would end up with eight strands. Eight is the number of new beginnings, which is the number of grace.
So you have the word of God, the name of God, the ways of God, the nature of God, and the grace of God, all tied to you.
Moses commanded people, saying that throughout generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garment. To this day, in certain Jewish circles... like I've seen this.
I was at lunch not too long ago with a guy, and he wore this undergarment underneath his shirt, and coming out from the undergarment was tassels sewn to the corner of his garment. He didn't walk around with this, but he had an undergarment with tassels sewn to him.
Why would God do that? Why would God tell us to? It's because God knows that we're tactile imagery people, especially First Century and Ancient Near East people.
They would wear their prayer shawl; and when they wore it, they would take the tassels, and they would wrap it around their fingers; because that way, before you sinned, any time you sinned, you had to unwrap God.
It was a reminder that God's way is the way of life. God's way brought me from darkness to light. God's way brought me from slavery in Egypt, to freedom in the Promised Land.
God's way, God's name, God's grace; it has nothing to do with me, for by grace I have been saved, through faith and not in myself. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. God's way is the way of life. God's way is the way out of slavery. God's way is the way to wholeness. God's way, God's path, is the best life to live.
One time this guy named Saul was chasing this guy named David around. It was like, not fair - Saul and a bunch of guys against David. Saul was on his way to get David, and he had to go to the toilet.
In English it says: he goes into the cave to relieve himself; but in Hebrew it says: he went into the cave to cover his feet. That's disgusting - you'll get that later I guess!
Saul goes in there to use the toilet; and it says that David snuck up behind him, and cut off the corner of his garment.
Now my Sunday school teacher, who meant well, said that David was doing that so he could show Saul that he ‘could have killed him’ but he ‘decided not to’ - but that's not what it was about at all.
Saul was the king of Israel, so he would he have been wearing tassels on the corners of his garment. So if David cuts off the corner of his garment, David cut off his anointing. That's why Saul saw it as a reproach, and that's why later David got so guilty - I can't believe I've touched God's anointed.
Saul gets done doing what he's doing, and he walks out. He faces his men, and he doesn't have tassels; and David is off in the distance going: hey, I've got your tassels. In other words: you're not the man anymore. You're not the one with God's favour on his life - I am.
Have you ever heard of going into your prayer closet? It wasn't the place you kept the broom! They'd wrap these things around their hands, doing it on both hands, and go into their prayer closet.
This one place, the word kanaf means corners, borders or hem; but over time it started to mean ‘wings’. The reason is because, when the priest would bless the people at the end of the service, he would say: the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.