I remember as a kid the old folks would tie a string around their finger to remember something they were supposed to do. In my work, I keep an open Word document on my desktop titled “To Do.” Whenever a client call comes in, I take notes in the “To Do” doc so I don’t forget the details of what I’m supposed to do. Also, this doc is a parking lot, so to speak, for ideas and other tasks. As humans, we often need reminders—some of us more than others. But I’m not just talking about preventing mental lapses or forgetting about a task or an appointment. What about our character, our behavior, how we live our life? We are tempted most every day. Do we need reminders of how to respond? Do we need tzitzit?
Tzitzit are the tassels worn by every Torah observant Jewish man—setting the people of Israel apart from the world. Jesus, himself, wore them! The Lord commanded Moses to have the people of Israel wear the tzitzit as a reminder. Numbers 15:39-40 introduces tzitzit, “The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the people of Israel, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitzit on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue threat. It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of the Lord’s laws and obey them, so that you won’t go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves; but it will help you remember and obey all my law and be holy for your God.”
On the surface this appears to be a little strange why this requirement would be mandated within the context of when Moses sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan. But investigating the historical narrative and the Hebrew text, one finds the relationship between the spies, the law, and the tzitzit. In Numbers, the Hebrew verb “latur,” used to connote “spies,” is not the usual word used in other scriptures dealing with that subject. Latur actually means both to “see” and to be “led astray.” The Mishna, or Oral Torah, explained that the cord of blue in the tzitzit is to remind us of heaven, God, and faith. It causes us to see what is really there and not what we fear. You see, 10 spies saw the Nephilim and it lodged in their hearts that Canaan was a land that devoured its inhabitants. Only Jacob and Caleb believed differently.
Numbers 15:39 mentions heart before eyes. Herein is the point that the heart determines what the eyes see. We see what we already believe in our hearts. Those with faint hearts, like the 10 spies, see from a perspective of fear, and lack of faith. Those with strong hearts like Joshua and Caleb see the world as one that has risks ,but can be overcome—they said, “ADONAI is with us, don’t be afraid of them.” The tzitzit were to keep the people from going astray after their heart and eyes, and into spiritual prostitution; and that would prevent the “Sin of the Spies” from ever happening again. When we know that God is with us, and we are obedient to Him—then we can face anything life brings without self- deceit, and that is the deeper meaning of tzitzit. We believe in our hearts first—then we see, not the other way around! Got tzitzit?
