Page 100 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

not what Yahweh commanded. Yahweh intended the Hebrew people to add tzitzit to the regular
clothing, not to create special garments to attach them to. The scholarly magazine Biblical Archeology
Review offers some excellent insight into the ancient Hebrew custom.

The tassels were in fact extensions of the hem, as we learn from innumerable illustrations in ancient
Near Eastern art.

To understand the significance of the tassel, we must first understand the significance of the hem. The
hem of an ancient Near Eastern garment was not simply a fold sewed to prevent the threads of the
cloth from unraveling. The hem of the outer garment or robe made an important social statement. It
was usually the most ornate part of the garment. And the more important the individual, the more
elaborate and the more ornate was the embroidery on the hem of his or her outer robe. The tassel
must be understood as an extension of such a hem.

Extra-Biblical texts teach us that the ornate hem was considered a symbolic extension of the owner
himself and more specifically of his rank and authority….

The significance of the hem and of its being cut off is reflected in a famous Biblical episode. When
the young and future king, David, fled from the jealous wrath of King Saul, Saul pursued David into
the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea. Weary from his pursuit, Saul went into one of the caves
near the spring at Ein Gedi to relieve himself, unaware that David and his men were hiding in that
very cave. David’s men urged him to kill the unsuspecting Saul. Instead, David cut the hem of Saul’s
cloak to prove that he could easily have killed Saul if he had wanted to, but that he would not harm
the Lord’s anointed. The passage has a deeper significance, however - in some ways the opposite
significance. The hem that David cut off was an extension of Saul’s person and authority. David did
in fact harm the Lord’s anointed; that is why David immediately felt remorse for what he had done:
“Afterward David reproached himself for having cut off the hem of Saul’s cloak” (1 Samuel 24:6).
According to the New English Bible translation, David’s “conscience smote him” (1 Samuel 24:7).
Although protesting that he had not lifted a finger or a hand against the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel
24:10), David had in fact committed a symbolic act - cutting off Saul’s hem - of enormous
significance. This significance was not lost on King Saul; he understood full well: “Now I know that
you will become king” (1 Samuel 24:20).

Returning to the tassels or tsitsit that the Israelites were commanded to wear, they can be understood
as extensions of the hem. The tassels, as shown in the illustrations, are part of the hem; they are
simply extended threads of the embroidery of the hem. A tassel may hang free or it may be decorated
with a flower head or bell at the end.

Fringed garments worn by prisoners captured by Ramesses III.