Numbers 15:38

38. Fringes The Hebrew tzeetzeeth, fringe or tassel, is used only in this statute and in Ezekiel 8:3, where it is rendered “a lock of mine head.” The fringe was not originated by this law, but it existed before as the ordinary mode of finishing the robe, the ends of the woof being left to preserve the cloth from raveling, the riband of blue, (or cord, improperly lace, Exodus 28:28; Exodus 28:37 thread, Judges 16:9 bracelets, ( cord, R.V.,) Genesis 38:18; Genesis 38:25 and wire, (of gold,) Exodus 39:3 or rather dark violet, being added to strengthen the border. The outer robe, a quadrangular piece of cloth, was so worn that two of the corners hung down in front ornamented with this dark violet thread. To this fringe the Jews subsequently attached great sanctity, and the Pharisees enlarged it and the thread to an undue width, (Matthew 23:5, note,) as an indication of their greater respect for the precepts of the law of Moses. The impress of consecration to the holy God was stamped on the life of the Israelite in ordinances extending to the most minute things, that he might always realize the voice of Jehovah, saying, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” These tassels were to remind him every moment to think on all his commands, and not to be guided by the imaginations of his heart and the lust of his eyes. Stier, in his comment on Christ’s summary of the law, as comprised in love, (Matthew 22:40,) interprets the riband of blue as a type of love, and the fringes as the separate precepts scattered through the law and the prophets.