The Law commanded tassels (tzitzit) with a cord of blue on the four corners of the outer garment, a wearable reminder: “that ye may remember and do all my commandments” (Num 15:38–40; Deut 22:12). The tassels sat on the garment’s “borders”, the ASV’s word both for the command and for “the border of his garment” the sick reached out to touch (Matt 9:20; 14:36), and for the showy “borders” the scribes enlarged (Matt 23:5). By Mishnaic times the sea-snail blue dye had grown scarce, and the Mishnah rules the blue and white threads independently valid, the absence of one does not invalidate the other.
Daily life in Bible times
Tassels on the corners (the “hem”)
Clothing & dress
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- Numbers 15:38bsb
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.
- Deuteronomy 22:12bsb
You are to make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.
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