Holy Blue

How important is color to God? If you have done Beth Moore's "Believing God" Bible Study, then you already know that He values blue... you wore it for 12 weeks on your wrist in response to Numbers 15:37-41, "to look at, so that you will remember all the LORD's commands and obey them." But why blue? I would like to share with you what I learned today.

The history program I am doing with the kids, Tapestry of Grace, lists internet links for the time periods, people, and topics we study. Today, we were studying the Phoenicians and I saw a link called Fringes and Snails. I had to check it out, curious as to how it related to the Phoenicians. For once, I am going to give you the highlights and refer you to the site itself for more information.

Apparently, the Phoenicians were traders in blue dye derived from, what else, sea snails. These same snails also produced the royal purple dye worn by kings and noblemen. Because the process to extract the dye from the (small) snails was difficult and time-consuming, the dye was very expensive and this was a very lucrative trade. Very few people could afford this dye. Yet, God commanded the Israelites to weave this very rich cloth into their tassles.

Before I give you more information on the dye itself, which is fascinating and exciting, I would like to tell you what I learned about the significance of the tassles. Let me make it clear that I am taking my information from the Fringes and Snails website. That being said... here is the breakdown.

Ancient fringes represented the status, or position in society, of the man wearing the fringe. A number of Bible verses reference the hem or fringe of the a man's garment as being significant: from David cutting off the hem of Saul's robe (as a sign of David replacing Saul's place in society) to Jesus saying that the Pharisees lengthened their tassles (as a sign of hypocrisy). And while we have the ancient example of Ruth asking Boaz to cover her with his cloak, we have the modern example of the Jewish bridegroom covering his bride with his prayer shawl.

When God commanded the Jews to weave this special blue cloth into their tassels, he was ordaining a visual sign of the special status that the Jew has with God.

Now, of course, me being the skeptic that I am, I know nothing about the author of Fringes and Snails
and I decided to do some further searches, until I came to a website called "The Association for the Promotion and Distribution of Tekhelet" Tekhelet is the name of the color produced from the special dye. Apparently, the art of making this dye was lost a few hundred years after the birth of Christ, when the Roman emperor made it illegal for anyone but royalty to wear the color. Since the 1800's, the Jews have been trying to identify the animal that produced the dye and recreate the cloth, which they have not worn in over a thousand years because they would not wear a substitute blue. About 20 years ago, they successfully reproduced the dye and have begun creating and distributing Tekhelet yarn and tassles. This is significant for them because many Jews believe that the revival of the Tekhelet yard is a sign that the Messiah is coming (not to mention that there EXISTS a national Israel).

They have produced a video showing how they make the yarn. They do it the ancient way because they want the yarn to be pure and holy, so they shear the sheep, dye the wool, and spin the yarn by hand. The videos are fascinating to watch.

But before I show you the videos, I would like to address what this means to us, the Christian. Obviously, we anxiously wait for the Messiah and anything that restores into practice something God commanded His people to do is exciting for us, as well as for the Jews. But there is a lesson for us here, as well. In the first video, a gentleman says that, for the Jews, wearing the tassle with the royal heavenly blue (the blue was the color of the heavens), reminded them that they were not poor. That whatever their physical status was, they were priests and kings... every single one of them. 1 Peter 2:9 says that, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession." We now carry that banner.

Imagine... when the woman with the issue of blood strained only to touch Jesus' tassle, it was woven with blue, signifying His priestly kingship... and she knew that. Now, we continue the work the Son of God began.

Enjoy the videos...

The Mystery of Tekhelet, Part 1 of 3:


The Mystery of Tekhelet, Part 2 of 3:


The Mystery of Tekhelet, Part 3 of 3: