Numbers 15:37-41 comments: something on their clothing to remind them of God's commandments

 

Numbers 15:37 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 38  Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: 39  And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40  That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41  I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.

 

While provision has been made for sins of ignorance now comes a symbol where the holiness, the separation to God, being sanctified, is represented in the Israelite’s clothing. The fringe on the edge of their garments would be a reminder of the commandments of God. He called them to be holy, for He is their God. Christians have no peculiar manner of dress that identifies them as Christian although some do try to wear an article of clothing as a badge of consecration. Still, we must remember that these physical Jews would live in a kingdom supposedly devoted to God. We know from history how they failed but we have here part of the account of God’s ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself and the response of the Jews to His commands.