The Beauty of the Prayer Shawl (Part 2)

50 in scripture often refers to the Holy Spirit (Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit came to dwell with men occurred 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection). The number 1 in scripture means unity. Now the literal meaning of “Amy” is “beloved,” and is French in origin. But one could say that the Jewish numerical value of my name means “unity with the Holy Spirit.”

A. The Tzitzit Reveals God’s Name

So, what does all this have to do with the tzitzit and God’s name? In Exodus 6:3 we read: “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”

Jehovah in Hebrew is pronounced Yaweh. Spelled YHWH. This is what is known by Jews as the unspeakable name of God. God is called many things and known by many names, but this name is the name that reveals God’s great power. It is the Hebrew composite that means “God who was, God who is, and God who will be forever!”

1. The Coils or Windings

For thousands of years men followed God without knowing or experiencing this part of His character. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never did. But God sent incredible miracles to the generation of Israelites that He freed from Egypt. They saw first hand God’s power through the plagues He sent upon Egypt, through the parting of the Red Sea, through the cloud and fire that led them, through the manna that was daily supplied, and through many more miracles. So it was to this generation, through Moses that God commanded His name JEHOVAH be placed in the tzitzit. He put it in the tassels that were to be constantly before their eyes, so they would never forget what He did for them. And His name is found among the coils or windings.



a. Spaces Made By Coils

The first way He shows His name is very simple. There are four spaces between the knots of the tassel that contain the coils. (The coils are found in the four spaces.)

God’s unspeakable name, JEHOVAH, when written in Hebrew has 4 letters (YHWH). There is 1 coil space for each letter of His name. By simply looking at or feeling the fringe with his hand – the Jew was reminded that the God he served was Jehovah - the God who was, who is, and who always will be.

b. Number of Coils

The second way God reveals His name and nature is through the total number of coils or windings. Last week we mentioned that there were 7 coils in the first space, 8 coils in the second, 11 coils in the third and 13 coils in the last space.

Now here is where the Hebrew gematria starts to come in. There is a fundamental axiom of the Jewish faith known as the “Shema”. This self-evident truth is found in Deuteronomy 6:4. In Hebrew, they would say “Yahweh Ekhad” = God is one.

If we were to apply gematria to this phrase (Yahweh Ekhad) we would get something like Illustration 2 on your insert.

So by using Hebrew gematria, anyone seeing the coils or windings on the tzitzit are seeing the Hebrew words “Jehovah is One” written in numbers.

Another interesting thing to point out is that if you add all the coils together (7+8+11+13) you get a total of 39. Why is this important?

Though it can’t be proven in scripture, it is believed that Jesus was whipped 39 times. In the Bible, 39 is the number for disease. In the Old Testament there are 39 diseases mentioned. In 1 Peter 2:24 we are told that by His stripes we are healed.