A NAPKIN BY ANY OTHER NAME

Are you familiar with the Hebrew word "tallit" (pronounced "ta leet")? The tallit is a garment that God designed; the man on the left is wearing a tallit on his head.  Also translated "covering" or "scarf" or "napkin"...Jewish men were told by God through Moses (Numbers 15:37) to wear this prayer shawl forever.  This directive was given as Israel was brought out of Egypt and the Lord was trying to get Egypt out of them.  The rectangular "napkin" stretches out like a tent across the head or shoulders.  Just as the Lord was specific about every detail of His tabernacle, the tallit was made to specifications (color/number of tassels in the fringe/etc.).  Those symbols represented aspects of God's law and His name.  Everytime a Jewish man put on his tallit, he kissed the corners and that reminded him to love and obey God.

The man pictured may raise his tallit to cover his head when he is praying.  That would be in keeping with what Jesus said to his disciples (Matthew 6:6) about going into their closet to pray.  Although they perhaps were gathered in a large group, when they raised their tallit (as nowdays you might observe at the Wailing Wall), they were each in a private prayer chamber.

In the story of Balaam (the hired gun prophet who was brought in to curse Israel), Balaam looks down and says "how beautiful are thy tabernacles".  Since there was only one tabernacle, what did Balaam mean?  Perhaps as he looked down and saw 10,000 Israelites in their "portable tents/tabernacles" on the plain of Moab, it was beautiful to him.  God had made it supernaturally impossible to curse them.  And this portable tabernacle remains a tradition for every Jewish man today.

Can we assume that Jesus wore a tallit?  Yes.  In John 8:46 Jesus had been challenged about the way He taught God's words.  He asked them "which one of you convicts Me of sin?"  In other words, has Jesus demonstrated faithlessness in keeping the law?  None responded because Jesus was "kosher" in His adherence to the traditional Jewish faith.  He kept all the laws and that would have included wearing a tallit.

There are several instances where Scripture mentions a tallit.  It was a dramatic contact point in Jesus' healing ministry.  The woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garmet (Mark 5:25) actually touched the fringe of His tallit.  The little girl that Jesus raised from the dead was covered by His tallit and then when He said "Tabitha, arise", in Hebrew that actually was "little girl (covered by the tallit) arise".  The little girl sat up by virtue of what passed from Jesus through the tallit to her.  The prayer shawl was such a personal item, Jewish men were also buried with their tallit.  In John 11:44 Lazareth was said to be wrapped in his napkin when Jesus called him out of the tomb.

Jesus would have been buried in His tallit (napkin), also.  John 20:7 says "but the burial napkin which had been around Jesus' head was not lying with the other linen cloths, but was still 'rolled up, wrapped round and around' in a place by itself".  Jesus was leaving a message that he knew would click with the Jewish disciples.  He knew their first thought would be that the Romans had stolen the Lord's body.  But the folded napkin contradicted that because dead men do not fold their tallits.  They knew he had been dead three days and therefore was not in a hurry if he had stopped to fold his tallit.  By leaving his prayer shawl folded, he was saying to them that he would return.

Of course He DID return.  And one day, He will return again for His church.  That day He will not come to New York City, but to Jerusalem riding a white horse...with His tallit across His shoulders.  Jesus had Jewish parents, was raised as a Jew, lived and worshipped and died as a Jew, and one day Scripture says Jesus will return as a Jew with a name on his thigh (Revelation 19:16).  People have long wondered how a name could be written on his thigh.  Surely if it were something like a tattoo, it would be covered up by his tunic.  But remember that as He sits astride the white horse, the tallit would be draped across His thigh.  And the tassels of the tallit spell out the name JEHOVAH. 

"I let myself be seen by Abraham, Issac, and Jacob as God, the ruler of all (El Shaddai); but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh (Jehovah)."  Exodus 6:3