Tzitzit are the tassels which men of the covenant are required to wear, even today. They are traditionally received at the age of twelve when boys become men and take their Bar Mitzvah. They are a public testimony to the community of believers that they are living the commandments of Yahweh and are accountable to both Elohim (God) and the community of Israel for their behaviour. (Women do not wear tzitzit - they are accountable to their fathers or husbands and instead wear a headcovering). Yah'shua, as an Israelite also under covenant, and who obeyed the commandments flawlessly (unlike all of us), therefore wore the mandatory tzitzit. As such, then, the Messiah was the embodiment of the commandments, the Living Commandments or Torah. When the woman touched the hem of His garment where the tzitzit were attached, she was acknowledging Him as the Messiah - the Living Christ.

The woman with an issue of blood is, however, more than just a Judhaite with a medical problem. She represents not only her tribe (Judah), the 12 Tribes (represented by the 12 years she had had this illness), but the whole of unfaithful mankind. In her unclean (unsaved) state, she stoops down to the ground (an act of humility) to touch the source of everlasting life represented by the tzitzit, the Living Torah. She is a picture of making teshuvah - making repentance - and the elements involved: acknowledging the Saviour, humbling oneself, making contact with the source of saving power, and being delivered from sin!

We are all of us like that woman in a permanent state of uncleanness without the Saviour. However, all we have to do is trust in Him, humble ourselves, acknowledge our need to be obedient to the commandments, and call upon His redemption!