when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman
was made whole from that hour. (23) And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels
and the people making a noise, (24) He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.
And they laughed him to scorn. (25) But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the
hand, and the maid arose. (26) And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. (Matt 9:18-26)
A difficult question can be asked at this point. Did Y‘shua become ritually unclean by either the woman
touching His garment or by Him touching the dead girl? (If she was indeed dead!) Or was he not made
unclean (by anything) because of his Deity? This is a very deep issue and one that merits further study.
Let‘s start with the women. The answer obviously is no, or else Y‘shua would have broken the Torah,
specifically Positive Law 99: Lev 15:19 On Tumah of a menstruate woman as well as Positive Law 106: Lev
15:19 On Tumah of a zavah (woman suffering from a running issue). This Law says, ―And if a woman have
an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth
her shall be unclean until the even‖. This Law clearly says that the person (in this case, Y‘shua) would have
been unclean until the even. But we saw the opposite in the Scripture. Y‘shua proceeded to the ruler‘s house
to resurrect his twelve year old girl. If Y‘shua was unclean he would have had to do the following, of which
the Scriptures speak nothing about: ―And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even‖. (Verse 22).
The faith of the women healed her before touching Y‘shua, as Y‘shua Himself said so: ―thy faith hath made
thee whole‖. If she was not made whole and Y‘shua allowed her to touch him, he would have been guilty of
transgressing the Law and therefore would have been a sinner. This would mean that Y‘shua was not
perfect, but praise YHWH we know our Messiah is perfect!
The Jewish Y‘shua and the ―hem of his garment‖
In Y‘shua‘s day, Jewish men wore a simple tunic both at home and at work. When appearing in public, they
would cover their tunic with a large rectangular cloth, which draped over the shoulder and fell to the ankles.
This cloth was called a tallit and served as protection from cold and rain. Hanging from the end of each of its
four corners (wings) was a tzitzit (tassels/fringes) in obedience to the biblical command. (Through the
centuries that followed (during times of persecution), Jews were often forbidden to wear the tzitzit on the
outside of their garments. This forced them to wear a small, four-cornered tallit under their shirts. Today the
prayer shawl is called a tallit.)
Y‘shua looked like a Jew even on the outside. In faithfulness to the Law, He wore a tallit (prayer shawl) with
the tzitzits (Matt 14:36; Luke 8:44) on the four corners of the tallit. In English, these are obvious by the
translations 'hem' or 'fringe of his garment' which the crowds were keen to touch in order to be healed. Let‘s
see why:
Y‘shua was squeezing through the crowded streets of Capernaum because of the tremendous amount of
people who followed Him, when something happened that stopped him. A woman with an issue of blood
reached out to touch the hem of Y‘shua‘s garment. Mark 5:24-34 gives us more details:
(24) ―And He went with him. And a large crowd was following, and they were pressing on Him.
(25) And a certain woman being with an issue of blood twelve years,
(26) and who had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all things that she had, and
having gained nothing, but rather coming to worse,
(27) hearing about Jesus, coming in the crowd behind Him, she touched His garment.
(28) For she said, If I may but touch His garments, I will be cured.
(29) And instantly the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she knew in her body that she was healed
of the plague.
(30) And knowing instantly within Himself that power had gone forth out of Him, turning in the crowd,
Jesus said, Who touched My garments?
(31) And His disciples said to Him, You see the crowd pressing on You, and do You say, Who touched
Me?
(32) And He looked around to see the one who had done this.
(33) And the woman, being afraid and trembling, knowing what had happened on her, she came and fell
down before Him and told Him all the truth.
(34) And He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be whole from your
plague‖. (Mark 5:25-34)