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Brit Chadashah (New Testament) is concealed in the Torah, and the
Torah is revealed in the Brit Chadashah. To accurately interpret
the writings of the Sh'liakhim (Apostles), one must understand
the Torah. The Torah is an amazingly intricate, infinitely complex
Tapestry, the very Garment of the Holy One. In fact, the King Messiah,
Yeshua of Nazareth, is the Living Torah incarnate, the Kavod of
Adonai dwelling in the mishkan (tent) of a human body. Indeed, every
yud and tagin, jot and tittle, of the written Torah
mystically reveal the character of the King Messiah, and the nature of
the universe. As we begin to examine the patterns in this Tapestry, we
begin to see amazing connections throughout the interwoven threads that
bind all things together. However, we often fail to see the exquisite
threadwork of light before our eyes, the fragrance under our nose, and
the resonating Song of Redemption in our ears. We must brush away the
confines of our own culture, the barriers of language, prejudice and
preconceptions, in order to see the radiant beauty of design in the
Torah.
In the book of Malachi, one of the most prophetically messianic books
in the Bible, the following can be found:
"But to you who fear My
Name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His
wings."
Malachi 4:2
Many Christians accurately see a
reference to the Messiah in this verse. Judaism also recognizes this as
a messianic prophecy:
"Moses asked: 'Shall
they remain in pledge for ever?’ God replied: ‘No, only Until the
sun appears’, that is, till the coming of the Messiah; for it says,
But unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise
with healing in its wings."
Exodus Rabbah 31:10, Soncino Press Edition
In Mattityahu (Matthew) chapter five,
Rabbi Yeshua says that not one yud or tagin will pass away
from the Torah. The yud is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alephbet,
and the tagin a small decoration upon certain Hebrew letters that
looks like a crown. If even the decorations of the letters in the Torah
are everlasting, then the choice of words among synonyms the Ruach
HaKodesh inspired Malachi and other Biblical authors to select are of
utmost importance.
Examining the verse in Hebrew, threads in the Garment of the Torah
start to become apparent. Malachi uses the word "kanaph" for wings.
"But to you who
fear My Name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in
His wings (kanaph)."
Malachi 4:2
In the books of Bamidbar (Numbers) and
Devarim (Deuteronomy), the Torah uses the word "kanaph" for the
commandment of the tzitzit (fringes):
Again YHVH spoke
to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to
make tassels (tzitziyot) on the corners (kanaph) of their garments
throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the
tassels of the corners."
Bamidbar 15:38, cf. Devarim 22:12
The "kanaph" of a garment was the
corner, edge, or "hem". The Strong's Concordance defines kanaph as:
Kanaph (kaw-nawf');
Noun Feminine, Strong #: 3671
Wing, extremity, edge,
winged, border, corner, shirt
- Wing
- Extremity skirt, corner (of garment)
As the Torah is revealed in the Brit
Chadashah, we find an illuminated meaning,
"Now an isha
(woman), having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all
her wealth on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from
behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her
flow of blood stopped. And Yeshua said, "Who touched me?" When all
denied it, Kefa and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes
hold and press you, and you say, 'Who touched Me?' "But Yeshua said,
"Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me." Now
when the isha saw that she was not hidden, she came
trembling, and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the
presence of all the people the reason
she had touched Him and
how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, "Daughter, be of
good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in shalom."
Luke 8:43 - 47, cf. Mattityahu 9:20, Mark 5:25
The Greek word for "border" is
kraspedon, corresponding to the Hebrew word "kanaph", as Strong's
Concordance notes:
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Kraspedon (kras'-ped-on)
Noun Neuter, Strong #: 2899
The extremity or prominent part of a thing, edge, skirt,
margin
- The
fringe of a garment
- In the NT a little appendage hanging down from the
edge of the mantle or cloak, made of twisted wool
- A tassel, tuft: the Jews had such appendages attached
to their mantles to remind them of the law
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What was the "flow of blood" the woman was
afflicted with? It is interesting that, in Greek, the word 'apo' in this
passage is left untranslated,
Greek: "kai
guneh ousa
en rusei
haimato apo
eton dowdeka
. . . "
English: "and
woman being
with flow
of blood
years of twelve
. . . "
The word "apo" can mean "separation",
as the Strong's definition states:
Apo (apo')
Word Origin: Greek, Strong's # 575
Of separation
- of local separation, after verbs of motion from a place i.e.
of departing, of fleeing, ...
- of separation of a part from the whole where of a whole some
part is taken
- of any kind of separation of one thing from another by which
the union or fellowship of the two is
destroyed
- of a state of separation, that is of distance
- physical, of distance of place
-
temporal, of distance of time
In ancient Jewish culture, this would
be immediately recognizable as separation in regards to the laws of
niddah, meaning that the 'flow of blood' the woman was experiencing
was a continuous menstrual condition, which rendered her ritually
unclean, and unable to have sexual intercourse if she was married.
Anything she touched would become ritually unclean:
And if a woman have an
issue, and her issue from her body is blood, she shall be impure (niddah)
for seven days: and whosoever touches her shall be unclean until the
evening. And every thing that she lies upon in her separation
(niddah) shall be unclean: every thing also that she sits upon shall
be unclean. And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and
bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. . . And if
a woman has an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her
separation (niddah), or if it flows beyond the time of her
separation (niddah), all the days of the issue of her
uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation (niddah):
she shall be unclean.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 15:19-28
In today's society, many women have
difficulty during the time of menstruation. Imagine dealing with this
for twelve years. To make matters worse, she experienced this condition
in a society where ritual impurity was incredibly important, as the
Temple stood in the foreground of daily life. Such emphasis on ritual
purity is not seen today like it was in the times of the Second Temple.
She was probably avoided on all sides, from all people, who did not wish
to become ritually unclean. If she was married, it would have caused
great stress upon their marriage, as physical intimacy was forbidden.
Moreover, the website JewFaq.org notes,
"The rabbis
broadened this prohibition, maintaining that a man may not even
touch his wife or sleep in the same bed as her during this time. .
. At the end of the period of niddah, as soon as possible after
nightfall after the seventh clean day, the woman must immerse
herself in a kosher mikvah, a ritual pool. The mikvah was
traditionally used to cleanse a person of various forms of ritual
impurity."
JewFaq.org, Judaism
101: Kosher Sex,
http://www.jewfaq.org/sex.htm
In essence, this flow probably destroyed
her life. With the importance that ritual purity was held in the times
of the Temple, we can see why the woman approached Rabbi Yeshua from
behind, thinking that He may not want to make contact with her. She was
perhaps accustomed to people avoiding her, and though her self
confidence was crushed through years of emotional pain, it was overcome
only by her extreme desperation to find healing. When Yeshua asked who
had touched Him, she became afraid, because she, being ritually unclean,
touched the corner His garment. Rather than being chastised for her
action, the merciful Messiah said unto her,
"Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made
you well. Go in shalom." She could now truly live in shalom,
complete peace, as she found healing in the Wings of the Sun of
Righteousness, in the kanaph of His garment. Only the Father
through Yeshua can bring restoration to our lives, our families, and
even the entire world, if we have faith. All in fulfillment of Malachi
4:2,
"But to you who fear My
Name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His
wings."
Malachi 4:2
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