“And that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue . . . that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them” (Numbers 15:38-39).
People have always made and used outward aids to their memory–things to enable them to remember. Sir Walter Scott tells us that when he was at school, there was a boy in his class who, when he was asked for a date in history, or a fact in geography or grammar, always touched a button in his vest; it was somehow a help to recollection, so that by its means the lesson he had learned came back to his mind. His mischievous companions one day cut off the button without his knowing it; and the next time he went up for his examination, he missed his familiar help, and could not remember a single thing he had learned by heart.
In ancient times, when most people could not read, they put a notch in a stick, which they carried about with them, called a tally, to remind them of some important business transaction. And you know how often you have put a mark on your thumb-nail, or tied a knot in your handkerchief, or put a thread round your little finger, to put you in mind of something you had to do.
God took advantage of this habit of human beings to make them remember His own instructions. When they were in the wilderness, He ordered His people Israel to make a narrow ribband, or ribbon of blue, and put it as a border or hem on the outer garment they wore, which was a kind of mantle or shawl. The color and shape of this ribbon were to be different from those of the rest of their clothes, so as to attract their attention. And this singular ornament was to remind them every time that they looked at it, while working or resting or walking abroad, of the commandments of God.
The law was written by the finger of God upon two tables of stones; but these tables were hidden in the ark, and the mercyseat was put as a lid over them in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. No eye could see them, not even the eyes of the priests themselves. The commandments written upon these tables had been proclaimed on Mount Sinai in the hearing of the Israelites, but they could not keep them in mind. There was nothing to appeal to their eye and help their memory. They were continually forgetting God’s laws, and therefore breaking them.
Even the judgments of God did not brand these laws upon their remembrance. They had a terrible example given to them of the death of a transgressor who had broken God’s holy law of the Sabbath. God had told His people that they were to do no manner of work, and to kindle no fire throughout their habitations on the Sabbath day. One man had forgotten or ignored that law. He went out into the desert to gather sticks, with the object of making a fire. He thus worked in getting the sticks, and he would have worked harder to kindle a fire with them had he been allowed. For this double offense he was stoned to death outside the camp. It was a fearful penalty. This Sabbath breaker was but a specimen of the whole nation. They were in continual danger of forgetting one or other of the laws of God. And therefore God, in pity for their fickleness and frailty, wanted them to use a tally to aid their memory, to put a ribband of blue on the border of their outer garment so that they might have continually before them a reminder of the commandments of God. Whenever they looked at the ribband of blue on the hem of their cloak, they remembered the law of God. They would also remember the reason why God asked them to wear that blue ribband, and all the commandments of God would be impressed upon their memory. They could not plead ignorance or forgetfulness if at any time they disobeyed them.
This ribbon was like the bright shining rainbow which God put upon the dark clouds after the deluge: men looked at it and remembered the faithfulness of God’s word, that seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter would never cease. And like the rainbow, the ribband of blue was a memory of a past judgment and a promise of a future mercy. The color of it, the lovely blue of the sky when it is purest and freest from cloud and storm, is the sign of mercy. It is the token of God’s faithfulness, which, like the blue sky, is always behind every cloud and storm, undimmed and unchanged.
When the thundercloud veils the sky, and the tempest bursts in fury over the earth with its destructive power, this serene blue color is for the time concealed; but we hail its reappearance as a sure sign that the storm is over and that nature is at peace. And so the blue ribband worn on their clothes was a sign that the cloud of God’s wrath against sin may for a time obscure His love. But it will soon pass away, and God will return again to show His mercy. The cloud is small and soon passes away — the blue sky is vast and enduring. So for a moment lasts the wrath of God, but His mercy endureth forever.
Looking at the blue ribband on his robe, this bit of serene, heavenly blue, the color of heaven itself, the Israelite would remember that behind and beyond the short-lived anger of his God, on account of the sins of His people, the heavenly blue of His power and love lasted forever. So he would be encouraged to come to Him for mercy to pardon and grace to help.
It was not to the hem of the best clothes of the Israelites that this ribband of blue was to be attached, but to their everyday clothes. It was not for special occasions, only when they were going up to the house of God to worship that they had this ornament to their dress. Their common clothes were to be adorned in this way, to have this bit of heaven sewn to it, in order that they might thereby keep constantly in view their heavenly origin. They would remember that they belonged to God, and that they were to be always holy as He who had called them was holy, in their daily walk and conversation.
But you all know how the blue ribbon failed in fulfilling God’s purpose. Instead of reminding the Israelites of God’s holiness, and of their own obligation to be holy, it helped only to make them conceited and proud. The Pharisees afterwards made the narrow ribband broad, in order to attract the notice of men, that others might see how strictly they kept the letter of the law and how holy they were, and admire and praise them in consequence. They wore the broad blue ribband that they might be seen of men; not to remind themselves of the commandments of the Lord that they might keep them. And thus their very religion made them worse instead of better; made their keeping of the law of God a mere display to win human applause, instead of causing them to mortify the flesh and purify the heart.
The Lord Jesus would have worn this ribband of blue on his clothes when He was quite a little boy He would be taught by His parents to take care of the ribband of blue, whatever became of His coat. For all the Jews held it sacred, for it was to them the sign of a coven:mt with God. One of the old Hebrew teachers was asked which commandment his father bade him keep more than any other when he was a boy. And he answered the commandment about the blue ribband.
Jesus did not require a blue ribband to remind Him of the necessity of obedience to the commandments of God, for He always remembered them and kept them in thought, word, and deed. But He took our place and was made under the law like any ordinary Jew. And He kept His ribband clean and whole as an example to others, and as a proof how entirely He was in submission to the rule which God gave to His people.
This was a humbling thing for Him; and it is a remarkable circumstance that God made the blue ribband on the hem of His garment, which was the sign of His humiliation, the means of His exaltation. God made that blue ribband, which showed that Jesus was made under the law, the instrument of enabling Him to rise above the law and perform a wonderful miracle of divine power. A poor, sick woman came up behind Him in the crowd one day, and touched the blue ribband on the hem of His robe, thinking that there might be some virtue even in the ribband itself. Instantly she was made whole by the touch. If she had dared to touch the broad, blue ribband on the long, trailing robe of a Pharisee in the street of Jerusalem, he would have turned round and scowled at her for profaning it. But Jesus turned round and graciously said to her, “Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole.”
And if you will touch the blue ribband on the robe of Jesus as it comes down to your ignorance and helplessness from the high heaven, and offers itself to the touch of the smallest child, your soul will be cleansed and healed, and you yourself will be made the means of cleansing and healing others. As through the blue ribband of Jesus’ robe healing virtue flowed, so if you keep hold of it through faith, and wear it yourself and make it the dress in which a gentle and gracious character clothes itself in daily action, it will impart virtue through you to all who come into contact with you. In proportion as you are Christ-like, through your very dress, that which shows your real nature, the power of God will pass. This is not the blue ribbon of outward, pretentious display of your goodness for the praise of men. That will make you disagreeable and hateful so that people will shun you. Rather it is the blue ribband of your real inward obedience to God, that will make your simple, earnest, loving piety so attractive and serene as the blue heaven above you, that the poor and the timid and the ailing will love to touch it, and be benefited by it. That blue hem of your garment, like Christ’s own, will do mighty miracles in the world!