Dressed for the Feast
He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Zechariah 3:4 NASB
Festal robes – In the ancient world of Semitic cultures, clothes were much more than outer protection. Clothes were identification marks. If you wore purple, you were either rich or royalty. If you wore sackcloth, you were in mourning. Shepherds, carpenters and fishermen could be identified by their garments. You wore what you were.
In Zechariah’s vision, Joshua’s filthy garments are removed. His sin (the sin of the people) is cast away, and he is dressed for the feast in rich and resplendent robes. He is a new man because he has new clothes to wear. Isaiah picks up the same metaphor (Isaiah 64:6), describing God’s removal of the filthy rags of sin and the replacement of those rags with righteousness. In the apostolic writings, Paul employs the same poetic language.
We’re quite familiar with these spiritual applications, but perhaps we are no longer as sensitive to the underlying Semitic clothing identification markers. Do you suppose that our culture’s use of clothing as metaphor also “speaks” about who we are, but in ways quite opposite than Scripture? Have you asked yourself what it means when you put on certain clothing? How about all those celebrity labels and designer duds? What identification markers do they purport to reveal about you? Why do you feel the need to be identified in that way? And what do we say about the constant trend toward camouflaging ourselves behind someone else’s image? Who do we become when we are known only through the names we wear? Rolex versus righteousness? Guess instead of guests? Hilfiger or hesed? Abercrombie and Fitch rather than abstinence and faith? iPhones instead of “I fear”?
Would anyone know who we are in God’s eyes by looking at what we parade before them?
In Israel it is impossible to mistakenly identify the Ultra-orthodox. Everything about the way they live shouts their commitment to a particular path before YHWH. But Israel is like any other country. One block from the Wall you can’t tell who believes without asking. Maybe we have lost some of the festal robes God provides in our mad scramble to be identified in the world by the world. Maybe the mahalatsot of God shouldn’t be spiritualized and made subservient to the world’s brands. After all, if God dresses you in the regal robes of state, do you really need to add a designer label to prove you’re acceptable?
Topical Index: festal robes, mahalatsot, Zechariah 3:4, clothes
ONE MONTH TO GO: The conference in Sandpoint, Idaho will be one month from today, June 28-29.
My only comment reading this would be the emphasis of having the robes of righteousness, not just within (the heart) but as can be seen by those around us, not merely in the clothes we wear, in places of worship. I get uncomfortable in my spirit when folks wear low cut clothes, shorts, short skirts, t-shirts, and sandals, but more so in our walk/actions and attitudes towards others. Folks may say I am conservative, but they are ignorant or careless of the protocol of decency in regards to respect to others, especially the elders.
I would love someone coming up to me identifying the tzittzit I have on my handbag!
Just enjoy these TWs!
“Rolex versus righteousness? Guess instead of guests? Hilfiger or hesed? Abercrombie and Fitch rather than abstinence and faith? iPhones instead of “I fear”?”
Perfect! Thank you!!
For ye men shall put on more adornments than a woman,
And coloured garments more than a virgin:
In royalty and in grandeur and in power,
And in silver and in gold and in purple,
And in splendour and in food they shall be poured out as water.
3 Therefore they shall be wanting in doctrine and wisdom,
And they shall perish thereby together with their possessions;
And with all their glory and their splendour,