Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to make a tassel (tsitsit) on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put on it a twined cord (pdtil) of blue. And it will be a tassel for you to see so that you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and will obey them, and will not follow your heart and your eyes which you go whoring after; so that you will remember and obey all my commandments, and will be holy unto your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to become your God.' " Numbers 15:37-41.
Thus we read in Numbers how the children of Israel were commanded to wear a tassel on the corners of their garments. (I have translated the word as "tassel" rather than "fringe" to express a flower-like form, for other words which seem to come from the same root are used to refer to flowers, as in Isaiah 27:6 and 28:1,4). There is a similar commandment in Deuteronomy 22:12: "You shall make for yourself twisted cords (gedilim) on the four corners of the covering with which you cover yourself." In this verse the word for tassel is not used. It is possible, though, that gedilim meant the same as tsitsit, the gedilim (twisted cords) constituting each tsitsit (tassel). The patil (twined cord) could be one of the gedilim, for the roots of both words may signify "twisting." However, it is possible that the appendage described in the passage from Numbers was different from the one described in Deuteronomy. They may have belonged to different historical periods, or they may represent different styles within the same historical period (i.e., the appendage described in Numbers may have been a flower-like tassel, while the one described in
Deuteronomy may have consisted of but one or a few cords).
There is another difference between the two descriptions. In the passage from Numbers a cord of blue is specified, whereas in the passage from Deuteronomy no color is mentioned. Because no one cord is singled out it is possible that all the cords described in Deuteronomy were to be of the same color. The color may not have been specified because it was not significant or because certain colors were customary for such appendages. Also it is possible that in Deuteronomy knowledge of this cord of special color was assumed. 1. During the research for this paper the writer found a brief discussion of the topic in Views of the Biblical World, edited by Drs. Mazar and Avi-Yonah, International Publishing Company, Jerusalem-Ramat Gan, Israel, vol. I, 1958, p. 280. Two color photographs are included, one of the statue of Puzur-Ishtar, the other of the painting depicting the governor of Tunip.