This imagery runs through the New Testament. The first Christians knew about the vestments of the high priest and what they represented. The flesh of Jesus is described as the temple veil, matter: ‘We have a great high priest’ (Heb.4.14 [Heb. 1:11]), said the writer of Hebrews, and then used imagery that his hearers must have recognised, because he does not explain it: ‘The new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh’ (Heb.10.20 [Heb. 1:32]). The first Christians described Jesus as their high priest and his flesh as the stuff of the temple veil, matter. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn (Matt.27.51 [Matt. 12:30]).
So too in John’s gospel. ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1.14 [John 1:2]) describes how the Word emerged from the holy of holies - ‘the beginning’ - and became incarnate. The Word coming forth had been ritualised in the Temple as the high priest coming forth from the holy of holies on the day of atonement. John then described the glorious high priest in his golden garments: ‘We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father...’ John had Jesus describe himself as ‘the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, the Son of God’ (John 10.36 [John 6:30]). Jesus wore a seamless tunic, another link to the priesthood (John 19.23 [John 10:12]), and according to Luke, the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus garment was healed. She had touched the high priest’s garment (Luke 8.44 [Luke 6:11]).
The garment of the high priest was ḥošēbh work interwoven with gold, and we have seen that ḥošēbh means something like knowledge or skill. There is an early Christian wisdom text, which has a startling description of the high priest’s vestment given to every Christian. The Teaching of Silvanus, a part of which was later attributed to St Anthony, is one of the texts found at Nag Hamadi in 1945.
Wisdom summons you in her goodness, saying, Come to me, all of you, O foolish ones, that you may receive a gift, the understanding which is good and excellent. I am giving you a high priestly garment which is woven from every wisdom... Clothe yourself with wisdom like a robe, put knowledge upon you like a crown and be seated upon a throne of perception.41 A cloth woven of wisdom could well have been the original meaning, or part of the double meaning of the word ḥošēbh. Here it is Wisdom’s gift to her children.
Jairus’ Daughter & the Woman with the Issue of Blood
A father’s errand for a dying child, interrupted by a woman who steals a healing from behind, and Jesus stops everything to find her, so that the theft becomes a confession and the delay becomes a death he intends to undo.
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Note. Matthew’s JST change is the one to watch: his “my daughter is even now dead” becomes “even now dying,” bringing him into agreement with Mark and Luke. Everything famous here (“Talitha cumi,” “who touched my clothes,” “not dead, but sleepeth”) is untouched by the JST.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
18While he spoke these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead dying, but come and lay your hand upon her and she shall live. 19And Jesus arose and followed him, and also his disciples, and many people crowded him. 20And behold, a woman who was diseased with a discharge of blood twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment; 21for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22But Jesus turned himself about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
23And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24he said unto them, Give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleeps. And they laughed him to scorn. 25But when the people were put forth, he went in and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26And the fame of Jesus went abroad into all that land.
21And when Jesus had passed over again by ship unto the other side, many people gathered unto him. And he was near unto the sea. 22And behold, there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet 23and implored him greatly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death. I pray thee, Come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed, and she shall live. 24And he went with him. And many people followed him and crowded him.
25And a certain woman who had a discharge of blood twelve years — 26and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing better, but rather grew worse — 27when she had heard of Jesus, she came in the crowd behind and touched his garment; 28for she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the crowd and said, Who touched my clothes? 31And his disciples said unto him, You see the multitude crowding you, and say you, Who touched me? 32And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 33But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. 34And he said unto her, Daughter, your faith has made you whole. Go in peace and be whole of your plague.
35While he yet spoke, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house a man, who said, Your daughter is dead. Why do you trouble the Master any further? 36As soon as he spoke, Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he said unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid; only believe. 37And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38And he comes to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and sees the tumult and them that wept and wailed greatly. 39And when he had come in, he said unto them, Why do you make this ado and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleeps. 40And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he takes the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and enters in where the damsel was lying. 41And he took the damsel by the hand and said unto her, Talitha cumi — which is (being interpreted), Damsel, I say unto you, arise. 42And immediately the damsel arose and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. 43And he charged them earnestly that no man should know it, and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
40And it came to pass that when Jesus had returned, that the people gladly received him, for they were all waiting for him. 41And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and implored him that he would come into his house, 42for he had only one daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went, the people crowded him.
43And a woman having a discharge of blood for twelve years — who had spent all her possessions upon physicians, neither could be healed of any — 44came behind him Jesus and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they who were with him said, Master, the multitude crowd you and press upon you, and you say, Who touched me? 46And Jesus said, Someone has touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47And when the woman found that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him, before all the people, for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort. Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace.
49While he yet spoke, there comes one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Your daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. 50But Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying him and he said unto the ruler of the synagogue, Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole. 51And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. 52And all wept and bewailed her; but he said, Weep not, for she is not dead, but sleeps. 53And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 54And he put them all out, and he took her by the hand, and he called, saying, Maid, arise. 55And her spirit came again, and she arose immediately, and he commanded to give her food. 56And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
The Virtue Here Referred to Is the Spirit of Life
This is Joseph Smith reading Luke 8 out of his own body. At Ramus on the evening of March 13, 1843, he blessed nineteen children himself, turned pale, and lost his strength. Asked the next day what had happened, he did not reach for a figure of speech: he reached for the woman who touched the hem, and treated “virtue” as a real and finite thing that leaves the one who heals.
Answer to Elder Jedediah M. Grant, 14 March 1843, Nauvoo; History, 1838–1856, volume D-1, p. 1497 (cf. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 280–281; History of the Church 5:303) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Willard Richards’ journal, March 13, 1843: “in the evening held a meeting for blessing children. 27 blessed.”.
In the evening meeting 27 children were blessed, 19 of whom I blessed myself, with great fervency, virtue went out of me, and my strength left me when I gave up the meeting to the brethren.
Elder J[edediah] M. Grant enquired of me the cause of my turning pale and losing strength last night while blessing children; I told him that I saw that Lucifer would exert his influence to destroy the children that I was blessing, and I strove with all the faith and spirit that I had, to seal upon them a blessing, that would secure their lives upon the Earth, and so much virtue went out of me into the children that I became weak, of which I have not yet recovered, and referred to the case of the woman touching the hem of the garment of Jesus, (Luke 8th chapter) The virtue here referred to, is the spirit of life, and a man who exercises great faith in administering to the sick, blessing little children, or confirming, is liable to become weakened.
A private answer recorded in the manuscript History, not a public sermon, so there are no reporters’ records to compare. Richards’ journal, linked above, confirms the meeting and the count but says nothing of the conversation.
She Had Touched the High Priest’s Garment
Barker takes the woman’s reasoning seriously rather than indulgently. If she thought touching the garment would be enough, the question is what that garment was, and Barker’s answer is that the vestment of the high priest was itself a means of atonement, the divine presence clothed in matter. On that reading the woman is not working folk magic on a piece of cloth; she has reached the one place where heaven was held to meet flesh. Her second passage puts the same healing inside the Jubilee: the bleeding woman is not merely cured but restored to a community that had excluded her.
The first miracle was an exorcism (Mark 1.21-26 [Mark 1:6]), setting one of his own people free from the power of Belial. He spoke of a woman bound by Satan and released her (Luke 13.16 [Luke 8:32]), of slaves to sin whom the Son could release (John 9.31-38 [John 6:21-22]). He forgave sins and illustrated his teaching with a parable of two debtors whose debts were cancelled (Luke 7. 41-48 [Luke 5:20-21]). The healing miracles restored to the community people who would have been excluded as ritually unfit: the disabled, the lepers, a woman who was bleeding. This was the great ingathering of the Jubilee.
The first paper is not published on Barker’s own site, so this entry carries a citation without a link.