The third and last
regulation for the Nazirite was to not touch, or even go near, a dead body—even
someone in their own family. The one set apart to God is commanded to not
defile themselves by the dead. This may be why John the Baptist preached in the
wilderness—less chance of being near a dead body. We don’t have concrete proof
that he was a Nazirite, but we can surmise it from when the Angel of God tells
his parents in Luke 1:15— “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord,
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the
Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.” Like Samson and
Samuel, he was called to be a Nazirite before he was born. He preached
repentance with the zeal of Samuel, and with a passion Samson should have had.
The kind of zeal all who follow Christ should have, like it says in Titus
2:14. And like when Samuel confronted King Saul about his sin, John Baptist
did likewise when he confronted Herod about Herod sleeping with his brother’s
wife in Matthew 14:1-10.
John the Baptist was the
one spoken of in Malachi 3:1— "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will
prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to
His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He
is coming," says the LORD of hosts. Malachi was the last prophet of the Old Testament, and for
about 400 years, God was silent. Then suddenly, this man appears in the
wilderness of Judea, preaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Many thought
him mad, what with his dress and diet. But how many times did they think the
prophets of old mad. We have Samuel who prophesied naked (1st
Samuel 19:24) and Ezekiel laying on his left side and then his right (Ezekiel
4:4-6). And here was this guy now coming along, wearing a robe of camel’s
hair cinched with a leather belt and eating bugs and honey. And he came
preaching repentance from sin. Matthew 3:1-3—1
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and
saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3 For this is
he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one
crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths
straight.'"
Now, I want to camp on
this verse for just a second. When we talk about the deity of Christ, we point
to John 8:58, and we do well to do so. But really, this verse in Matthew
shows more evidence that Jesus was God in the flesh. John the Baptist is
quoting Isaiah 40:3 pretty much verbatim. And in Isaiah 40:3, the
word translated “LORD” is the Hebrew YHVH, the name which God spoke to Moses in
Exodus 3:14. So to use this verse that speaks of God in order to point
people to Christ, he is, in fact, declaring that Jesus is God.
And that is what he did.
As a Nazirite he was commanded to not be defiled by the dead. And he wasn’t. Rather,
he pointed to the One who gives life (John 6:67), and gives it more
abundantly (John 10:10). He warned the Pharisees to repent from their
dead works, warned them to do things that would evidence their repentance, that
this was the way to life. You see, we need to be pointed into the way to life,
because we don’t know it on our own. But the One who is life shows us the way
to life. You see, following Jesus is not a way to simply have a better life financially
and live in ease and comfort. Following Jesus is about having peace with God,
serving God, and being endowed with eternal life. Jesus tells one of His
disciples in Matthew 8:21-22— 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him,
"Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow
Me, and let the dead bury their own dead." We are called to follow
Christ, and to let nothing hinder us in our walk. He even commands us to love
Him more than we love our own family (Luke 14:26).
For the life that you have given,
For the love in Christ made known,
With these fruits of time and labor,
With these gifts that are your own:
Here we offer, Lord, our praises;
Heart and mind and strength we bring;
Give us grace to love and serve you,
Living what we pray and sing.
(“For the Life That You Have Given”, Carl Daw)
Now, before we leave this passage in Numbers, let us dispense with a certain conundrum that presents itself to us in Matthew 2:23—And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." Many have tried to link this verse to Judges 13:5—For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." Fact of the matter is we do not find the words of Matthew anywhere in the Old Testament. And although many have undertaken to somehow explain this away, the problem has never really been solved. So why does Matthew use this phrase? Well, for one thing, this was the word given to Matthew by the Holy Spirit.
By the same token, we know that Jude repeated a quote from Enoch, although not found in the Bible, in Jude 1:14-15—14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." This passage is not from the Book of Enoch, as that was not written until the 3rd Century BC, and the claim by some is that Jude is quoting Enoch 1:9, which says Behold, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to destroy all the wicked, and to convict all flesh for all the wicked deeds that they have done, and the proud and hard words that wicked sinners spoke against him. So why would Jude have included this quote and attributed it to the great-grandfather of Noah? Well, here is my opinion, and take it for all it is, an opinion. Deuteronomy 33:2 says, And he [Moses] said: “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand Came a fiery law for them.” It is possible that the quote mentioned by Jude actually is from the biblical Enoch, and was carried along orally until the time Moses said it in Deuteronomy and Moses used the occasion to offer commentary on the words of Enoch and apply it to his time. But that is my opinion. Again, do with it what you will.
Now, in light of this, let us again examine that passage in Matthew 2:23. Notice Matthew does not name a prophet that said this, but only states “the prophets”, And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." When you see this, it is usually not referring to one particular prophet or prophecy, but is a summarization of different prophets and prophecies. And it is possible that Matthew used the term “Nazarene” (Gr. Ναζωραῖος) to describe, not the town where He was from, but as a descriptor of who Jesus was. In Isaiah 11:1, we see Jesus called a ונצר (netzer, branch) of Jesse, There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (ונצר, netzer) shall grow out of his roots. With this in mind, it makes it clear where the confusion comes from. I must agree with what Spurgeon says of this assessment:
This [Nazarene] is the name commonly given to our Lord in the Old Testament. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesus was the sprout, or the shoot out of the withered stem of Jesse. When the dynasty of David was like the tree cut down, and only the stem of it left there sprang up out of it the Netzar, the Nazarene; so he is found dwelling in a city that is called by that name, and he also is called a Nazarene. And the name clings to him to this day, there are those who will call him by no name but “the Nazarene.”
Keep in mind, Matthew, being Jewish, would have been familiar with the passage in Isaiah. And the name Nazareth, in Greek, means “the guarded one”, but that name is of uncertain derivation, we don’t know how it got its name. It does not appear in any of the Hebrew Scriptures. Philip Schaff seems to think the name Nazareth is an Aramaic form of the Hebrew ונצר (netzer). So with all this being said, it is no contradiction at all, but rather a misapplication of the word “Nazarene”, not to describe a place, but a person. Jesus was not a Nazirite, as He himself said that He drank wine (Matthew 11:9, Luke 7:34, as well as at the Last Supper), and we read that He touched dead bodies (Mark 5:41), further distancing Himself from the Nazirite vow. He was a Nazarene, a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people (Psalm 22:6).
Part 3 next week
