Numbers 6:1-8—1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses,
saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When either
a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to
separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and similar
drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from
similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or
raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced
by the grapevine, from seed to skin. 5 All the days of the vow of his
separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for
which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the
locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to
the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7 He shall not make himself unclean
even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they
die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his
separation he shall be holy to the LORD.
This is the section where God lays out the law of the Nazarite. A man or woman who was not a Levite could consecrate themselves to God by taking a vow as a Nazirite. The word “Nazarite” comes from the word נָזִיר (nazir), which means “to dedicate, separate, consecrate”. This vow could be taken by either a man or a woman, anyone who wanted to consecrate themselves to God could take the vow. And there were three key elements in this vow:
1) They could not eat grapes or eat or drink anything that was made from grapes
2) They could not take a razor to their hair, and
3)
They could not touch a dead body
First, the prohibition
against eating or drinking grapes or grape products. Not just wine, but even
grapes themselves, or raisins, which are dried grapes. And why would that be?
Why would this Nazarite not touch grapes? Well, as the Nazarite was consecrated
to God, they were not to see how close they could come without becoming
intoxicated. It was a way for them to keep from testing God. You see, grapes
themselves can sometimes taste like wine, and can tempt the person into
drinking wine. This was something the Nazarite was to abstain from in order to
serve God, so they may always have their minds on God. There are many warnings
in the Bible about wine and strong drink. For example, Proverbs 20:1—Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever
is led astray by it is not wise. Proverbs 23:29-35—29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who
has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those
who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. 31 Do not
look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls
around smoothly; 32 at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a
viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse
things. 34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or
like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: 35 "They have struck
me, but I was not hurt; they have beaten
me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another
drink?" “All these woes came upon me because I got drunk. When
can I get another?” Wine is seen as something more cultured, something that
is consumed by elites and the wise. And when someone wants to look and act like
they are more upper class than what they are, they won’t drink beer or whiskey;
they will pour a glass of wine.
But here’s the thing: you
can get just as drunk on wine as you can on whiskey or rye. Ever heard the term
“wino”? Because it is alcohol. And it is common knowledge that alcohol impairs
judgement and lowers inhibitions. And look at the passage in Proverbs 23
to see all the things that can come upon you from drinking too much wine. It
can make you feel depressed, it can make you easily outraged, it can make you mad
at the world, it can cause you to fall down and injure yourself, it can give
you bloodshot eyes, it can throw off your equilibrium. Do those sound like the
traits of one who has set themselves apart to God? I like what Alexander
MacLaren says “Intemperance delights in scoffing at all pure, lofty, sacred
things. It is the ally of wild profanity, which sends up its tipsy and clumsy
ridicule against Heaven itself. If a man wants to lose his sense of reverence,
his susceptibility for what is noble, let him take to drink, and the thing is
done.”
One Nazirite we come
across in Scripture is the prophet Samuel. Samuel was set apart as a Nazirite
from the womb. His mother, Hannah, was barren and had not conceived any
children, and was constantly
ridiculed by her husband’s other wife, Penninah, because *she*gave Elkanah
children. But then one day when Hannah was at the temple mouthing te words to a
prayer, the priest Eli saw her and thought her moved by wine, and told her 1st
Samuel 1:14— So Eli said to her, "How long will you be drunk? Put your
wine away from you!",
to which Hannah replied 1st Samuel 1:15—“No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have
drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before
the LORD.” Then we see in 1st Samuel 1:20 that God
opened her womb, and she called the child Samuel, "Because
I have asked for him from the LORD." The name Samuel (Heb. שְׁמוּאֵל, šᵊmû'ēl)
means “His name is El”, and, Hannah gave him to the service of God, and
declared him a Nazirite in 1st Samuel 1:11—Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if
You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and
not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I
will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come
upon his head." Samuel was a fascinating man; he was
prophet when Saul was chosen as the first king of Israel. And being a Nazirite
he was perfectly suited to be the man God needed him to be to be strong enough
to stand up to this king. He had to be sharp in his mind, had to be able to
hear from God and proclaim what he had heard. And when Saul offered a Burnt
Offering when Samuel was not there, he had to be clear enough in his mind to
tell Saul that the kingship would be taken from him for his rash deed.
When I was a kid I
remember a restaurant, I forget the name of it, but on their sign out front it
said “Fine Food and Spirits”. Spirits, like ghosts? No. I asked my mom, who
told me that “Spirits” referred to wine and other such drinks. Ever wonder why
they call them “spirits”? Ever see someone become a totally different person
after a few drinks? Now, don’t get me wrong, a bottle of whiskey or rye is not
a literal spirit, but it certainly does make people’s spirits change when
they’ve had a few. The people at Pentecost thought the Apostles had those kinds
of spirits. Acts 2:12-15—12 So they were all
amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this
mean?" 13 Others mocking said, "They are full of new wine." 14
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men
of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my
words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third
hour of the day.” These were not drunk on wine, but were filled with the
Holy Spirit. We are warned, even in the New Testament, about the dangers of
alcohol. Ephesians 5:18—And do not
be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the
Spirit. 1st Peter 4:3-4—3
For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when
we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking
parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they
think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of
dissipation, speaking evil of you. Romans 13:13—Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in
revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
We may not be Nazirites, but in this regard we should probably follow their
example.
The second regulation
concerns not taking a razor to one’s head. A Nazirite was only to shave his
head if he was defiled by a dead body. But why the prohibition from cutting
one’s hair? Doesn’t Paul say in 1st Corinthians 11:14—Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has
long hair, it is a dishonor to him? Yes, but then he goes on to say in 1st
Corinthians 11:15—But if a woman has long hair,
it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. So
why, then, would God command that men who set themselves apart to Him should
wear this long hair that nature tells him is a dishonor? The male Nazirite was
not wearing his hair long as a way to be seen as feminine, but as a sign that
he was under the covering of God.
Samson, in the Book of
Judges, was a Nazarite and he is famed for his long hair. Like Samuel, he was
born to a mother who was barren. That is, until she and her husband were
visited by an Angel of God. Only it wasn’t the child’s mother who declared him
a Nazirite, but the Angel who visited her. Judges 13:2-5—2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family
of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no
children. 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
"Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall
conceive and bear a son. 4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine
or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 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." This
man was set apart by God to do a great thing in God’s name. He was meant to
deliver God’s people from their enemies.
Remember, we are in the
period of the Judges, and if you have read the Book of Judges you know this may
be the most depressing book in the Bible. Moses led them in the wilderness for
40 years, then he died and Joshua took his place. Then when he died, the wheels
fell off the wagon, so to speak. The nation of Israel falls into chaos, and
instead of being led by God, they followed men. It’s interesting, it says in Joshua
24:16—So the people answered and said: “Far be
it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods”. Yet
that is exactly what they did! Just like at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when God was
still speaking to Moses and they convinced Aaron to make the golden calf.
Joshua dies in Judges 2:8. Then, a few verses later, this people who
said “Far be it from us that we should forsake
the LORD to serve other gods” DID JUST THAT! Joshua’s body
was barely cold when we read in Judges 2-13—They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
This is a theme that gets repeated in Judges. And don’t think we’re any better.
Were it not for the Holy Spirit given to us by God, we would do the exact same
thing.
So by the time Samson
comes along, Israel has lived under Othneil and Ehud and Shamgar—who slew 600
Philistines with and ox goad—and Deborah/Barak and Abimelech and 7 other Judges
for a period of roughly 400 years. Some were good, some were not. And Samson
would prove to be the last of the Judges. And for the good he did in his death,
his life is not one we should try to model ourselves after. If you read the
account of his life, it is full of pride and almost arrogance and indifference.
He gave to his parents honey that he had obtained from the carcass of the lion
he killed—honey which made the person eating it unclean. He burned up a wheat
field, slew 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey, and pretty much joked with
Delilah about his strength.
And if we don’t think too much about it, we can assume that his strength derived from his long hair. But that is not true. Yes, it is true that when Delilah’s accomplices shaved his head that his strength left him. Or did it? Judges 16:20—And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Not that his strength had departed, but that YHVH—the LORD—had departed from him. The fact that he no longer had the strength he once possessed was not simply due to his head being shaved. That was incidental. He lost his strength because this man, who was set apart as a Nazirite by God, had made a grievous mistake: He had let his pride carry him away, told his mistress the secret of his strength, and a bunch of pagans caused him to break his vow to God. Keil & Delitzsch—
The superhuman strength of Samson did not reside in his hair as hair, but in the fact that Jehovah was with or near him. But Jehovah was with him so long as he maintained his condition as a Nazarite. As soon as he broke away from this by sacrificing the hair which he wore in honour of the Lord, Jehovah departed from him, and with Jehovah went his strength.
It was not his hair that made him strong. It was God working through him, as a man called a Nazirite by God Himself that made him strong. Likewise for us, we can do mighty things. We can preach, and teach, and evangelize and sing and do all these wonderful things. But if we do them simply out of our own treasury these will have no effect on those who hear. 1st Corinthians 2:14—But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Think you can understand and believe this Book with human knowledge? No. You can understand what it *says*, but you will never know what it *means*. That’s why Jesus spoke in parables: to separate those who were His from those who weren’t. He knew His sheep would understand what He was saying, but to those who weren’t His sheep they would just be words. And if anything convinced me that Jesus was really real, it was His parables. I understood them. And I did not understand them because I was smarter or more righteous than anyone else. Far from the truth! He gave me that understanding. And far from making me puffed up, it has humbled me, and more so the more I read and study His word.
Part 2 next week
