A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, the Nazirite Vow (Part 4)

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

4) The LORD…be gracious to you. Grace. The one thing we need from God, and one thing it is so hard to ask for if we are allowing our flesh to dictate our lives. Because, for one thing, grace is a gift. Romans 4:4—Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. One thing that separates Christianity from all other religions is grace. In Islam your good deeds must outweigh your bad deeds, and if not—even by the weight of an atom—Allah the All-Merciful™ will send you to Hell. In Buddhism and Hinduism, you must do your dharma—your religious duty—in order to advance. In Roman Catholicism you must do good works to be saved—not that you must do good works to show you are saved as it says in James 2:18. The grace shown by God is this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Other religions cannot grasp that. They think that you have to do good in order to be accepted by God. What was so special about these pitiful little Israelites that God said “you are Mine”? Nothing. What was so special about Abram that God sais “all nations shall be blessed in you”? Nothing. What was so special about Isaac or Jacob—especially Jacob—that God would bring about a great nation from them? Nothing. What was the defining characteristic of Moses that made God say “That’s him! That is the man who is perfectly capable and equipped to lead over a half million people in the wilderness and appear before me!” Absolutely nothing. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Nothing. What was it about you that made God say “Yes! I want that person! He/she has done spectacularly amazing things and I want them on My team!” Answer: less than nothing.

So why did God choose Abram? Why did He choose Isaac and Jacob? Why did He choose Moses? Why did He choose—you? One word: GRACE. The passage that is stamped on your forehead whenever you join a Baptist church is Ephesians 2:8-9— 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. The argument is “well, which of them is the gift—the grace, the faith, or the saved?” The answer of course is “Yes”. It is all of them. Grace is obviously a gift, “good-will, loving kindness, favour: of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues” according to Strong. Romans 11:5-6— 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Guess how much God’s grace depends on us? Again, nothing. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Nothing.

 

How do I know this is true? Because I know me. I know the man I used to be. The music I listened to, the movies and TV shows I watched, the beer I drank. But I will say this much—I did not have a problem with pornography. I watched it every chance I got with no problem. I lived the struggles men face—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1^st John 2:16)—and I didn’t back down to them, I charged full face right into them and enjoyed every minute of it. If you had told me back then that I would one day have a website where I would tell everyone reading it the truth of God and His Christ, I would not have believed you, even for a second. From the hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” by DW Whittle:

 

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me is daily shown,

Nor why, with mercy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own.

I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart,

Nor how believing in his word wrought peace within my heart.

I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing us of sin,

Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in him.

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noon-day fair,

Nor if I’ll walk the vale with him, or meet him in the air.

 

There is also a refrain in there, taken verbatim from 2nd Timothy 1:12—I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. That is another component of grace, is God keeping those who are His until that last Day. It was a hurdle I had to get over, that when God saves someone, they are in His hand forever. Some dismissively call it “once saved always saved”. I prefer to call it the Perseverance of the Saints, and is found all over Scripture, most notably Philippians 1:6 and Hebrews 10:14 and, as above, 2nd Timothy 1:12. To say that one can be saved and God would not hold on to that person not only makes the one who thinks that turn God into an unfaithful God, but also contradicts Scripture.

 

5) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you. What does it mean for God to “lift up His countenance”? Well, we know God does not have and actual face. We see all the Renaissance paintings of God sitting on the clouds, a bearded old man who reaches out a finger to give life to Adam in Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But in all reality, God is Spirit (John 4:24), and does not have an actual face like you or me. In fact the Westminster Confession says “There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions” (Westminster Confession, 2.1).

Well, it is what we call “anthropomorphic language”: giving human traits to a being that is not human. And we know God is not human—obviously. But He had to express Himself in a way the people could understand. And this is but one way. The first place we see it is after Jacob wrestles with the Angel in Genesis 32:30—So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." Now we know that Jacob did not really see God’s face, because God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20—“But,” he said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Again, Jacob used anthropomorphic language.

We must understand that the “face of God” is not something that can be seen, but something that must be sought after. It is us knowing Him, and Him knowing us. It is us seeking Him so we may know His will, and Him looking upon us that He may lead us and guide us. The phrase “seek His face” is used 7 times in the Old Testament, 3 times in the Psalms. David was a man after God’s own heart (1st Samuel 13:14), and constantly sought the face of God, that he may know what His will was and how he should go about pleasing Him (1st Chronicles 16:11 [which is repeated in Psalm 105:4], Psalm 27:8). This phrase is also used in 2nd Chronicles 7:14, Hosea 5:15 and Hosea 7:10. When we seek the face of God, we are asking for an audience with Him, to pour out our prayers and supplications.

Now, does God hide His face? Yes. He even hid His face from David. Psalm 30:7—LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. Why would God hide His face? Well, even though David was a man after God’s own heart, he stumbled. There was a time when he REALLY stumbled (2nd Samuel 11:4). And when he did stumble, God would not be there for David. And no matter how he may have been treated by men, this made David cry out even stronger. When I was in high school, I tried to sneak off with a friend of mine. When mom found out—and caught me—she didn’t hit me or lay any kind of corporal punishment on me. Know what she did? She said “I’m really disappointed in you”. Ouch! There I was, in my high school football jersey, bawling my eyes out because of her words. It hurt worse than any kind of lashing. But it got her point across. That is what it was like for David when God hid His face.

A couple other times when God hid His face, the first is Isaiah 54:8—"With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer." Of course, this is right after the prophecy of Christ, in Isaiah 53. He is speaking, I believe anyway, to Israel after they crucify the Lord of Glory, and He turns away from them. But this will not be a turning away forever, and He will bring them back to Himself (Romans 11:1-5). We also see Him hiding Hid face in Ezekiel 39:23—“The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.” This was when God allowed Israel to be taken into exile by Babylon (2nd Chronicles 36:16-21). He allowed them to be taken away because they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy (2nd Chronicles 36:16). Then when calamity fell upon them, they had nowhere to turn, there was no one who would fight for them, and God Himself fought against them and they fell into captivity.

 

But God… My favorite phrase in all of Scripture. Romans 5:8—But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God, who is rich in mercy, lifted His face to us Gentiles--Gentiles from whom He had hidden His face for so many years--and welcomed us into His kingdom. He sent His Son, His perfect, beloved Son, in the flesh, to dwell with us, and to give His life for us so that all those who believe on Him could gain eternal life—not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by faith in the Only Begotten Son of God, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead! Praise His name! And when we say God looks upon us—let’s face it, God sees everything. He is always there, omnipresent, all-seeing, all-knowing, all and in all—what we mean is summed up neatly in 1st Peter 3:12—For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers. He does not hide Himself from those who believe and belong to Christ. He may seem far away, but He isn’t. He is there, always there, to hear our petitions and supplications, and to offer a way of escape from temptations. JC Ryle has this to say about our free forgiveness in Christ—

 

If any man is willing to be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ stands ready to save him. "Come unto Me," He says, "weary soul, and I will give you rest. Come, guilty and sinful soul, and I will give you free pardon. Come, lost and ruined soul, and I will give you eternal life. Come and be freely saved." Oh, reader, let this message be a word in season! Arise and call upon the Lord. Let the angels of God rejoice over one more saved soul; let the courts of heaven hear the good tidings that one more lost sheep is found. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

 YHVH lifts His countenance on all who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A great blessing these Israelites did not know at the time, but understood when Christ entered through the gates of Heaven, leading captivity captive, leading His saints into everlasting glory. Amen!

6) The LORD…give you peace. When men talk about peace, it is always temporary. And it always hinges on both sides giving what the other side wants. And it never lasts. Why? Because humans are involved. James 4:1-3—1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Why does negotiating for peace take such a long process? Because neither side wants to give anything up, but they want the other side to give up stuff. Look at the Middle East. They have had a merry-go-round of peace talks for how many years? And are they any closer to having a lasting peace in that area?

Consider the Camp David Peace Accords, signed in 1978 by Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. The three men agreed on a plan that would suit everyone. And what happened in 1981? Anwar Sadat was assassinated. By whom? By an Islamic extremist who was ticked off that Sadat would sign a peace deal with Israel. In 1993, Bill Clinton negotiated a peace settlement between Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat, which split the West Bank into Israeli and Palestinian sectors. Donald Trump brought Benjamin Netanyahu together with the leaders of Bahrain and the UAE in 2020. And yet, today, we have Palestinians holding Israelis hostage while Israel bombs Palestine. Not to mention the war in Ukraine (and oh by the way, neither side in the Russia-Ukraine war is a “good guy”. The people of those countries, yes. Their leaders? Not so much). Nations will never be at peace with each other because human beings are involved.

But God… The One who rules over all of Creation, the One who holds all things in His hands, the One of who it has been said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper), has made a way for us humans to be at peace with Him. He gives us peace through the blood of His cross. And we give Him…..what, exactly? What is there that we can give Him that He needs? Our good deeds? Isaiah 64:6—But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. Titus 3:4-5—4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us… Galatians 2:16— knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We are not saved by our “good” works. It has been said that “we contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that makes it necessary.” This quote has been attributed to both Jonathan Edwards and Philip Melanchthon, and I have found nothing that settles the debate of who said it originally. But whoever said it, it is correct.

God gives us eternal life and what do we give Him? Our sins. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade now, does it? But God is not fair, and we should be eternally grateful for that. Because if God were fair, we would all be burning in Hell for all eternity, and Christ would not have come down to die on the cross to bear away our sins. But God was not fair! He was not fair to His Son, who died that we may have peace with God. John 14:27—“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Romans 5:1—Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul starts his epistles with the words “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. See, the Greeks and Romans believed in a plethora of (little-g) gods. And by plethora, that says a lot 😀. Sorry, couldn’t resist, Well, I could have, but…Anyway. One thing they never had with any of these gods was peace. They were always worried about offending them; they had to continually offer oblations and sacrifices to them. But what do we do if we do something that offends the God of all Creation? Pray. Ask forgiveness. And guess what? He’ll forgive. The hymn “O God of Love, O King of Peace” by Henry Williams Baker:

 

O God of love, O King of peace,/Make wars throughout the world to cease;

Our greed and violent ways restrain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Remember, Lord, your works of old,/The wonders that your people told;

Remember not our sins' deep stain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Whom shall we trust but you, O Lord?/Where rest but on your faithful word?

None ever called on you in vain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Where saints and angels dwell above/All hearts are joined in holy love;

Oh, bind us in that heav'nly chain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.     

 In our fallen state, we were at enmity with God. He gave us His Son, who gave His life on Golgotha that we may be saved from our sins and from the wrath of God. And what do we give Him in return? We give Him nothing that He needs, for He needs nothing. But we give Him our lives, our love, and our sins, which made it necessary for us to be saved from His wrath and from death and hell.

 "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, The Nazirite Vow (Part 3)

Next, our text in Numbers spells out the sacrifices the Nazirite would need to bring after the days of his vow were completed, so we will skip down to one of the oft-quoted passages in Scripture, Numbers 6:23-27— 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."' 27 So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

1) The LORD bless you. What does it mean to be blessed by God? Does it refer to material gain? Partially, perhaps. You hear people say of someone who has an abundance of cash, “God has blessed them!” But is it always a blessing to be rich? 1st Timothy 6:9—But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. When you set your face toward becoming rich, the tendency sometimes is to maybe cut a corner or two on your way there. And once you get there, you may not happy staying there, and will want more. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12—10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. If you have investments, you have to watch the markets to see which way they are going. Always got to keep up with the Dow Jones or the S&P or the NASDAQ.

 John D Rockefeller, Sr. was the richest man who ever lived. He was a billionaire—with a ‘B’—by the time he was 53. You want to know what he feasted on? Crackers and milk. Was all his stomach could handle. Even his doctors couldn’t help him. Well, he lived until he was 97 years old. What changed? How could this man who pretty much survived on crackers and milk live another few decades? He stopped worrying about his money and started giving it away. And guess what? He was still rich even after doing that! He is quoted as saying "If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it."

So what does it mean to be blessed by God? It means this: to live in His goodness, to be led by His Spirit, to be accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), to live with Him and to be with Him eternally. It may be as a rich man, it may be as a poor man. It may be as a prince or as a pauper, but we cannot think that being blessed is all about what we have in this lifetime. We have to understand that being blessed by God means more than that. Who would you say was more blessed? King Nebuchadnezzar, in all his kingly pomp and apparel? Or the widow in Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2 who put her last two mites into the collection box? Robert Hawker says about this widow—

 

How little is understood of the nature of true charity. A man may give thousands, and yet have no real charity towards God. And another may give but little, yea, nothing, and yet in the Lord’s sight be very bountiful. And the reason is plain. Where the love of God in Christ is in the heart, this, like a fountain, will diffuse streams from the same source all around.

 2) The LORD… keep you. The word “keep” means “pay heed to” or “to guard. At this time, Israel was just a baby nation. They did not even have a home yet. They were still wandering in the wilderness. They were beset roundabout by enemies—not only enemies of them, but the enemies of God as well.  Yet God held them in the palm of His hand and said “you are Mine”. If you read in the Book of Joshua, you read of their many conquests against nations that were much more physically prepared for battle. You read many times when God tells Israel, “don’t go into this battle, for I will not be with you”. And sometimes they would go into that battle anyway, and they would be routed. Or if He would command them to go into battle because He was with them, they would rout their enemies.

Take David, for example. Here was a ruddy little kid who kept sheep. And he was to go up against this man who was, according to the biblical account, almost 10 feet tall, who was covered in armor and held a spear that weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 pounds. The man had trained for war all his life, while little ol’ David kept watch over his sheep. But we all know what happened. That little ruddy boy slung one rock from his sling that entered deep into the giant’s head and killed him. Do you think it was the stone or even the speed with which David moved his sling that killed Goliath? No. 1st Samuel 17:47—“Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands.” He would go on to write in Psalm 20:7—Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. It is not by physical force that they won their battles. I could even point back to Exodus 14 when He parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel to pass through, then brought the water down on top of Egypt’s chariots and drowned them.

 The mighty power of thy right hand,

O Lord, most glorious shows;

Thy right hand, Lord, in pieces dashed

The proud insulting foes.

Excelling greatness those o'erthrow

Against thee who presumed;

Thou sendest forth thy flaming wrath,

Which them, as chaff, consumed.

(“The Song of Moses”, John Barnard)

In all our trials we can say with David that the battle belongs to the Lord. We can fight with all our strength, we can wrestle with all our might, and we can strive with everything in us. But without the Lord of Hosts on our side, we will not prevail. Whether it is in money or sports or business or whatever endeavour, we need to ask God if it is right to fight whatever battle we are thinking of. And if it isn’t—leave it alone. Let it be. Because if it is not from the Lord for you to fight that battle, He will oppose you every step of the way, no matter how hard you bang your head against that wall.

 

3) The LORD make His face shine upon you. We know that God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him (1^st John 1:5). And that darkness is simply the absence of light. So when we see this, The LORD make His face shine upon you, this is what we need to remember: this blessing for the people is that they are asking God to always be available to meet their needs. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. They would be asking God for His favor in their lives. That whatever He calls them to, He would be there to guide them through it. That He would be the center of their lives.

 

Ever have one of those days when it seems like God is a million miles away? That nothing is going right and you feel downtrodden and alone? Sometimes you need to just stop and talk to Him. We call that “prayer”. And I’ll admit, that is not my strong suit. But there are times in the middle of life when you just need to stop and get alone and say to Him something simple like “God help me”. It’s not wrong to do that. Do you always know what you need to pray for? No. Does God? Yes. Matthew 6:8—“For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” That should be one of the most comforting things you could ever hear. We have a God—a God who created all things and upholds all things simply by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)—He is a God who, even though He may seem to be a million miles away, is closer to you than even your own skin. And He knows what you need even when you don’t. And when you don’t know what to ask for, the Holy Spirit does. Romans 8:26—For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The late RC Sproul said this—

 

We ought to pray only according to God's will—according to what He desires for us—but we cannot do that perfectly. Yet that should not lead us to stop praying or to believe our prayers will be ineffective…Paul says that the Holy Spirit takes our imperfect prayers and makes them perfect. He intercedes alongside us and within us "with groanings too deep for words" (or “groanings which cannot be uttered”—ed.). Invisibly and inaudibly, He takes our prayers and makes them conform to the perfect will of the triune God. His ministry of intercession is effectual …We need not fear that the imperfection of our prayers and the weakness of our flesh will prevent us from persevering to the end or keep us from waiting patiently for the final glory to come.

 

We know that darkness is the absence of light. May we not only look to find the face of God and to rest in His light, but may He continually make Hos light to shine on us, may He never hide His face from us, and may we always walk in the light of His love.

 

Part 4 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, The Nazirite Vow (Part 2)

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 3^rd 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

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, the Nazirite Vow (Part 1)

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 1^st 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

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.