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2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

September 11, 2019

Numbers 6

  1. People who wanted to commit themselves entirely to God could take the Nazirite vow. In Moses’ day, a personal vow was as binding as a written contract. Nazirite derives from the Hebrew word nazir, which means consecrated or separated. If something is consecrated, it is made sacred. It was one thing to say you would do something, but it was serious when you made a solemn promise to do it. For as little as 30 days or as long as a lifetime this vow could be taken. It was voluntary, with one exception — parents could take the vow of their young children, making them Nazirites for life. God explained to Moses how anybody could take a special vow as a Nazirite. There are few rules someone has to follow as long as they made the Nazirite Vow. 1. Do not drink alcohol 2. Do not eat or drink anything out of a grapevine 3. Do not cut your hair 4. Do not go near a corpse even if it’s your family members 5. If you find yourself in the presence of a corpse, you must rededicate themselves to God by going to a priest with dove sacrifice and throwing your defiled hair in the fire. The purpose of the Nazirite vow was to raise a group of leaders devoted wholly to God. Samson, Samuel and John the Baptist were probably Nazirites for life. Some claim Jesus was a Nazirite, but I see no evidence to support that notion, and every reason to say He was not. The main reason Jesus is sometimes called a Nazirite is faulty Christian tradition born out of an error that is still prevalent: and the error is that a Nazirite and a Nazarene are not the same things. Jesus IS called a Nazarene because that’s what people who lived in Nazareth called Him in his hometown. But, Nazareth had nothing directly to do with Nazirites.

  2. Verses 1-2. In the first couple of verses, we discover the first important attribute of a Nazirite: one becomes a Nazirite by taking a vow. The second important characteristic is that both men AND women could become Nazirites. The office of the Nazirite, of who could be one, and how long of a term a person could remain a Nazirite, and what their obligations and duties were, and so on, evolved over the centuries. There were several remarkable Nazirites in the Bible: Samson (Judges 13:5), John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), and Paul (Acts 18:18); the vow was certainly open to women, but we have no Biblical example of a woman taking the vow, except for Manoah’s wife during her pregnancy with Samson (Judges 13:4).

  3. Verses 3-4. DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL. So the first rule of forbidding alcohol drinks is all about being sober and clear minded. It is about having nothing influence you except the spirit of God. Alcohol gives power to the flesh and the person devoted to God must have their flesh under control. This is explained in the New Testament that getting drunk is for those who belong to the children of darkness (Ephesians 5:18). You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night — l Thessalonians 5:5-7. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING OUT OF A GRAPEVINE. In the Bible, God compares grapes and the winepress to sinners facing God’s judgment. It is also about separation of the grape juice from the grape skins. This is a picture of our separating ourselves from our fleshy desires. So if you’ve made the Nazirite vow with God, you will be careful to stay far away from things that would temp you to follow sin and not the Spirit of God. The Symbol of the winepress is about judging ourselves so we won’t be judged. “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come; tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.” -- Joel 3: l 3.The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. --Revelation 14:19.

  4. Verse 5. DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. When a person who has made a special vow as a Nazirite doesn’t cut his or her hair, this symbolizes that God remains in him or her and the sacred bond. The long hair is a visual symbol of a commitment to God. Everyone who saw a person with their hair growing out recognized that the person had a made a vow. This is why when Samson’s hair was cut, the power departed from him, thus being captured and tortured by his enemies. In the case of Samson, his strength came from his Nazirite’s vow of consecration and separation to God — so when Delilah cut his hair (the most public, visible example of the vow), his strength was lost. Samson had broken the vow before — both at drinking parties (Judges 14:10), and at touching a dead carcass (Judges 14:8-9). But not in the most obviously public way of allowing his hair to be cut. There is a sense in which public sins do matter more because they bring more reproach to the name of God.

  5. Verses 6-12. DO NOT GO NEAR A CORPSE. For a person who made a special vow as a Nazirite, to touch a corpse is spiritually being part of the realm of the dead. This is a reminder to stay away from things that don’t bring life. IF YOU’RE IN THE PRESENCE OF A CORPSE. Once you were in the presence of a corpse, your hair becomes defiled. This is why when a person who made a vow as a Nazirite is in the presence of a corpse, he or she have to cut his or her hair, sacrifice doves, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and rededicated themselves. The hair being cut represent the bad harvest being thrown in the fire. If one’s vow was broken--perhaps by someone dropping dead next to the Nazirite! Then the Nazirite's hair was to be shaved off, sacrifice made, and the vow would begin all over again.

  6. Verses 13-15. The vow of a Nazirite ended with a public ceremony, with extensive sacrifice: One male lamb... one ewe lamb... one ram... a basket of unleavened bread... drink offerings. “He shall present his offering to the LORD: No wonder when Paul visited Jerusalem, he was invited to pay the expenses of some Christians who had taken a Nazirite vow and were ready to conclude it with this sacrifice” (Acts 21:23-24). The Nazirite vow was not something that could be entered into lightly.

  7. Verses 16-21. The closing ceremony called for the priest to bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire, which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

  8. Verses 22-27. You’ve probably heard the priestly blessing at least once or twice. The priestly blessing within the context of Numbers 5-6. These verses take the form of divine instruction for the priesthood. Numbers 6:22-23 indicate that the blessing is meant to function as a concluding benediction (vv. 22-23) to the instruction for camp purity in chapters 5-6. Numbers 6:27 clarifies that it is God (rather than the priests) who blesses Israel. The priestly blessing has a simple structure, consisting of three lines, each of which contains two verbs: bless-keep (protect), shine-grace, lift-peace. The name “Yahweh” appears once in each line, in association with the first of the paired verbs. Yahweh bless you and keep you; Yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

    9. The six verbs could he interpreted to describe distinct actions of God. They can also be interpreted in pairs. The first verb in each line summarizes an activity of God upon the worshiper, and the second describes the results of God’s actions. The use of the name “Yahweh” as the subject for only the first verb in each sentence favors the interpretation in which the verbs are paired. The result is a threefold blessing. The first emphasizes concrete gifts--blessing and security (guarding).The second stresses the hope that God will be well disposed toward the person (to lighten or shine upon the worshiper) and thus temper judgment with mercy (to be gracious). The third asserts that God will pay attention (lift his face), thus providing fullness of life (peace).

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