The Nazirite Vow

INTRO

Our goal is to be able to take these lessons and tell the story to somebody else. To take Genesis and tell somebody, “Did you know the Seed, Christ, is found in Genesis?” or, “Did you know, in Numbers, Christ is the Rock?” How is Rock the word for Numbers? In 1 Corinthians 10:3–4, Paul said, “They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.”

TEACHING

Numbers 5 specifically explains how the Israelites would deal with unclean people. Verses 2–3 said anyone in the camp who had a skin disease, a discharge, or was defiled by a corpse must be sent outside the camp. Then at the end of Numbers 5, the Israelites were told how to deal with an adulterous situation. Numbers speaks right to our lives. It can be applied to today. Numbers 6 is about vows. Harrison said, “A vow to God placed a person or property in a special consecrated relationship which stood outside the formal demands of the law.”¹A vow was not part of the Ten Commandments or the 613 Jewish laws. Wenham said making vows was not commanded but was a natural desire within the hearts of people who loved God and wanted something from God.²

Numbers 6:1–8: God gave Moses instructions for men and women who made a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to the Lord. Nazirite means “to separate.” When someone made a special vow, they were to separate themselves from the daily routine. Someone making a Nazirite vow had to abstain from wine, beer, grape juice, grapes, and raisins. As long as he was a Nazirite, he could not eat anything that came from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. He could not cut his hair during his time of consecration and was forbidden from going near a dead body. The requirements for the Nazirite vow were similar to those of the high priest. Both, the Nazirite and the high priest, were called to set themselves apart from the norm. Leviticus 10:9 addresses the high priest: “You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute.” I don’t see where it was ever said to the high priest to not cut their hair. Leviticus 21:11–12 forbade priests from going near dead persons or making themselves unclean. Today, going through a 40 day fast would compare to a Nazirite vow. There’s something about going to the extreme to experience a deeper relationship with God.

Numbers 6:7–12: During his period of consecration, he could not defile himself even if a family member died (vv. 7–8). In the midst of tough times, God raised up a man of God to take a vow. Judges 13:1–5 explained that the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and his wife to tell them of the son they would bear. “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines” (Judges 13:3b–5). Sampson was a person whom God called to a Nazirite vow.

The Nazirite set himself apart from everyone else, but not in an arrogant way, and he dedicated himself to God. If someone suddenly died near him, and the Nazirite was accidentally defiled, then he had to shave his head on the seventh day. On the eighth day, he had to bring two turtledoves or young pigeons to the priest at the tent of meeting. The priest offered one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. This made atonement for the Nazirite (notice the Nazirite was not labeled an unclean person) for being in the presence of a dead body. On that same day, the Nazirite consecrated his head again and rededicated his time of consecration to the Lord. He then brought a year-old male lamb as a restitution offering. The previous period of consecration didn’t count; he must start all over (Numbers 6:12).

Numbers 6:13–21: The Nazirite then came to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present an offering to the Lord: an unblemished year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, an unblemished year-old female lamb as a sin offering, an unblemished ram as a fellowship offering, together with a grain offering, drink offering, basket of unleavened cakes, and unleavened wafers coated with oil (vv. 14–15). The priest presented these to the Lord and sacrificed the Nazirite sin offering and burnt offering (v 16).

The priest offered the ram as a fellowship sacrifice, together with the basket of bread, the grain offering, and drink offering (v. 17). The Nazirite shaved his head at the entrance to the tent of meeting and put the hair in the fire as a fellowship sacrifice (v. 18). The priest took the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake, and one unleavened wafer and put it into the hands of the Nazirite after he had shaved his head (v. 19). The priest waved them as a presentation offering before the Lord. It was a holy portion for the priest, in addition to the breast of the offering and the thigh of the contribution (v. 20). With his vow fulfilled, the Nazirite could now drink wine (v. 20). I think every person in the church should go through a Nazirite vow. What would a Nazirite vow look like for me?

Other people of the Bible who went through Nazirite vows:

John the Baptist: Luke 1:13–17 revealed God’s plan for John the Baptist to be a Nazirite for his entire life. “But the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”

Paul: Acts 18:18 revealed that Paul also took a Nazirite vow. “So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because he had taken a vow.”

Other verses that reveal the importance of making and keeping vows to God:

• Proverbs 20:25: “It is a trap for anyone to dedicate something rashly and later to reconsider his vows.”
• Luke 14:28 says we must count the cost before we make a vow: “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”
• Ecclesiastes 5:4–5 says we must fulfill the vows we make: “When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.”
• Jonah 2:9: “but as for me, I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”
• Psalm 22:25 said when we make a vow, we should honor it because we fear the Lord: “I will give praise in the great congregation because of You; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.”
• 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 revealed that Paul did whatever it took to have a relationship with God so that others might also have a relationship with God.

CLOSING

The heart behind a vow is the desire to experience more of the Lord and, at times, so others can experience the gospel as well. When people make a vow, there are benefits for the one taking the vow and for the kingdom of God. The Nazirite vow is a homerun for anyone who understands the importance and value of a vow (it is not necessarily about the wine or the cutting of hair). Just talk to the Lord and see if there is anything you need to do differently to have a deeper, closer relationship with Him so you can hear clearly from Him, and so that others can greatly benefit from the gospel.