The Nazarite Vow
The Nazirite Vow is
an incredibly powerful moment in the scriptures. Here is the way for any lay person to
voluntarily lift themselves up into a special relationship with God. Any Hebrew person could dedicate their life
(or a portion therein) to God and be holy regardless of whether or not you were
a Levite.
However, there are a
few things that have to happen. First –
it is up to the person to make the decision.
The priest didn’t appoint people to be in the vow. The priest didn’t tell people to do it. It was up to the individual to decide to make
this promise of dedication. So it is
with all things of faith. God gives
faith {and salvation!} to all who
wish to receive it. But one must decide
to live according to the gift of faith once it is received.
Second, notice the
restriction for fruit of the vine counts all grapes – whether fermented or
not. As I pondered this, I found a
possible answer within one commentary I read.
In order to have grapes, one must lead the life of having a home. You don’t often find wild grapes in enough
quantities to make wine or even grape juice.
So this prohibition against grapes in any form is likely a reminder of
the nomadic lifestyle. Let me put it
bluntly: to be holy to the Lord means that our home is not in this world. To truly be holy in the presence of the Lord
means living this truth, not just saying it or even believing it. Faith is best when practiced.
Now, I am not saying
we should all give up wine and all grape products. If we did, communion would certainly be
different! However, I am suggesting that
we take some time today to pause and remember this Nazirite vow and how it
asserts the principle that Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:6: “As long as we
are at home in the body we are absent in the Lord.” If we are at home in the body, then we are absent
from the Lord. Let that translation from
the ESV soak in a little bit, because that nails this “nomadic” attitude
precisely here in Numbers.
For the record, the
prohibition for shaving the head as well as the contact with the dead bodies
can have the same kind of spin on them.
A nomad does not have the time nor the convenience for keeping their
beard and head well trimmed. A person
who is truly living for God and not living for the world shouldn’t even care
about whether or not their appearance is pleasing to the world!
As for the dead
bodies – notice that the text makes a point to specify “not even for father,
mother, brother, or sister.” While this
again might sound harsh, remember what we said multiple times about the past
texts regarding dead bodies. How many
funerals are about worshipping the dead person and not worshipping God? How many mourning people allow their grief to
prevent them from proclaiming God’s love, grace, and mercy? Human beings have a tendency to make idols
out of both our families as well as our grieving process. The prohibition here about dead bodies will
clearly prevent a person from making an idol out of something or someone that
they shouldn’t.
As with the grapes,
I’m not also saying that we should give up funerals and cutting our hair. But I think we should do some serious
thinking about how much effort we put on “looking good” for the world. I think we should do some pretty serious
thinking about how we grieve when someone dies.
{Grief is inevitable, but there
are ways to grieve that honor God first and foremost.} A holy people are to act holy, not just say
they are holy or believe that they are holy.
Defilement within the Vow
Also, notice that if
the person becomes defiled in the midst of their vow, the whole time is
lost. That is a steep consequence! However, being separate from the world is not
easy nor for the faint of heart. The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Wide is the gate that leads to destruction, narrow is the gate that
leads to eternal life. It is not easy to
follow God’s ways in this world. Not
many will choose to do so. When we make
the “entrance requirements” easy we give people a false sense of security that
isn’t fair to them. Read the three
parables of Matthew 25 if you don’t believe me.
Read up on what Bonheoffer calls Cheap Grace and Costly Grace in His
book The Cost of Discipleship. God doesn’t call us to be His followers when
its convenient or easy. He calls us to
follow Him, period.
Aaronic Blessing
This leads me to what
is typically referred to as the Aaronic blessing – a blessing we often use in
our worship still to this day. To tie it
in with the Nazirite vow, let me merely say that the emphasis of this blessing
is “The Lord” and not the individual being blessed. The Lord is mentioned at the beginning of
each stanza of the blessing. The
emphasis of this blessing is that it is the Lord who blesses us, who keeps us,
looks upon us, and gives us peace. The
Nazirite vow was not easy and it was about separation for the Lord – or to be
with the Lord if you will. The Aaronic
blessing likewise reminds us that it is the Lord that is important, not the
things of this world.
Amen. May we do a better job remembering that in
the future.
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