The Vow of the Nazirite

Numbers 6

Have you ever made some vow before which stated that you would never eat, string cheese again or burnt toast. I know I have tried to make a vow that I would not drink soda for 1 month. That was pretty hard for me to do and I failed after the 3rd day or something. We are going to read a certain part of scripture in which an Israelite was able to make a vow to separate themselves and live differently than what was required of everyone else.

The Vow of the Nazirite

The word “Nazirite” means to be separate or consecrated. This vow someone would make to be separate and set apart for the purpose of God. This vow could be made for a certain amount of time or could be life long. The most well known, life long Nazirites would be we probably think of is Samson and Samuel. Both took on this vow which they had given to them by birth the only difference is how the two of them differed in keeping it. When reading the story of Samson we know that he was mighty and strong but he also defiled all the rules that he was supposed to keep (Read Judges 13,14,15,16).

The vow consisted of a couple different rules. Rule 1, they could not have wine  or a strong drink. They could not even eat grapes, the seed of grapes, or even the skin of grapes. Rule 2, No razor shall touch his head. The Lord is upon his head and he must not cut his hair. Rule 3, he shall not touch a dead body. He must stay away and if a person dies right by them they must be clean and do the rituals that one must do to be clean. After all the rules and however long the vow was made the person must come to the tent and make themselves clean and offer their hair up as an offering and make a few other offerings to the Lord.

God’s Blessing

In verses 22-27 we see Moses gathering all of Israel together because God wanted to share something with them. He said, “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord’s face shine upon you. The word for bless is “barak” God is the only one that can truly “baraka” or do the blessing. He is the Living One. No one could truly bless like the Lord blesses. His blessing is that his face is shining upon you. He lifts up our countenance and he gives us peace. Imagine Israel hearing this and realizing that God is a blessing. He is not the downer, or the authoritarian god that does not live for the blessing of his children. God desires to barak us and we need to be willing to receive it. We must walk in his ways to receive the barak. We must not stray on our path that has been set before us through Jesus Christ. I know I want the barak. I would love to have the blessing.