A separated people
January 10, 2023
Commentary
The counterpart to cleansing (chapter 5) is consecration (chapter 6). Priestly, Levitical service was the exclusive privilege of those who belonged to the tribe of Levi but the Lord here instituted a provision whereby any man or woman of Israel who wished could take a vow before the Lord to consecrate himself for a stated period of time to serve God (vv. 1-12). Occasionally such a vow would be made by parents on behalf of their children, as in the case of Samuel (1 Sam. 1:11), but ordinarily it was an act of devotion taken voluntarily by an adult.
A person who thus decided to consecrate himself was called a Nazarite. For the duration of his period of consecration, he had to abstain from fermented beverages and all other products of the vine (vv. 3-5); he could not shave his head (v. 5); and he could not come in contact with a dead body (vv. 6-8). To do so would violate the vow which was symbolized by his long hair (v. 7). If, however, he inadvertently came near a dead body he had to undertake a long ceremony of cleansing (vv. 9-12; Lev. 5:7-10). Then he could resume his period of consecration.
When one’s time of consecration was over, the Nazarite was to take to the tabernacle a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering (vv. 13-17). These, accompanied by grain offerings and drink offerings and a basket of unleavened bread, constituted the formal announcement of his termination of his Nazarite vow. The sin offering was to atone for any sins unknowingly committed during the period of consecration (Lev. 5:1-6). The burnt offering was to symbolize complete surrender to the Lord (Lev. 1:10-13). And the peace offering was to show the fact that the Nazarite and the Lord were in perfect harmony (Lev. 3:6-11; 7:11-14). After this, the Nazarite was to cut his hair and cast it on the altar upon which the fellowship offering had been made (vv. 18-27). This offering of hair symbolized to the devotee the blessing of God, from whom all blessings come.
Application
“The mark of a saint is not perfection, but consecration. A saint is not a man without faults, but a man who has given himself without reservation to God.” May that be true of my life!
Numbers 6:1– 27 (NET)
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When someone—either a man or a woman —takes a special vow, to take a vow as a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he must separate himself from wine and strong drink; he must drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he must not eat anything that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 “‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor may be used on his head until the time is fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord. He will be holy, and he must let the locks of hair on his head grow long.
6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact a dead body. 7 He must not defile himself even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, because the separation for his God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he must be holy to the Lord.
9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he must shave his head on the day of his purification—on the seventh day he must shave it. 10 On the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting. 11 Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because of his transgression in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate his head on that day. 12 He must rededicate to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, but the former days will not be counted because his separation was defiled.
13 “‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he must be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he must present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish for a purification offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, 15 and a basket of bread made without yeast, cakes of fine flour mixed with olive oil, wafers made without yeast and smeared with olive oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings.
16 “‘Then the priest must present all these before the Lord and offer his purification offering and his burnt offering. 17 Then he must offer the ram as a peace offering to the Lord along with the basket of bread made without yeast; the priest must also offer his grain offering and his drink offering.
18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire where the peace offering is burning. 19 And the priest must take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake made without yeast from the basket, and one wafer made without yeast, and put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head; 20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. After this the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 “‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord his offering according to his separation, as well as whatever else he can provide. Thus he must fulfill his vow that he makes, according to the law of his separation.’”
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 “The Lord bless you and protect you;
25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”’
27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”