<\/p>\n
\nNum 6:1-6<\/b>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,\u00a0\u201cSpeak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,\u00a0he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.\u00a0All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.\u00a0\u201cAll the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. \u00a0\u201cAll the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Ecclesiastes 5:4-5<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.\u00a0\u00a0It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
to separate themselves:<\/b> or, to make themselves Nazarites, Lahazzir, from nazar, to be separate; hence nazir, a Nazarite, i.e., a person separated; one peculiarly devoted to the service of God by being separated from all servile employments. The Nazarites were of two kinds. Such as were devoted to God by their parents in their infancy, or even sometimes before they were born; and such as devoted themselves. The former were Nazarites for life; and the latter commonly bound themselves to observe the laws of the Nazarites for a limited time. The Nazarites for life were not bound to the same strictness as the others, concerning whom the laws relate.<\/p>\n
The vow of the Nazirite was to express one\u2019s special desire to draw close to God and to separate oneself from the comforts and pleasures of this world. This vow could be taken by a\u00a0man or woman<\/b>\u00a0in Israel. \u201cThe word Nazirite is sometimes confused with Nazarene, the word used to describe Jesus in terms of his hometown origin (see\u00a0Matt 2:23<\/span><\/a>;\u00a0Mark 14:67<\/span><\/a>;\u00a016:6<\/span><\/a>;\u00a0Acts 24:5<\/span><\/a>). While these words are based on the same root (nazar, \u2018to vow\u2019), they are distinctive words.\u201d (Allen)<\/p>\n
There were several remarkable Nazirites in the Bible: Samson (Judges 13:5<\/span><\/a>), John the Baptist (Luke 1:15<\/span><\/a>), and Paul (Acts 18:18<\/span><\/a>). The mother of Samson (Manoah\u2019s wife) took the vow of a Nazirite during her pregnancy (Judges 13:4<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n
In a significant way, the Nazirite vow gave every Israelite the opportunity to make a priest-like vow and live in a priest-like consecration to God, at least for a time. The priesthood was restrictive. Only men of a certain age from a very particular family could be priests. The consecration of a Nazirite vow was open to all, including women.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThere was absolutely nothing monastic in this order. These men did not separate themselves from the ordinary life of their fellows, yet they did maintain an attitude of special separation. The Nazirite was forbidden to eat or drink anything from the grape vine (from seed to skin<\/b>). This was a form of self-denial connected with the idea of a special consecration to God.\u00a0\u00a0During the time of a Nazirite vow, the hair was allowed to grow, and then it was cut at the conclusion of the vow. This was a way of outwardly demonstrating to the world that this man or woman was under a special vow. \u201cThere was to be no monastic association of Nazirites, no formal watch kept over their conduct. They mingled with others in ordinary life, and went about their business as at other times. But the unshorn hair distinguished them; they felt that the eye of God as well as the eyes of men were upon them, and walked warily under the sense of their pledge.\u201d (Guzik)<\/p>\n
The law of the Nazarite is appropriately added to other enactments which concern the sanctity of the holy nation. That sanctity found its highest expression in the Nazarite vow, which was the voluntary adoption for a time of obligations to high and strict modes of self-dedication resembling, and indeed in some particulars exceeding, those under which the priests were placed. (Barnes)<\/p>\n
As a believer our lives should show a \u201cSetting Apart\u201d from the worldly lusts of the flesh. The Nazerite vow was a personal commitment to God with outward observable traits. As believers there should be outward observable traits that people should see in our actions and hear in what we say. Our lives are to be lived in such a way that honor and glory are given to Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do. Would anyone know you are a believer in how you act and speak?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Num 6:1-6\u00a0\u00a0And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,\u00a0\u201cSpeak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,\u00a0he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from … Continue reading “46. “Wilderness” – 10.f. Nazirite Vow”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1575,4936,796,219,9305,17058,17057,17054,17053,17055,17056],"class_list":["post-171537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-holy","tag-israel","tag-lord","tag-moses","tag-nazirite","tag-no-pleasure-in-fools","tag-pay-what-you-vow","tag-separate-himself-to-the-lord","tag-special-vow","tag-vow-of-separation","tag-vow-to-god"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171604,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171537\/revisions\/171604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}