Numbers 6

The Nazirite Vow

6 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak 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, he 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. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

“All 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.

“All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

“And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day and separate himself to the LORD for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.

“And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

“This is the law of the Nazirite. But if he vows an offering to the LORD above his Nazirite vow, as he can afford, in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazirite.”

Aaron’s Blessing

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

  The LORD bless you and keep you;
  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

(ESV)

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Numbers 6 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

People are probably surprised to learn that this famous prayer of blessing comes from the book of Numbers.

The LORD bless you, and keep you;  25  The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;  26  The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’

Numbers 6:24-26 NASB

This blessing immediately follows the section which outlines what it means for someone to take a Nazarite vow. However, this particular promise offered by God is not dependent upon any act of holiness or devotion. It stands on its own as an offering of grace and mercy freely given by God.

The word ‘bless’ is an interesting term today. To some, it means material prosperity. It is certainly true that God blesses us with basic needs along with the ability to enjoy various material pleasures. But here, it is a general word that indicates God’s desire to bring the purest joy and significance to His people during their lives. It’s far deeper than what our minds can fathom. As you can see, this text illustrates that God has always been about grace, even in the Old Testament.

More than anything, God’s desire was that they would taste Him and experience His goodness above all else. When this was done, just as Moses experienced on Mount Sinai, the people would begin to understand just how glorious God’s blessings were compared to what the world offers.

The most encouraging part of this prayer is the ending.

“So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Numbers 6:27 NASB

God wanted to place His Name on the people so that they could bear witness to His grace and mercy. The image of God was something we were created in but also something that we smeared with our choice to sin. Now we know that we do bear God’s image in the form of the Holy Spirit which resides in us and works through us. It wills us to obey Him and becomes a spiritual branding of sorts that people can identify as only coming from God.

The greatest compliment we can receive in this life is a statement that identifies us with Jesus. At the end of your life, the goal is for others to reflect on how you lived and be able to say, “That person knew Jesus.”