Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If a man or a woman have vowed the special vow of a Nazarite, to consecrate themselves to Jehovah;
Numbers 6 opens with an offer, not a command. Any Israelite, man or woman, could vow to live set apart for God for a time, and that vow made them a Nazarite (the ESV spells it "Nazirite"). The verse raises the questions the chapter answers: what does "separate" mean, who may do it, and why take on a devotion nobody demands?
The vow is not tied to family line, office, or gifting. Nothing in the wording narrows the offer.
Verse 2 says: "When either a man or a woman makes a special vow." The offer is open to everyone. As we have already seen, it is not a question of family line. It has nothing to do with ability or talent either. In Israel, being a Nazarite was open to anyone who wanted it. Consecration today applies in the same way to every Christian.
The verse holds two ideas that some translations blur together. Michael Hardt quotes an older translation that keeps them apart, then follows each word through the Old Testament.
The verse points out two things: consecration and separation. Sadly, some translations lose this distinction: "If a man or a woman have vowed … to consecrate themselves to Jehovah; he shall separate himself."
At first sight, the word for "consecrate" (Hebrew pala) is translated in a surprising number of ways: "wonderful" (Genesis 18:14), "wonder" (Exodus 3:20), "marvel" (Exodus 34:10), "miracle" (Judges 6:13), "too hard" (Deuteronomy 17:8). Yet for our passage they all point the same way. It was about a special way of life — something people might call "wonderful" or "too hard," something out of the ordinary. The word "separate" (Hebrew nasar), on the other hand, gives the exact content of the vow: separation to God. It appears ten times in the Old Testament, five of them in Numbers 6, and means "keeping away from," "setting aside," "separating" or "consecrating."
The vow is offered, not imposed. But the one who takes it does not write his own terms. God sets them, point by point.
This vow comes soon after the giving of the law, but its main principle stands in contrast to law, since it is a vow of completely voluntary devotion. Yet while it was voluntary, no one was left to choose for himself how he would devote himself to God. Only God knows what real devotion to Himself is and what is not. … First, there must be separation from the fruit of the vine — from natural stimulation and the joys of self-indulgence. Second, there must be separation to the Lord in full subjection to His authority, pictured in the long hair. Third, there must be separation from the corruption of death; there was to be no contact with a dead body.
The vow is not about cleansing from defilement. What the Nazarite gives up is not sin at all.
In Numbers 6 we get a picture of positive blessing. The subject is not defilement, but a special setting apart for the Lord. … The separation is not only from what defiled, but from what was best in nature. This does not condemn nature; a Christian must never do that. … It is always sad when someone weakens what is due to God in anything He has made. Yet there is no reason to deny the power that lifts us above it.
Those three marks are the outside of something inward. The outside can exist without it.
The three marks of the Nazarite life we have spoken of were only the outward features of this calling, however important they were. … A vow was a decision to serve God without holding anything back, and so to give oneself to the service of Jehovah. This devotion to Christ is the foundation of the Nazarite life for a Christian. If it is not there, we lay ourselves open to a serious fall. A man may be a Nazarite in an outward way. He may even have, as Samson did, the great power that goes with being a Nazarite, and still not be separated in heart.
Israel's vow had an end date. The believer's separation does not work that way.
The Christian is not under law, and so does not take vows, but he is still under the authority of Christ. … The Nazarite's separation lasted a limited time, "all the days of his separation." The Christian is to be separate to the Lord all the days of his life in this world.
The picture points beyond every Israelite who ever took the vow.
In His character Christ was the true Nazarite. He was the holy one. Instead of earthly joy He was, above all, "the man of sorrows" while He was here. But He has also died to sin and lives to God. He answered to all the sacrifices, but the day is coming when He will drink wine new in the kingdom, as He said in Matthew 26:29. … Christians also are Nazarites to God, not because of any vow, but as sanctified in Christ Jesus.
- Anyone. The vow asks nothing about family line, ability or talent — only the wish to be set apart.
- Wonderful. Elsewhere the Hebrew word behind "consecrate" means wonderful or too hard — a life out of the ordinary.
- Voluntary. No one is forced into the vow, but God sets its terms: no wine, uncut hair, no touching the dead.
- Toward. What the Nazarite gave up was not sin but the best of nature. The point of it all is the words "to the LORD."
- Inward. Samson shows the marks can be worn with no heart behind them. Christ was the true Nazarite through and through.
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink he shall drink no vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.
Numbers 6 sets out the vow of the Nazarite — a person who set himself apart for God. Verse 3 makes the vow specific: everything the vine produces is off limits. The list is unusually wide, and that width is the first clue to what God is asking for.
The ban goes far past anything that could make a person drunk. Commentators see that width as deliberate.
Here, however, the primary concern does not appear to be the danger of drunkenness. Even grape juice and fresh or dried grapes were forbidden. So these instructions to the Nazarite must be about something wider: earthly joys. They are allowed in themselves. But the Nazarite gives them up willingly, because he is specially consecrated to God.
Refusing wine also had a practical side. It touched the mind, not the appetite.
Wine clearly has a stimulating effect, and taken to excess it takes away the understanding (Hos. 4:11). A Nazarite drank neither wine nor strong drink as a matter of principle. So nothing could limit his power of judgment — an important point, especially in spiritual matters. This is why Aaron and his sons were not permitted to drink wine when they entered the sanctuary (Lev. 10:8-11).
Across the commentary, the vine stands for one thing above all, and that is what makes the abstinence meaningful rather than arbitrary.
In the first place, the Nazarite was not to drink wine. The fruit of the vine, in every shape and form, was to him a forbidden thing. Now, wine, as we know, is the apt symbol of earthly joy — the expression of that social enjoyment which the human heart is so fully capable of entering into. From this the Nazarite in the wilderness was carefully to keep himself. With him it was a literal thing. He was not to excite nature by the use of strong drink. All the days of his separation he was called to exercise the strictest abstinence from wine.
Giving up the vine does not leave the Nazarite empty. What he loses is one kind of gladness; what he keeps is another.
Each command has a distinct lesson in it. Wine, in Scripture, symbolises joy (Judges 9:13; Ps. 104:15). The Nazarite must give it up. This world cannot minister to the joy of those who walk with God. Many Christians seem never to learn this. The Nazarite is not without joy. His joys are deeper and purer than this world's vines can offer. The wine of earth may stir and excite the imagination. It can give a thrill of pleasure for the moment. But it can never produce the deep joy that marks the one who walks with God, as Enoch did. "The joy of the LORD is your strength" (Neh. 8:10), but it comes down from heaven. Nothing grown in this cursed world produces it.
The vow forbids raisins and grape juice — good things in themselves. Writers are careful here: this is no verdict against what God made.
It is separation not only from what was defiling, but from what was the best in nature. This does not condemn nature. A Christian should never do that. We must uphold the honour of God in what He created, right to the end. It is always sad when a person weakens what is due to God in anything He has made. Yet there is no reason to deny the power that lifts us above it.
In a land full of vineyards, a Nazarite could not hide this refusal.
In Mediterranean countries wine is plentiful. Enjoying the fruit of the vine in one form or another was common. So a Nazarite who always refused anything made from the vine must have stood out. But a Nazarite lived for God. He was prepared to give up legitimate earthly pleasures. He viewed life from God's perspective. He looked at things differently from those around him. Whatever got in the way of his consecration had no place in his life.
Writers also see in verse 3 a picture of Christ. His separation did not start with a vow.
Verse 3: "Separate himself from wine" — that is, joy. The Lord came expecting to find joy among men. He looked for a response to His love in the hearts of men, but found none. So He was a Nazarite from the first. To be a Nazarite is to be separated from every natural affection that death can touch — to be separated to the Lord... So we are Nazarites too. Our own proper joy lies beyond death. So everything I give up here that has the mark of death is simply giving up what hinders a deeper grasp of the joy and blessing of that life which death cannot touch.
The same picture appears when God looks for joy in the nation He planted.
In the Scriptures, wine speaks of earthly joy, and God sought that joy from His earthly people, Israel. In Isaiah 5 God compares Israel to a vine... He had done everything possible. Yet when He came to taste the fruit, there was no wine for Him. He could have no joy in His earthly people.
- Cost — the ban reaches past drunkenness to juice and raisins. The issue is earthly joy laid down by choice, not just excess avoided.
- Clarity — refusing wine on principle kept the Nazarite's judgment clear, like the priests who entered the sanctuary.
- Gift — the Nazarite is not joyless; he trades a shallow, momentary joy for the deeper joy of walking with God.
- Balance — grapes are good things. The vow lifts a person above nature without condemning what God made.
- Christ — He came looking for joy among men and found none. So He was the true Nazarite from the first, and believers are Nazarites after Him.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine, from the seed-stones, even to the skin.
Numbers 6:4 ends the first rule for the Nazirite vow, a promise of holy separation to the Lord: nothing from the grapevine, down to the seeds and skins. Why forbid something that was never sinful, and what does a ban that total teach about a life set apart for Him?
The vine was not picked at random. In Jotham's parable, each fruit tree carries a meaning of its own.
As we know from Jotham's parable in Judges 9, the olive tree speaks of fatness (Judg. 9:8, 9), the fig tree of sweetness (9:11) and the vine of joy: "Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men?" (9:13). Wine therefore speaks of joy: for God in the drink offering, and for mankind (Ps. 104:15).
The vine itself was not evil. The issue is aim, not morality.
It is not a question of the harm of this, that, or the other. As a rule there was no harm in the vine tree, and nothing wrong with it in itself. But the point is this: if anyone aimed at being a Nazirite, if he wanted this holy separation to the Lord, he had to give up wine and strong drink completely. Others might drink wine; but the Nazirite was not to touch it.
Drunkenness is not the danger in view. The ban covers things that could never make anyone drunk.
Here, however, the primary concern does not appear to be the danger of drunkenness. Even grape juice and fresh or dried grapes were forbidden. So these instructions to the Nazirite must be about something wider: earthly joys. They are allowed in themselves, but he gives them up freely because he is specially consecrated to God.
The verse reaches past the vine's products to the two ends of the grape itself. Each end carries its own lesson.
Note too that not even certain parts of the fruit are left out of this instruction: "from the seeds to the skins". The skins stand more for the outward appearance, while the seeds show the secret principles behind them. Think here of 1 John 2, where John reduces all that the world has to offer to three principles: "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" (1 John 2:16)... The Nazirite avoids not only the outward appearance but also what is worldly at the core.
The phrase "all the days" sets a boundary at both ends.
On the other hand, the phrase shows that the vow only applied for a limited period of time. That time would pass by. The moment would come when the Nazirite was expressly permitted to experience joy (Num. 6:20). For Christians today this period covers their whole life on earth. It is a restricted time, a window of opportunity, so to speak, when we can show that we wish to live for our Lord.
Commentators see this separation lived out in Christ Himself.
Wine makes merry; it makes glad the heart of man. But Christ had not one feeling in common with a world estranged from God. He could love and pity, but He kept away from all earthly joy and gladness. To Him in whom God was well pleased, nothing here below gave Him enjoyment... This blessed Nazirite walked as God's heavenly stranger through the world.
The Lord's own vow does not stay with Him alone.
The vine tree has its roots in the earth. The Nazirite, while under his vow, was to taste nothing made from the vine tree, from the seeds even to the skins. He was to be entirely separate from the pleasures of the world to the Lord. Every believer is a Nazirite, according to the blessed Lord's own vow: "I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matt. 26:29). Being associated with Him, we are under His vow, and ought to be true Nazirites to God. But this can only be by finding all our joy, delight, and satisfaction in the love of Jesus.
This is not bare self-denial.
The Nazirite knows that there are a thousand things that can have a negative influence on him, or at least be a distraction for him, although they are harmless in themselves, judged by normal moral standards. This has perhaps never been as true as in our own age of electronic communication. Every subject and every distraction is there, right at our fingertips... But as far as we are ready to give things up for the Lord's sake, we find that He grants us more joy than earthly things could ever give.
- Joy. The vine is the picture of joy — the one thing the Nazirite lays down while consecrated to God.
- Everything. Seeds and skins cover both the outward look of the world and its inner principles. Nothing from the vine is left out.
- Harmless. What the Nazirite gives up was never sinful. The question is not "Is this wrong?" but "Do I want to be a Nazirite?"
- Daily. "All the days" makes it a way of life, not an occasional gesture — a window open only while this life lasts.
- Exchange. Christ kept this separation perfectly and will drink the fruit of the vine again in His Father's kingdom. Those joined to Him give up less joy than they receive.