The Devotional Journey: Bible Reading 70
Yahweh allows non-Levites to temporarily dedicate themselves to Him
Read Numbers 6:1–27.
The tribe of Levi had the privilege of being the only tribe where priests and those who served at the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple) could come from. But Yahweh also made provisions so that any man or woman who were not Levites, could make a promise to dedicate themselves to serve Him for a designated period of time. This was entirely voluntary. Today’s reading addresses the process for a man, while Numbers 30 goes into more detail for women wanting to make a vow.
People who make such vows were called Nazirites. This is a Hebrew word that means to be “set apart” or “to dedicate”.
Yahweh said that people who wanted to be Nazirites had to, for the period of their vow:
not drink wine or have grape juice, raisins, grape seeds or even the skin of grapes, or any other alcoholic drink
not cut their hair or beard (for the men)
not go near any dead body (which was a picture of sin and death).
These people did not have to isolate themselves. They still lived as part of society but their attitudes and motives during this time of being set apart for God and was focused on serving God.
If a Nazirite happened to come upon a dead body during the period of their promise, God gave them instructions to stop the vow and how to later restart it again.
However, to restart, they would need to go through a cleansing ceremony. On the seventh day after being exposed to the dead body, they had to shave their head (signifying a restart), and on the eighth day, bring animal sacrifices. Yahweh was showing how serious He was about purity and how serious He took the person’s vow.
At the end of the time period of the vow, the Nazirite would have to undergo a ceremony to show that he completed his time of being set aside to serve Yahweh. This again involved sacrificing animals. The Nazirite would also shave his head and burn the cut hair with the fellowship offering. This signified the completion of the vow. After this, the Nazirite went back to normal life with no further Nazirite restrictions.
Yahweh also gave instructions for the priests, Aaron and his sons, to bless the nation of Israel. The first part of the blessing asked for God’s action which would then result in people’s benefit in the second part.
Numbers 6:24–26
[24] ‘May the LORD bless you
and protect you.
[25] May the LORD smile on you
and be gracious to you.
[26] May the LORD show you his favor
and give you his peace.’
Nazirite vows might seem very far removed from our daily lives today. However, here is a thought.
God never restricted those who wanted to dedicate themselves to Him from doing so. Even though God chose the Levites to serve Him, He didn’t prevent anyone else in Israel who loved Him and wanted to serve Him in a special way from doing so. To be clear, these people were not priests and would never become priests, but this special vow was something they could do to show their dedication to Yahweh. This was why God made provisions for the Nazirite vow. It was entirely voluntary. People could do this if they wanted to.
This type of vow belonged to national Israel and doesn’t apply to the church today. However, just thinking about why God gave national Israel this provision helps us see that God is happy to have people who want to dedicate themselves to serve Him in a special way be able to do so.
In our daily lives, we know that God wants us to be set apart for Him in the way we live. And He wants us to tell others about Him and the salvation He offers everyone.
Can people look at us and say that in our everyday lives, we live very differently from those who do not know Yahweh and do not worship Him? Can people see that our values are based on God’s Word rather than the world’s values?
Or do we feel drawn to dedicating ourselves to God in other ways? Some people choose to dedicate themselves to full time service for God in areas such as being a pastor, missionary or a worker in ministries that reflect God’s heart for people such as orphanages, schools, hospitals, crisis help, emergency relief, humanitarian aid, etc.
If so, seek more information and pray and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life to direct you the way that God wants you to go.
May our everyday lives and our decisions in life reflect our love and devotion to Yahweh.