The Nazirite Vow
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.
Vowing to set yourself apart to God is a serious matter. God takes any vow very seriously:
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
In the above text we read about the Nazirite vow. The Hebrew word for Nazirite is:
nâziyr; separate, i.e. consecrated (as prince, a Nazirite); hence (figuratively from the latter) an unpruned vine (like an unshorn Nazirite): — Nazarite (by a false alliteration with Nazareth), separate(-d), vine undressed.
Vine makes this observation about the word:
(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) nazir (נָזִיר, 5139), “one who is separated; Nazarite.” There are 16 occurrences of the word in the Old Testament. The earliest use of nazir is found in Gen. 49:26: “The blessings of thy father... shall be on the head of Joseph... that was separate from his brethren” (cf. Deut. 33:16). Some modern-speech translators have translated nazir in these two verses as “prince” (NIV, NEB, NAB). The KJV and RSV render the phrase “separate from his brethren.” This interpretation might be justified by assuming that Joseph was separated from his brethren to become the savior of his father, his brethren, and their families.
The key concept is that when we make a Narizite vow we are telling God that we are going to separate ourselves to Him. We are leaving something to place our focus on God. We don’t need to take a Nazirite vow to be saved. But, once we are saved the same concept that the Old Testament nation of Israel took in a Nazirite vow, we take today in our willingness to live holy and separate lives toward God through Christ. Note how Peter stated it;
Called to Be Holy
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
Today, our Nazirite vow is to live holy, separate and sanctified lives for Christ. God takes that seriously, was well. The entire New Testament is an instruction manual on how to live a Nazriite type vow to Christ today.
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