Sinning by the dead and atonement made; or, the Nazarite defiled and restored.
The 6th of Numbers is here presented arranged in this manner, followed by a brief explanation thereof, in order to show its typical application to the WHOLE ELECT FAMILY—to those destined for Heaven, in the first place; and next, to those for whom earthly blessing is prepared in the kingdom.
The Threefold Vow of Separation.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord" (verses 1, 2).
Abstinence From Wine.
He shall separate himself from WINE and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk" (verses 3, 4).
The Hair Suffered to Grow.
"All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the HAIR OF HIS HEAD GROW" (verse 5).
Separation From the Dead.
"All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall come at NO DEAD BODY. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because the consecration of his God is upon his head (ver. 6, 7). All the days of his separation he is HOLY UNTO THE LORD" (ver. 6-8).
The Days of Separation.
An undefined period, according to the Nazarite's choice, during which he keeps his vow, as above.
The Nazarite Defiled—His Cleansing.
"And if any MAN DIE VERY SUDDENLY BY HIM, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he (having been unclean seven days see Num. 19:1919And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. (Numbers 19:19)), shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing (namely, by the ashes of the red heifer, with the water of separation, see Num. 19:1212He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. (Numbers 19:12)), on the SEVENTH DAY SHALL HE SHAVE IT" (verse 9).
Seven Days of Uncleanness.
The Days of Separation Begin Afresh.
"And on the EIGHTH DAY he shall bring TWO TURTLES, or TWO YOUNG PIGEONS, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he SINNED BY THE DEAD, and shall hallow his head (as in verse 5), that same day. And he shall CONSECRATE UNTO THE LORD THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION (as in verse 8), and shall bring a LAMB of the first year for a trespass offering: but THE DAYS THAT WERE BEFORE SHALL BE LOST (see verse 8), because his separation was defiled" (verses 10-12).
The Days of Separation.
Repeated, an unlimited period as at first, during which the threefold vow is again observed.
The Offering at the End.
"And this is the law of the Nazarite when THE DAYS OF HIS SEPARATION ARE FULFILLED: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one HE LAMB of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one EWE LAMB of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one RAM without blemish for peace offerings, and a BASKET OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, (namely) CAKES of fine flour mingled with oil, and WAFERS of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their MEAT offering, and their DRINK offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering [the ewe lamb] and his burnt offering [the he lamb]: and he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering" (verses 13-17).
His Hair Dedicated.
" And the Nazarite Shall SHAVE THE HEAD OF HIS SEPARATION at the door of the (tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the PEACE OFFERINGS " (verse 18).
Wave and Heave Offerings.
" And the priest shall take the sodden SHOULDER OF THE RAM [namely, the peace offering, verse 14] and one unleavened CAKE out of the basket, and one unleavened WAFER, and shall put them upon THE HANDS OF THE NAZARITE, after the hair of his separation is shaven; and the priest shall wave them for a WAVE OFFERING before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the WAVE BREAST AND HEAVE SHOULDER [both of them belonging to the ram of the peace offering. See Lev. 7:30, 3230His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord. (Leviticus 7:30)
32And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. (Leviticus 7:32)], and after that THE NAZARITE MAY DRINK WINE" (verses 19, 20).
A Brief Summary of the Above.
" This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed (see verses 3-8), and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation (see verses 10-17), beside that that his hand shall get (see verses 19, 20) according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation" (verse 21).
The Blessing.
" And the Lord spite unto Moses, saying, Speak unto AARON, and unto HIS SONS, saying, On this wise ye shall BLESS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, saying unto them, THE LORD bless thee, and keep thee: THE LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: THE LORD lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace " (ver. 24-26).
" And they [AARON AND HIS SONS] shall PUT MY NAME UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; AND I WILL BLESS THEM " (verse 27).
Explanation of the Foregoing Chapter.
THE object of throwing this 6th of Numbers into the foregoing form, accompanied by the following brief explanation thereof, is to show that the Nazarite, as he is here represented, under three distinct aspects-namely, devoting himself to the Lord; then becoming defiled by the dead; and lastly, after seven days of uncleanness (the number seven denoting his perfect defilement), shaving his head, beginning his vow over again, and then with sacrifices, and so on, bringing all to a close-presents, in his single person, a type of all the elect, through the whole course of their history upon earth, from the entrance of sin to their ascension to heaven, and the times of restitution of all things.
Renunciation of the world, power in the Spirit, and moral separation from death, here shown by the threefold Nazarite vow as to abstinence from wine, the growth of the hair, and not touching the dead, were ever the great leading characteristics of touching people of God. The world at the fall became wholly defiled; hence, though outwardly linked with an earthly order of things, such as the Jewish dispensation especially was, the saints all the while were not of the world, they were a Nazarite people set apart for the service and glory of God, their hope and their home being in heaven. An hour however arrived, when the whole of this elect family found themselves suddenly and unexpectedly defiled; when they, together with others, became involved in a sin of the deepest atrocity-even the sin of PUTTING JESUS TO DEATH! Human nature in that solemn moment was tested, and fearfully failed: hence they were not exempt from the general guilt. They took no part, it is true, in that act; personally they were innocent; but having a nature in common with those who were willfully guilty, besides being nationally one, or connected, as the Gentile proselytes were, with that apostate race who impiously said, " His blood be on us, and on our children," the sin of that deed was imputed to them. Nazarites though they were in heart and affection, devoted to Him whom their people had killed, they, in the typical terms of this chapter, "SINNED BY THE DEAD." Hard as it is to realize this of the beloved disciple, of the devoted, Mary, and others whom we could name, it was not the less true,-all in that dark hour of this world's history, all, in a sense, stood on one level.
Hence they had to be cleansed, and to begin all over again. And This they did at the feast of Pentecost-seven weeks after Christ had been slain. Then on this " eighth day," for such it literally was, the day of resurrection-life to the saints (the link of connection between the old and the new dispensations) the Spirit being given, the saints by his power were drawn out of association with a world defiled by the blood of " the just one," as well as with the outcast nation of Israel, and brought into a new, a nearer relation to God. And this we believe to be all expressed in this chapter. The Nazarite, as we here read, having defiled the head of his consecration, having come in contact with death, and passed through a perfect period, a full week of uncleanness, shaves his head in token of his renunciation of all his past work, and begins the days of his separation afresh-the time before being lost; and in doing so, gives us a glimpse of the great mystery hidden from ages and generations-even THE CALLING OUT OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN THIS AGE-Of that heavenly people who are one, both in spirit and in hope, with that blessed one whom the world bath slain. Thus, then, in a figure, the new dispensation commences; the sacrifices, here offered at the beginning of these days being expressive of our present apprehension by faith of the value of Christ; while those at the end, on the other hand, mark our future communion with him, declare our joy in his person and work, after the days of our separation are ended, after we are translated to heaven. And here we may notice two instances in Scripture which bear on this point.
1st. When St. Paul undertook the Nazarite vow (Acts 18:18; 21:23-2718And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. (Acts 18:18)
23Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; 24Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. 25As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. 26Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. 27And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, (Acts 21:23‑27)), he did not begin, in the regular way, by letting his hair grow, but, on the contrary, by shaving his head. He commenced at that point here contemplated in the Nazarite's course, after he had contracted defilement, and was purified again. And this, it would seem, he advisedly did, because, according to the explanation, here given, this was the point in the ordinance wherein, the position and calling of the Church of God in this dispensation, of which St. Paul himself was the apostle,. was foreshown. This, on his part, was, as it were, the recognition of himself as a Nazarite, morally speaking, belonging to the present, and not to the past dispensation.
2ndly. We have an eminent instance of Nazarite faithfulness in Jer. 35, where Jaazaniah, his brethren, his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, refuse to drink wine in the temple, rewarded, as we find, with an especial promise on the part of the Lord, that Jonadab the son of Rechab should not want a man to stand before him forever. A promise which doubtless is fulfilled to this day, not only as to the literal preservation of this family, but also as to the favor of God, in a spiritual way, to these children of Rechab. Many a true Nazarite, unknown now as such upon earth, will perhaps in the end be found to have sprung from his loins.
Now, then, returning to our chapter, we find the Nazarite quite in the spirit of liberty, seeing that the period is left to his own choice, keeping his vow, abstaining from wine, letting his hair grow, and avoiding the dead, as before, and then, the days of his separation being fulfilled, bringing his offerings—namely, two lambs and a ram, for sin, for burnt, and for peace offerings, together with a basket of unleavened bread, all expressive, as before said, of our full unhindered apprehension of the value of Christ in the glory.
After which, as we read, the Nazarite shaves the hair of his head (the symbol of power in the Spirit), and devotes it, together with the peace-offerings (the especial type of communion) to God. This is most blessed. It shows the saints in the kingdom rendering all praise, all honor, all glory, to Him to whom alone it is due, casting their crowns at His feet, the language of their hearts being, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory!" And here, as to the hair being expressive of spiritual power, the instance of Samson may be taken. As soon as he was shorn of his locks, seeing that his strength lay in his hair, he was utterly powerless, the helpless victim of others. This, in his case, was miraculous, herein he differed, from the common order of Nazarites this, however, with regard to the ordinance in general, showed that the hair, as here stated, was the symbol of strength in the Lord; While shaving the head, after he had been defiled by the dead, on the contrary, denoted weakness, prostration, humiliation, on the part of the Nazarite. Different from this altogether was the same act at the end; there, shaving the hair, and burning it under the sacrifice of the peace offerings, being expressive of praise, of the Church in resurrection hereafter giving the whole glory to Christ, and saying, " All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given thee " (1 Chron. 29:1414But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. (1 Chronicles 29:14)).
Then again the priest, having presented the wave breast and heave shoulder, one being, it appears, expressive of the love, the other of the power of Christ, as apprehended by the saints in resurrection, the separate one at length tastes the juice of the grape, " THE NAZARITE MAY DRINK WINE," the symbol of earthly joy and of earthly communion. So it will be in the kingdom, this world being then the abode of the visible glory of Christ, being redeemed by that blood which defiles it at present, the reproach having passed away from the land of Judea where Jesus was crucified, the Church of God, though in Heaven, will have association therewith, will rejoice in its deliverance from the power of the spoiler, and so take the lead in the mingling chorus of Heaven and earth in that day. And here, in connection with this, we may turn to notice the case of Jesus Himself He when on earth in heart was a Nazarite of course; a heavenly stranger in the midst of a corrupt generation. Ostensibly, however, he was not so, unlike John, who both ceremonially and in spirit was such, he "came eating and drinking " (Matt. 11:1919The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. (Matthew 11:19)), offering earthly joy, as the heir of the throne of Judah, to Israel. Now, however, His grace being rejected, He is morally such, in the full sense of the word, having taken upon Him His vow, when, on the night of His betrayal, He said to His disciples, " I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom " (Matt. 26:2929But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:29)). This marks the calling of the saints in this dispensation, namely, that of a separate people, waiting like Christ, with whom they are one, whose elect body they form, for the day when they, together with Him, "may drink wine, may take that joy in this earth, which because of its defilement, it denies them at present.
Then lastly, at the close of this chapter, shifting our view of the subject a little, we see in AARON AND HIS SONS, another type of the Church. Here Christ and His people appear as Nazarites no more-no longer as strangers and pilgrims on earth, but as exalted to heaven, and there (like Melchizedec, the king and the priest, greeting Abraham in the day of his victory) pronouncing a blessing on Israel. Thus, in this beautiful figure, we see that as the elect nation of Israel hereafter will be made to minister blessing to the rest of the world, so the elect Church, on the other hand, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, one in spirit with Him who is the Fountain-head of life to His people, will wait in that day on her blessed ministry of love to the earthly people of God.
The above is the more enlarged view of this subject, embracing, as it does, the whole elect family, from the days of Adam to the catching up of the Church. In which case the seven days of uncleanness (see verse 9; Num. 19.11), correspond with the brief interval between the crucifixion of Christ and the descent of the Spirit (also, be it remembered, a sevenfold period, of forty-nine days-one of perfect defilement). But if, on the other hand, restricting our view to one nation alone, this type be regarded as more especially Jewish, as relating, in the first place, to the imputed transgression of the faithful remnant of old, and next to the quickening and blessing of the remnant hereafter, then these seven days would denote the present period of Israel's estrangement from God; while the rest of the chapter (with the exception of verses 22-29, wherein the house of Aaron, as in the other case expresses the Church) traces the course of the elect seed from the point when they will repent and believe, to the time of their full acceptance with God as a nation.
Thus in the same way that as, on applying the microscope to some object in nature-to an insect or flower, for instance-we discover wonders and beauties therein which the naked eye _could never have seen; so, in this chapter, which, superficially viewed, merely presents us with an ancient Levitical ordinance, we are surprised and delighted to discover secrets of grace for which we were little prepared. "Few there are," it has been observed, "who make it their business to search the Scriptures for unheeded prophecies, overlooked mysteries, and strange harmonies;" and this chapter is a proof, that were we more diligent in this way than we are, our search would be amply repaid; seeing that herein we trace our own history-yea, the upward path of the saints from this death-defiled world into the very sanctuary of God. Thus the Lord takes delight in tracing His ways for our instruction and comfort. Thus he teaches us, however deep and hopeless our defilement by nature may be, that there is, in the atonement of Christ, far more than a remedy. Here we learn that His is not merely a sin offering, but also a burnt offering, yea, a peace offering, even the communion of the Church, by the Spirit, with the Father and the Son; and that the day is at hand when we shall fully enter into, and rejoice in the value of all that He is, and of all that He has done for His people. The Lord give us grace more and more to feel a oneness of spirit with the Nazarite of old when he devoted his hair to the Lord, and together with him and also the sweet psalmist of Israel, to cry, " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake. E. D.