OR,
THE NAZARITE DEFILED AND RESTORED.
Num. 6NUM 6
The object here proposed is to explain the typical meaning of num. 6; to show its application to the whole elect family of god, 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:" (Ver. 1, 2.)
ABSTINENCE FROM WINE, &c.
“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." (Ver. 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." (Ver. 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 NAZARITE SEPARATES HIMSELF TO THE LORD.
THE DAYS OF SEPARATION
lost because of the Nazarite coming in contact with death, and being defiled.
Typically, either the saints of old, from the beginning, between Adam and Christ, or the elect believing remnant, the holy seed in the midst of Israel of old.
THE NAZARITE DEFILED
"And if ANY MAN DIE VERY SUDDENLY
BY HIM, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration;" (Ver. 9.)
SEVEN DAYS OF UNCLEANNESS.
Typically, either the saints between Christ's death and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost, or the repentant Jewish remnant hereafter turning to God.
THE NAZARITE SHAVED.
"Then he [having been unclean seven days, Num. 19:19,] shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day [" at even"] shall he shave it." (Ver. 9.)
THE NAZARITE BEGINS AGAIN.
THE DAYS OF SEPARATION, REPEATED,
to make up for the days that were lost; ending with the Nazarite drinking wine.
Typically, the Church, now, walking with God as a heavenly stranger on earth, or the Jewish remnant hereafter, apart from the infidel nation.
THE NAZARITE DRINKS WINE.
THE OFFERINGS ON THE EIGHTH DAY.
“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 verses 8, 9], because his separation was defiled." (Ver. 10-12.)
THE OFFERINGS 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." (Ver. 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." (Ver. 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. 7:30,32]: and after that THE NAZARITE MAY DRINK WINE." (Ver. 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." (Ver. 21.)
THE ABOVE CHAPTER INTERPRETED.
THE primary and evident object of Num. 6 is the Nazarite vow, an ordinance in Israel of old; which might or might not be spiritually understood by those who entered upon it; which needed a certain amount of divine intelligence and devotedness to God to do so aright; but which we, who have the mind of Christ and the teaching moreover of the Holy Ghost, understand to be a typical exhibition of the position of the people of God in the world—their TWOFOLD POSITION—On the one hand, by nature involved in the awful guilt of having put HIM to death, whose blood nevertheless has availed for the blotting out of their sin, and giving them acceptance with God; on the other hand, through grace separated to God in the midst of an evil and corrupt generation.
With regard to this chapter, it is hoped that the foregoing arrangement thereof may help us to enter somewhat into the Lord's object therein, to see how the Nazarite as he is here introduced, under three distinct aspects; namely, devoting himself to the Lord; then becoming defiled by the dead; and lastly, after seven days of uncleanness (seven, the number of perfection, 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 the elect family of God through the whole course of its history upon earth, from the entrance of sin into the world to its entire deliverance from all the fearful results of the fall, and the times of the restitution of all things.
Renunciation of the world, power of 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 the 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 I 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 are 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, the promised seed, the hope of Israel, whom Israel nevertheless in their blindness and folly had wickedly nailed to the tree, they, in the typical terms of our chapter, "SINNED BY THE DEAD." Hard as it is to realize this of many whom we could name; of John, for instance, the beloved disciple; of Mary of Bethany; Mary Magdalene; Salome; and even the virgin mother of Jesus Himself; the solemn fact was not the less true. All in that darkest hour of this world's dark history, all in a sense stood on a level. Regardless of shame and of danger, they might hang round the cross, embalm and bury His body, and then on the third day seek His tomb with their spices and ointments; but all the while, involved as they were in the common guilt of the nation, they had defiled the head of their consecration, and so were unclean.
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 hath 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.
It was, as we have said, on the eighth day, typically the resurrection day, that the Nazarite begins all over again. And blessed it is to see him 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. 29:14.)
Then again the priest, having presented the wave breast and heave shoulder; one being, we believe, expressive of the love, the other of the power of Christ, as apprehended by the saints in resurrection; the separated 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. 11:19), offering earthly joy, as the heir of the throne of David, to Israel. Now however, His grace being rejected, He is morally and positionally 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. 26:29.) 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.
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 ver. 9.; Numb, 19:11) correspond with the brief interval between the crucifixion of Christ and the descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (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 to the faithful remnant of Israel; then THE SEVEN DAYS OF UNCLEANNESS, together with the days of separation that follow, beginning with the eighth day, when the two turtles or the two pigeons, with the lamb, are brought to the priest, would point to the future dealings of God with the Jews; would show that His promise to Abraham stands good; and will be fulfilled in the end; that an elect remnant will repent of their sin in having crucified Jesus, and, after a period of separation to God, apart from the nation sunk in the deepest apostasy, that they will be brought into blessing; when, according to the voice of God in this type, THE NAZARITE MAY DRINK WINE. In this case, observe, though in our chapter there is no interval of time between the Nazarite's becoming defiled by the dead, and his cleansing; there is such in the antitype, even the present period, the time in which the Church of God appears on the scene—a blank, parenthesis, as we all know, in Israel's history.
Thus, in the same way that as, on applying the microscope to some object in nature—to an insect or a 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 m with an ancient Levitical ordinance, we are surprised and delighted to discover therein 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 and presence 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 clay 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.”
Thus having given what we believe to be the typical import of the Nazarite vow, we turn to look at two cases, one in the Old Testament, the other in the New, where we find it observed.
FIRST, 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; saying, "We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons forever," &c.; which proof of faithfulness, as we find, is rewarded by an especial promise on the part of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, 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 upon earth, 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.
SECONDLY, We find Paul in Acts 21:23-27 observing this vow in company with four other Jews at Jerusalem. As to which there is one thing which we believe to be well worthy of notice. It is this: That he does not in this chapter begin at the point contemplated in the opening of Num. 6, but rather at a further stage in the Nazarite's course, after he has contracted defilement. The fact is, previous to this, when at Cenchrea, he had shaven his head; that is, he had separated himself to God as a Nazarite. (Acts 18:18.) Then subsequently, when at Troas on his way to Jerusalem, we see him becoming defiled through the sudden death of Eutychus, who, overcome by sleep while the apostle was preaching to the brethren there, fell down from a loft, and was killed; and more than this, by his touching the dead body of Eutychus in order to raise him to life. This completed the thing: thus in two ways he "SINNED BY THE DEAD:" a, man had died suddenly by him, and he had come in contact with death; so was he doubly defiled. A striking proof this of the rigid, unswerving character of the Mosaic law; the very one used as the channel of life to another, himself falls in this case under the power of death. (Acts 20:7-12.)
That it was the second, not the fret period of Nazarite separation that we have in Acts 21 we judge from the very definite manner in which the seven days of purification are noticed therein, as well as the offerings which had to be offered for Paul and the others (verses 26, 27), both which were connected, not with the FIRST PERIOD in the Nazarite's course, namely, the days that were lost, but with the SECOND, namely, the days at the close, after the Nazarite separates himself afresh on becoming defiled. And thus, according to the view here presented of the typical character of the ordinance, was the point therein in which the position and calling a the Church of God in this dispensation, of which Paul himself was the apostle and type, was foreshown. Herein he is seen, not as a Nazarite under the law, but as a heavenly stranger, a sanctified separate one, like that blessed One who now, at the right hand of God, stands apart in holy Nazarite distance from a world lying in wickedness.
Whether Paul was right in separating himself in Acts 21, with the avowed object therein, may be a question. One thing is clear, that his undertaking his vow in the first instance, when at Cenchrea, was not the result of the enmity of the Jews "zealous of the law," but of his own choice altogether. His motive with regard to his own nation, in acting in the way that he did on his arrival at Jerusalem, may have been wrong; while the vow itself may possibly, under existing circumstances, in the transitional state of things at the time, have been less reprehensible than is commonly thought, though certainly it was not fully up to the measure of the high calling of him to whom the truth of "the great mystery," the doctrine of the Church of God, was committed. And suppose it to be so: is it not a proof of the abounding grace of our God in His not allowing this failure of his to interfere with his being a sample, a type, as we have seen, of that truth of which we find him losing sight for the moment?