THE VOW OF NAZIRITE

The last chapter of Leviticus begins with vow "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values"(Leviticus 27:2) the complete sentence can be translated “When somebody will make special vow, the people will be of Jehovah according to your consider ". The special vow, with respect to the people, corresponds to the vow of Nazirite, registered in Numbers 6.
When we are constrained by the love of Christ, we consecrated everything that we have: our house, car, and family etc. We even give to the Lord who we are, all our being. We have the desire to live for Him and serve Him, whatever the cost.
The Nazirite
Nevertheless, in the Old Testament the Lord designated that only those of the house of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, could to be priests. The intention of God was to make of all the Nation of Israel a kingdom of priests. Because of its failure, it chose the tribe of Levi. Yet all those of the tribe of Levi were not chosen. Only those of the house of Aaron will be priests. In this way, the door was closed for those that wanted to serve. But thanks to the Lord, a lateral door was opened for the people whom loved and wanted to dedicate themselves to the Lord.
The nazirite was not restrict to a certain people, because anyone can be a nazirite, as much men like women. Especially today, this door is open for all, it does not exclude anybody. The women do not have to worry because only men were priests in the Old Testament, because by the door of nazirite, they also can serve the Lord. In truth, all the saints of the New Testament they are including in this principle of the nazirite, because not we are of the tribe of Levi, much less of the house of Aaron. What a mercy of our dear, Lord for offering us, such door, so that we can serve Him!
"The lord said to Moses: speak to the Israelites if a man or a woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite " (Numbers 6:1-2)The principle of Nazirite is the one of the voluntary consecration. It is not a matter of to be ordered or to be designated, but to separate yourself voluntarily. In the case of Samuel his mother consecrated him every day of his life (1Sml 1:11). He was not of the house of Aaron, because he belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, but he got to be a priest in the principle of nazirite, being consecrated and separated for the Lord.
Separated of the pleasure of the world.
The term "nazirite" means "separated". And this includes four items. First it is that the nazirite could not drink nothing that comes from the grape; from the fruit to any type of drinks done of grape (Nb6:3-4) the wine, or any thing out of the grape, in the negative sense, means the pleasure and the joy of the world. If we want to have a genuine priesthood to serve the Lord, we need to be separated of the worldly pleasures. It is not easy to be separated of the delights of the world, because of the atmosphere around us. Many Christians have suffered the damage of the "wine" of the pleasures and the delights of the world where we live on.
Separated of the personal Glory.
The second item of the consecration of the nazirite is that his hair did not have to be cut (Numbers 6:5). In 1 of Corinth 11:14 say that the long hair is dishonor for the man. To use the long hair is a glory for the woman, but it is not for the man. A nazirite is the one that denies his own glory and is ready to pass shame because of his love for the Lord. Hebrew 13:13 Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. To serve the Lord is not to be in house alone or to enjoy meetings of the church, but to go outside where the afflicted and exhausted people are, we passed all type of shame, these people are like sheep that do not have Shepherd (Mt9:36). To be a nazirite means not to look for your own Glory, all Glory is the Lord’s.
Separated of the natural effects.
A nazirite also had to be separated of the contamination of the death, mainly from its nearer relatives; near relatives are but a type our natural affection. When consecrate ourselves in order to serve the Lord we do not allow that our affection by the people near to us, take the first place in our life, the first place is the Lord’s , in this matter we cannot have mixed feelings, in everything Christ must have the Preeminence, then nothing or nobody can affect our consecration. No near relación should occupy the first place; otherwise our service to the Lord can be contaminated.
Separated of the spiritual death.
The fourth and more important item is to be separated of the spiritual death. "if some dies suddenly in his presence; thus defiling the hair he has dedicated… “Numbers (6:9) applying this word to us, today, we can say that this death is not physical but spiritual. Somebody around us can be dead spiritually, we must not touch death. And this death how can we recognized it? This death comes in form of critics, lies, gossips, gadgets, negative words. When we listen to them, suddenly we become critical, distrustful, without love towards the brothers, we lose the genuine enjoyment of Christ and scorn those truly enjoy Christ, we lose genuine interest for spiritual things, we left the simplicity of God and we became complicated, and the result is death. This death is even more terrible than the sin. If we commit sin we can repent and the Lord will forgive us in the moment that we confess, but the death has lasting effect, we cannot get rid of that easily, we needed a period of time to be purified. Satan he is the source of the death, always transmitting death, pointing towards others. Whenever we felt badly scent of the death we must flee.
So in being consecrated to God, we must be nazirites, separated of the pleasures of the world, the personal glory, of the natural affection and of the spiritual death.
The estimation of a Nazirite
In Leviticus 27:3-8 it speaks of the estimation of man and of the woman in its diverse ages. This indicates that to be nazirites we must put attention to the growth in life. We do not have to be infants , nor to be spiritually aged. We must be separated of the pleasures of the world, of the personal glory, the natural affection and the spiritual death, and on the positive side, we must look for the spiritual growth. Thus we will be considered in "50 shekels of silver" (v3), people of a real value to the Lord, and our service will be useful. This is the voluntary consecration of a nazirite.

D.Y.L.

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