At the dedication of the altar described
in Numbers vii., twelve princes of the tribes of Israel bring
their offerings consisting of twelve chargers, twelve silver bowls, and twelve
spoons of gold, besides meal, oil, incense, bullocks, rams and lambs. Between the numbering of Israel and the
apportioning of the service of the Levites, and this offering of the princes
comes a somewhat strange section dealing with leprosy, trespass, jealousy and
the Nazarite vow. There must be some
lesson for us here, and to its discovery and understanding we now apply
ourselves. First of all let us see what
connection these separate items have, for we do not endorse the critical view
that we have, in this fourth book of the law, merely a miscellaneous collection
of laws and incidents strung together without method or purpose:--
Not till all this is traversed do we hear any more of tabernacle service. Here is a solemn word concerning ministry and service unto the Lord, which is true in principle for all time.
Just as the blessing is threefold, so the
cause of separation (uncleanness) is threefold.
The trespass offering is twofold.
First, trespass in general, with its added fifth; then the particular trial of jealousy. The Nazarite section is twofold. First the loss and defilement of the days of
separation by unavoidable contact with sudden death; then the true consecration of the days of
separation, with its special offering of
the Nazarite’s hair. Let us now pass
these sections in review that the lessons they teach may not be lost upon us:--
“Command the children of Israel that they
put out of the camp every leper, and everyone that hath an issue, and whosoever
is defiled by the dead. Both male and female
shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the
midst whereof I dwell” (Numb. v. 2, 3).
These three causes of defilement seem to
be chosen to enforce the fact “that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing”. Leprosy is contagious; it is a defilement contracted through the
everyday intercourse of man with man. It
teaches us that, however innocent we may be, or however legitimate our callings
and dealings, the very fact that we are “in the world” calls for the cleansing
which the precious blood of Christ alone can give. The defilement by the various issues that are
specified in the law occur in the ordinary course of nature, revealing to us
that there is a deeper need of cleansing than that of our personal and
voluntary transgressions. That, since
the sin of Adam, we are indeed rendered unfit by the very depravity of our
natures. Here we have “the flesh”, as
such, and its natural uncleanness. The
defilement by the dead was not contracted involuntarily, but in the very
exercise of humane and kindly ministry.
Here we have service in a world of death, and the Christian worker would
do well to remember that while His Lord could be a friend of publicans and
sinners, yet remain holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners, it is
not at all easy for the best of us to follow in His steps uncontaminated. Here, therefore, are three causes of
defilement, three occasions that brought about separation from the conscious
enjoyment of the presence of God:--
LEPROSY.—Contagion in a world of sin, in the daily round of business and
life.
ISSUES.—Natural weakness. The
flesh. This body of death.
DEFILEMENT
BY THE DEAD.—Ministry itself exposes us all to defilement.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, when a
man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the
Lord, and that person be guilty; then
they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the
principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him
against whom he hath trespassed. But if
the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be
recompensed unto the Lord, even to the priest;
beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for
him” (Numb. v. 6-8).
Prominence is given in this case to the
individual recognition of personal responsibility, notwithstanding the fact
that the ram for atonement is there in the background. Let us note the following features:--
(1) The trespass is against the Lord.
(2) Yet the principal, and added fifth, is to be rendered
unto a fellow-creature. (Verse 8 does
not conflict with this as it makes provision for one who had no kinsman).
It is essential that true views of sin and
trespass shall be entertained by all the people of God. Sin against my brother is really sin against
God. David sinned grievously against
Uriah the Hittite, but it was perfectly true in his confession to say that he
had sinned against God (Psa. li. 4). The
prodigal son sinned against the father, and outraged common decency, yet he
confessed that he had sinned against heaven.
Two things are necessary if we are to preserve a clear conscience at all
times: confession and reparation:--
They
shall CONFESS their sin.
He
shall RECOMPENCE the principal and add a fifth part.
The fifth part is a double tithe, two
tenths. Thus there is a double
recognition of sin against God and against man, even as the whole law is summed
up as love to God and neighbour.
A very special form of trespass
follows: “If any man’s wife go aside,
and commit a trespass against him” (Numb. v. 12). The reason why adultery was so severely dealt
with in Israel includes the following:--
(1) It typified the apostacy of the nation from the
covenant made with the Lord, the figure of marriage and its terms being used throughout
their history to set forth their close attachment to the Lord.
(2) In a nation whose laws of inheritance were of so
exacting a nature, adultery and illegitimacy introduce vexing and disturbing
elements.
(3) True marriage had in view “a seed of God” (Mal. ii.
15); adultery gave place to the devil.
Spiritual adultery makes blessing and
service hopelessly impossible: “The
woman shall be a curse among her people” (Numb. v. 27). Defilement and trespass, treated separately
in verses 2-8, are seen to be but two parts of one whole, for in verse 12 the
defilement of the woman is said to be a trespass against her husband.
There now follows the positive side of the
lesson: the real, personal, voluntary
separation from all defilement, both natural and moral, unto the Lord, the
separation of the Nazarite. The word Nazarite
is simply the Hebrew word nazir, which is translated: “him that was separated from” in Gen. xlix. 26, and
Deut. xxxiii. 16. In Numbers vi.
nezer is translated “separation” eleven times, and “consecration”
twice. A most important secondary
meaning of nezer is “crown”. It
is so translated eleven times in the A.V.
We give hereunder those found in the law. When we read these passages it is quite easy
to see how the same word that is translated “separated” and “consecrated”, and
which gives us the word “Nazarite”, can also mean a “crown”:--
“Thou shalt put the mitre upon his head,
and put the holy crown upon the mitre” (Exod. xxix. 6).
“And they made the plate of the holy crown
of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engraving of a signet,
HOLINESS TO THE LORD” (Exodus.xxix.30).
“Upon the mitre, even upon his forefront,
did he put the golden plate, the holy crown” (Lev. viii. 9).
“He that is high priest among his
brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured . . . . . shall not go
in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or his mother: neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor
profane the sanctuary of his God; for the
crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him” (Lev. xxi. 10-12).
In some measure the Nazarite was separated
to God even as was the high priest himself.
The nezer (crown) was not limited to the high priest; it was also used of kings, e.g., II Sam. i. 10; II Kings xi. 12, for they also were the Lord’s anointed. Samson, too, the judge and deliverer of
Israel, was a Nazarite (Judges xiii. 5), and all point forward to the true
Nazarite of God, the Lord Jesus, Who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners (Heb. vii. 26), and Who for our sakes sanctified Himself (John
xvii. 19).
Considerable difference of opinion exists
among lexicographers as to the connection between Nazareth and the word
Nazarite. Although etymologically the
likeness is accidental and not real, who can avoid comparison of the two
estimates — man’s and God’s — expressed in the two following inscriptions?
“And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on
the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John.xix.19).
“And they made the plate of the holy crown
(nezer) of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing . . . . . Holiness to
the Lord” (Exod. xxxix. 30).
Man called Him the Nazarene: God saw in Him the true, anointed, separated,
and devoted Nazarite.
Just as anyone, a man or a woman, could
take the Nazarite vow without usurping the priesthood, so to-day sanctification
and Christ-likeness are open to all without in any sense encroaching upon the
exclusive glory of the risen Lord.
The Nazarite’s separation to the Lord was
to be manifested in three connections (Numb. vi. 3-6):--
(1)
ABSTIENENCE FROM
THE PRODUCT OF THE VINE.—“Wine, strong drink, vinegar of wine, vinegar of
strong drink, liquor of grapes, dried grapes.
Anything made from the vine, from the kernels even to the husk.”
(2)
ABSTINENCE FROM
CUTTING THE HAIR.—“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.”
(3)
ABSTINENCE FROM
CONTACT WITH THE DEAD.—“All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord,
he shall come at no dead body.”
In no circumstances was the Nazarite
allowed to break the last rule. It could
not be relaxed even for father, mother, brother or sister, when they died, and
if it should happen that someone suddenly died at their side, the number of
days already passed were considered lost, the head of his consecration was
defiled, he had to shave his head, offer sin offering, burnt offering and
trespass offering, and begin again.
While Scripture warns against some kinds
of wine, it commends others, and, apart from wine altogether, grapes are most
wholesome and good for food. Here then
is the principle of voluntary abstinence from things innocent in themselves,
which finds its parallel in the pilgrim path of the believer to-day:--
“And they that use this world, as not
using it to the full” (I.Cor.vii.31).
“Let your moderation be known to all men”
(Phil. iv. 5).
Jeremiah, lamenting the downfall of
Israel, says: “Her Nazarites were purer
than snow, they were whiter than milk” (Lam. iv. 7), and calls upon Jerusalem
to act like the Nazarite who had become defiled, whose days of separation were
lost. “Cut off thine hair (nezer),
O Jerusalem, and cast it away” (Jer. vii. 29).
The Nazarite who had fulfilled his vows offered his hair to the Lord,
and it was put into the fire under the peace offerings. Space will not permit a fuller study of the
Nazarite here, but it will come before us when dealing with Samson.
We have seen sufficient to realize the
importance of the command:--
“Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the
Lord” (Isa.lii.11).
“If a man
therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour,
sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work”
(II.Timothy.ii.21).
Such exhortations as “shun”, “flee”, “turn
away” in II Timothy ii. 16, 22 and
iii. 5 are equivalent to-day to
the abstinence enjoined upon the Nazarite of old.
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