None of us like to be different or stand out. Well, at least in most cases we don’t. The average person does all he or she can to blend in. We dress the same and watch for “trends” so we match others. We conform to norms in hairstyles or clothes or cars or whatever. It’s one of the great criticisms that outsiders make of our culture…there is pressure to all look the same. If you don’t believe it, talk to someone from the goth community (ask Steven Stratton what that is), and they will tell you what happens when you don’t “conform” to what society expects.
Numbers chapter six talks about the Nazirite vow. The word Nazar in Ancient Hebrew meant “separate” or “set apart”. The goal of the vow was to look different and act different as a way of showing that the person who took the vow belonged to God. Those taking the vow would not cut their hair for a specified period of time (often years), not drink any wine (the common drink of all households and any meal), and never touch any dead thing. You can imagine how hard that might be if your mother or father or child died and you could not even come near the body. It was a serious commitment. Two of the prerequisites were about staying away from death and one was about life and growth.
There are some famous Biblical characters who took these vows. Samson is the most famous, though it must have been a modified version with all the Phillistines he killed! Samuel also took the vow; in fact, his mother took it for him. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist took some version of a Nazirite vow.
I wonder what it would look like today in our culture. (Since I have already mentioned one Stratton, I won’t suggest that Phil has taken one with his newest hairstyle;-) What would it take for us to stand out? The vows were only taken for a time, a period that had a beginning and end. It was sort of like a sprint for a runner…the vows were so strenuous that they were not meant to be kept up for long periods.
Today we will talk about being set apart, and how we can perhaps take similar vows to give glory to God.
Mark
Numbers chapter six talks about the Nazirite vow. The word Nazar in Ancient Hebrew meant “separate” or “set apart”. The goal of the vow was to look different and act different as a way of showing that the person who took the vow belonged to God. Those taking the vow would not cut their hair for a specified period of time (often years), not drink any wine (the common drink of all households and any meal), and never touch any dead thing. You can imagine how hard that might be if your mother or father or child died and you could not even come near the body. It was a serious commitment. Two of the prerequisites were about staying away from death and one was about life and growth.
There are some famous Biblical characters who took these vows. Samson is the most famous, though it must have been a modified version with all the Phillistines he killed! Samuel also took the vow; in fact, his mother took it for him. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist took some version of a Nazirite vow.
I wonder what it would look like today in our culture. (Since I have already mentioned one Stratton, I won’t suggest that Phil has taken one with his newest hairstyle;-) What would it take for us to stand out? The vows were only taken for a time, a period that had a beginning and end. It was sort of like a sprint for a runner…the vows were so strenuous that they were not meant to be kept up for long periods.
Today we will talk about being set apart, and how we can perhaps take similar vows to give glory to God.
Mark
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