Numbers 6

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:35utc

B. Sanctification through the Nazirite Vow 6:1-27

Actually, only vs. 1-21 deal with the Nazirite vow; the last six verses contain the formula with which the priests were to bless the people.

The Nazirite vow occupies a distinct place in the Pentateuch and in the whole religious system of the Old Testament. It seems to stand in complete contrast to the principle that the only way of fellowship with God was through the intermediate ministry of the priest. It provided the opportunity to any member of the Jewish community, regardless of sex, caste or tribe to enter into a special relationship with God. It was a demonstration of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who works with the freedom and unpredictability of the wind. Jesus said to Nicodemus: "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."[ 1 ]

The taking of the Nazirite vow was an option open to any member of the Israelite nation, whether man or woman. The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "In this too it stood on the same plane as the prophetic office, for which room was left in the religious system of Moses, and which was designed to correct and supplement in its spiritual freedom the artificial routine of that system. As the prophetic office might be exercised by women, so the Nazirite vow might be taken by women."

The Nazirite vow was a pledge of consecration to the Lord. The vow was done by choice, but as suggested above, the Holy Spirit who draws people to God, must have done His work behind the scenes and have awakened the desire in a person's heart to commit himself to God in an act of special dedication. There was, however, never any compulsion; a man or a woman dedicated himself or herself to the Lord for a certain period of time and in a special way, because he or she wanted to.

There is no indication in this chapter as to what the content of such a vow would be. The chapter deals with regulations that had to be observed, limitations that would be imposed and rituals to be performed, but not with content. Yet, we may be sure that the vow did not merely consist in the observation of outward rituals, although we are given the impression that the outward manifestations were the most important feature of the Nazirite vow. We can be sure, however, that the content was more important than the form.

The outward indications that a person had made the Nazirite vow were all negative; he was to abstain from anything that had to do with the vine, from the use of a razor and from contact with dead bodies. It is easy to find the positive aspects of these prohibitions, at least as far as two of the three prohibitions is concerned. Wine is used to induce joy in an artificial way. David says: "You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound."[ 2 ] And Paul admonishes us in the Ephesian epistle: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."[ 3 ] Prohibition to touch a dead body testifies to the fact that God is the God of the living, the source of all life. Jesus said to the Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death: "But about the resurrection of the dead-- have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."[ 4 ] The matter of not cutting hair is more difficult to spiritualize, but it was the only visible sign of the vow. One could abstain from the fruit of the vine and from contact with death, without being observed, but the uncut hair made it impossible to hide the fact that one was a Nazirite.

In Adam Clarke's Commentary, we read the following about the Nazirites: "The word naaziyr, from naazar, "to separate" signifies merely "a separated person," i. e., one peculiarly devoted to the service of God by being separated from all servile employments. From the Nazarites sprang the Rechabites, from the Rechabites the Essenes, from the Essenes the Anchorites or Hermits, and in imitation of those, the different monastic orders. Some contend strongly that the Nazarite was a type of our Lord; but neither analogy nor proof can be produced. Our blessed Lord both drank wine and touched the dead, which no Nazarite would do: as to his either shaving his hair or letting it grow, we know nothing. His being called a Nazarene, <Matt. 2:23>, is nothing to the purpose, as it can mean no more than either that he was an inhabitant of Nazareth, which was a place of no credit, and therefore used as a term of reproach; or that he was in a general sense consecrated to the service of God-- so were Samson, Samuel, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist; or rather, that he was the neetser or "BRANCH," <Isa. 11:1>, and tsemach, <Zech. 3:8; 6:12>, which is quite a different word, but this title is expressly applied to our blessed Lord by the above prophets; but in no place do they or any other prophets call him a Nazarite, in the sense in which naaziyr is used. Indeed it could not in truth be applied to him, as the distinguishing marks of a Nazarite never belonged to him. He was, it is true, the neetser or branch out of the root of Jesse, the genuine heir to the throne of David, whose dominion should extend over the universe, who should be King of kings, and Lord of Lords; but the word Naazoraios, <Matt. 2:23>, signifies merely a Nazoroean, or an inhabitant of Nazareth."

Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary says: "While no number of days for the vow is given in the Old Testament, Jewish tradition prescribed 30 days or a double period of 60 or even triple time of 90 to 100 days." The Bible does not give us any examples of people who took the Nazirite vow for a limited period of time. The only three Nazirites we know were Nazirites for life: Samson,[ 5 ] Samuel,[ 6 ] and John the Baptist.[ 7 ] The Pulpit Commentary quotes Hegesippus, who said about James, the Lord's brother: "He did not drink wine nor strong drink, and no razor came on his head." None of these examples are very helpful in our study; the first three were pledged to the Lord before they were born, by their parents and James' Nazirite vow, if it existed, falls outside of the scope of Biblical studies.

In spite of what the commentators maintain, that Jesus was not a Nazirite, we have to admit that the only real example of a Nazirite, who made the vow for a limited period of time is our Lord Jesus Christ. He did this during the Last Supper, when He said to His disciples: "I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."[ 8 ] This must have been one of the reasons why He refused the wine that was offered to Him at the crucifixion. We read in Matthew's record of the crucifixion: "There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it."[ 9 ] But a few hours later Jesus asked for a drink and did take the wine that was offered to Him. John record the end of the period when Jesus abstained from wine. In his record of the crucifixion we read: "Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."[ 10 ] If we compare this moment with Jesus' word during the Last Supper, we have to come to the conclusion that Jesus, at that moment had arrived in His Father's kingdom. His Nazirite vow is the shortest on record and the only one that clearly defines the content.

Actually, Jesus is the only human being who completely fulfilled the Nazirite vow in the deepest meaning of it. He fulfilled the prophecy of David in the book of Psalms: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, 'Here I am, I have come-- it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.' "[ 11 ] The Pulpit Commentary contests this by saying in its introduction to Num. ch. 6: "The Hebrew Nazir has been written Nazarite in English under the mistaken impression that there is some connection between Nazir and Nazarene (Matt. ii. 23). A very little reflection will show that ' the Nazarene' not only was no Nazir, but that he even took pains to let it be seen that he was not. John the Baptist was the Nazir of the New Testament, and in all outward things the contrast was strongly marked between them (Luke vii, 14, 33, 34; John ii. 2)." This quote from the, otherwise excellent, commentary shows that the point of the content of the Nazirite vow was completely misunderstood by the commentator. John the Baptist may have observed the outward requirements of the vow, but Jesus exemplified the inner content of the dedication. The commentator also ignores the significance of the verse in Matthew ch. 2, which he does mention, but does not elaborate on: "And he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: 'He will be called a Nazarene.' "[ 12 ]

The Nazirite vow was "a vow of separation to the LORD." The Hebrew word for separation is

pala', which is defined by Strong as: "to separate, i.e. distinguish (literally or figuratively); by implication, to be (causatively, make) great, difficult, wonderful." It is related to the word translated with "holy." The KJV uses the word "separate twice in vs. 2. We read: "When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD ..." The NIV simply says: "If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite..." Commenting on the text of the KJV, the Pulpit Commentary says: "The two words translated 'separate' are not the same. The first (from pala, to sever, to consecrate, to distinguish as exceptional) is of somewhat doubtful use here. ... The other word is nazar, is used in a general sense in Gen xlix. 26; Deut. xxxiii. 16, or with the addition, 'unto the Lord,' as in Judges xii. 5. It had, however, acquired a technical sense before this, as appears from Levit. xxv. 5, 11, where the undressed vines are called 'Nazirites,' as recalling the unshorn locks of those who had taken the vow." So there is a link between the name Nazirite and the vow concerning the use of anything that had to do with the grapevine.

The fact that the Scriptures are vague about the content of the Nazirite vow, (our chapter only deals with the outward ritual to be observed), is an indication that God wanted the vow to be filled with content at a later time. The Israelites who took the vow may have had a clear concept of what they wanted to do during their period of consecration, but in reality they portrayed something that was far beyond their comprehension. The real content of the vow was what David wrote in the fortieth psalm and which is quoted by the author of the Hebrew epistle: "Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ' 'Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.' ' "[ 13 ] The fulfillment of all Nazirite vows was in the sacrifice of Christ's body on the cross.

In the ritual of the vow the largest space is reserved for the stipulation regarding death in the family. Two verses deal with the prohibition about drinking wine or consuming anything that has to do with the vine; one verse only says that the Nazirite is not allowed to cut his hair, but Moses takes six verses to explain what happens if a Nazirite would be in close contact with death. The vow expresses the reality of life, not of death in any form. Life takes precedence over all human relations, even the most intimate ones. We have the saying: "Blood it thicker than water." We could alter this by saying: "Life if thicker than blood," since the Nazirite vow superseded even the requirements of caring for a deceased parent.

An interesting feature of the vow is that it is called the dedication of the hair. In vs. 9 we read: "If someone dies suddenly in his presence, thus defiling the hair he has dedicated, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing-- the seventh day." In the previous verse it is called "the symbol of his separation to God [which] is on his head." From vs. 11 we may deduct that the Nazirite vow was, in fact a consecration of one's head to the Lord. When the vow was broken through contact with a dead body and then renewed, we read: "That same day he is to consecrate his head." This makes it clear why the hair took on such significance in the vow; we could see it as a "statement" a person makes of his dedication to the Lord, much in the same way as in the previous decade young men made statements about their orientation by wearing earrings. Throughout the ages hairstyles have always expressed lifestyles. People think it important to wear their hair according to the latest vogue.

There is quite a difference, however, between wearing one's hair in a certain way because it is fashionable and dedicating one's head to the Lord. Imagine what it would do to the IQ of the world population if all Christians would dedicated their heads to the Lord. It would create a spiritual "think tank" that would be more influential in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth than any Christian College of University. Dedicating one's head to the Lord would mean the practical application of "loving the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."[ 14 ]

Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary writes about the subject of hair: "In Old Testament times men as well as women wore long hair. Both Samson and Absalom were admired for their long, full hair <Judg. 16:13-14; 2 Sam. 14:25-26>. Baldness was considered embarrassing <2 Kin. 2:23-24; Is. 3:24>, and Israelite men were forbidden to cut the forelocks of their hair <Lev. 19:27>. But men under a NAZIRITE vow shaved their entire heads when the vow was completed <Num. 6:18>. Women apparently left their hair loose. Both men and women groomed their hair <Is. 3:24>, because leaving it unkempt was a sign of mourning <Ezra 9:3>. Beautiful hair was prized by both men and women <Song 4:1; 5:11>, while gray hair was desired by the aged <Prov. 16:31; 20:29>." The prohibition in Leviticus was given in the context of idolatry and practices in heathen countries. We read: "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard."[ 15 ]

One of the most controversial Nazirites was Samson, whose strength was in the fact that his hair had never been cut. His confession to Delilah: "No razor has ever been used on my head, ... because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man," became his undoing. Samson's case was, obviously, a very unusual one and no doctrine of divine strength and the connection between strength, hair and the Nazirite vow can be built upon it. Of all the Nazirites, Samson was the most carnal one and the least dedicated to the glory of the Lord. His raw, brutish strength may have been supernatural, it was hardly, what we would consider, the power of the Holy Spirit; although the Bible does say, at the moment of his defeat, after his hair had been cut: "But he did not know that the LORD had left him."[ 16 ]

Interestingly, there was no prescribed ritual to mark to beginning of the Nazirite vow. Only if the vow was broken by contact with a dead body did the Nazirite have to renew his vow with a sacrifice, and also at the time when the period, for which the vow was made, had expired. There is not even an indication that the vow had to be made publicly. It could be done in the privacy of fellowship with the Lord alone.

If the Nazirite vow was interrupted by contact with a dead body, the Nazirite had to rededicate himself completely for the same period of time for which the vow was made initially, even if the interruption was accidental. Vs. 9 gives an example as to how this interruption could occur: "If someone dies suddenly in his presence, thus defiling the hair he has dedicated ...." This kind of accidental interruption is treated as sin, although it cannot be considered as a sinful act. In this case the Nazirite did not commit a sin, but he was polluted by sin. If we lean against a freshly painted post, we will, unwittingly, get paint on our clothing, whether we want it or not. God treats our involuntary pollution as sin that has to be atoned for. Even if a person would never have committed any sin in his life, he would still "fall short of the glory of God."[ 17 ]

This principle throws a new light on the complex problem of sin. According to the Pulpit Commentary, Jesus declared the opposite principle when He said: " 'Are you so dull? ... Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean`? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.' (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods `clean.`) He went on: 'What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.` For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.` ' "[ 18 ]

When we consider the context of both passages, however, we will have to conclude that there is no real contradiction between the two. Jesus spoke to an audience that was under the conviction that 'clean' and 'unclean' were purely ritual concepts, without any moral connotation. The point He wanted to make is about man's sinful nature as the source of his sinful behavior. The misconception about the character of sin accounted for the fact that the Jews were unwilling to enter Pilate's palace, because it would make them ritually unclean, but they had no qualms about murdering Jesus on the basis of trumped up charges.[ 19 ]

The passage from Numbers six speaks about what effect God's fallen creation has upon the holiness of His character. As an example, we can say that it would be just as embarrassing if we would appear before royalty with clothing that had been stained without our being aware of the fact, as when we would personally be rude to the king.

A Nazirite who had been defiled had to wait seven days before the ritual of his purification and rededication could begin. We read in vs. 9 and 10 that he has to shave his head on the seventh day and bring a sacrifice on the eighth. This meant that the Nazirite would be ritually impure for a whole week before anything could be done about his restoration. Often, the period of a week symbolizes a lifetime. The Passover, for instance was followed by the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread which represented a life of purity. For the Nazirite the week stood for a life of impurity. Evidently, God wanted to impress upon the defiled Nazirite that there was more involved than a mere accidental contact with a dead body, but that there was a condition of impurity that affected the whole of life.

The seventh day was not necessarily the Sabbath day, since it was counted from the first day of defilement; but we can see a parallel with the week that runs from Sabbath to Sabbath. On the seventh day then, the equivalent of the Sabbath, the Nazirite had to shave his head and start over again. We do not read that it was customary to shave one's head at the beginning of the vow, but only when the vow is resumed. It may have become a custom, though, to enter into a period of a Nazirite vow by shaving one's head. When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, for instance, he was advised by the apostles to accompany some men who had taken a vow, in order to alleviate the suspicion that was upon him that he no longer observed the Old Testament law. We read in Acts that the apostles say to him: "Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved."[ 20 ] It does not say, explicitly, that the men were entering into a Nazirite vow or whether they were rededicating themselves.

The shaven head, obviously, stand here for a new beginning, like a new birth. The eighth day is the day of resurrection. On that day the Nazirite had to bring three animals to be sacrificed as he rededicated himself to the Lord: two birds and a year-old male lamb. One bird was to be sacrificed as a sin offering, the other one as a burnt offering and the lamb as a guilt offering. The ritual of these sacrifices is described in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. The guilt and sin offerings indicate that the person who brought them confessed to be guilty, although, not necessarily, through an intentional act. The burnt offering bore no relation to sin; it was the expression of the perfect love of the Son for the Father. The sin offering stressed the fact that the person had committed a sinful act and the guilt offering that the offender possessed a sinful nature. In bringing the sacrifice of the two birds, the Nazirite said to God that he had sinned, but that he loved God, and in bringing the lamb he told God that he was a sinner. All sacrifices pointed, of course, to the reality of Christ's death on the cross. It is the sacrifice of Jesus that gives meaning and content to the dedication of our lives to God. Without His sacrifice no dedication to God would be acceptable and they would be as blasphemous as the "worship" the Roman soldiers brought Christ when they prepared Him for His crucifixion.[ 21 ]

The sacrifice of restoration differed from the sacrifice that marked the end of the vow in that different animals were involved and a different meaning was attached to each of the animals. Whereas, in case the vow had been interrupted by defilement, the Nazirite had to bring two birds and a male lamb, respectively as a sin offering, a burnt offering and a guilt offering, the sacrifices that marked the end of the vow and the return to a pre-Nazirite lifestyle, were a year-old male lamb as a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering and a ram for a fellowship offering. All of these animals, as any sacrificial animal, had to be without defect. The fellowship offering was to be accompanied by a grain offering. Only one of these sacrifices made reference to the existence of sin; the other ones were expressions of gratitude and love. So, even when the person who had made the Nazirite vow, was free of the Nazirite restrictions, his relationship with God underwent no basic change. His life continued to be in loving submission to the will of God.

When Jesus' Nazirite vow ended He found Himself in the Father's Kingdom, which He entered with the words: "It is finished." We read in John's account of the death of our Savior: "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."[ 22 ] The sacrifices prescribed to mark the end of the Nazirite vow illustrate this crucial moment in the history of the universe. It is celebrated with a burnt offering, a sin offering, a fellowship offering and a grain offering, covering the whole gamma of the Levitical sacrifices, with the exception of the guilt offering.

The most puzzling sacrifice for us, in this context, is the sin offering, which was the ewe lamb. In a sense this sacrifice was the least representative of the reality of Christ's sacrifice. Jesus was a man and ewe lambs are female. The only place where a ewe lamb is mentioned in Leviticus in is connection with the cleansing of a leper. We read: "On the eighth day he[the cleansed leper] must bring two male lambs and one ewe lamb a year old, each without defect, along with three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil."[ 23 ] In that ritual the sacrifice of the eighth day symbolizes the resurrection; it is brought on the eighth day, which is the day of the resurrection of Christ and it is brought after the leper has been declared healed and after the leper has shaved all the hair of his body, including his eyebrows and washed his clothes. These rituals, obviously, symbolize the entering into a new life. This is, undoubtedly, what the Holy Spirit had in mind in the giving of these orders regarding the sacrifices that ended the period of dedication of the Nazirite.

The kind of grain offering, which accompanied the bloody sacrifice, was an indication that the sacrifice was an offering of thankfulness. In the law pertaining to these sacrifices, we read: "If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil."[ 24 ] It was the grain offering that made the fellowship offering into an expression of gratitude.

A rather curious part of the ritual was the burning of the hair. The Pulpit Commentary comments on this by saying: "It is not said, nor intended, that the hair was offered to God as a sacrifice. If so, it would have been burnt with the burnt offering which represented the self-dedication of the worshipper. It had been holy to the Lord, growing uncut all the days of the vow. The vow as now at an end; the last solemn act of sacrifice, the peace offering, which completed all, and typified that fearless and thankful communion with God which is the end of all religion, was now going on; it was fitting that the hair which must now be shorn, but could not be disposed of in any ordinary way, should be burnt upon the altar of God."

The last part of the ritual is the waving of the boiled shoulder of the fellowship offering before the Lord by the Nazirite and the priest together. All the right thighs of the fellowship offerings belonged already to the priest.[ 25 ] The addition of the shoulder is typical for the sacrifice that ends the Nazirite vow. This is the only sacrifice in which the shoulder of the animal is mentioned. It could be, however, that the word for shoulder and thigh were used interchangeably, for in Deuteronomy, where the rights of the priests are repeated, the thigh which was given habitually is not even mentioned, but we read: "This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts."[ 26 ]

There is an open ended clause in the phrase ".... in addition to whatever else he can afford." The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "If he can afford or can procure anything more as a free-will offering, he may well do so. In later days it became customary for richer people to defray for their poorer brethren the cost of their sacrifices (Josephus, 'Ant.,' xix 6,1; and cf. Acts xxi. 24)." This clause takes the Nazirite vow out of the realm of legalism. The vow and its accomplishment could very easily become an outward manifestation of an attitude, which had nothing to do with the consecration of one's inner being to God. A Nazirite could become proud of the fact that he had observed the rules of the vow; as if he had "arrived" in the spiritual sense of the word. He could think that he had paid to God what he owed Him. The last clause makes us understand that there is no ultimate sacrifice we can bring to the Lord. Paul's advice to the Philippians is appropriate here: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."[ 27 ]

The last six verses of this chapter give us the text for the priestly blessing:

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

This three-fold blessing was not merely a formula to be used to mark the end of a ceremony; it was infinitely more than a string of words; it was the act by which the Name of God was put on the Israelites. This Name is YHWH, which is the Name God used to reveal Himself to Moses at the burning bush. We read in the account of Moses' call: "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' "[ 28 ]

The Pulpit Commentary remarks: "It is a fact, the significance of which cannot be denied, that the name which was commanded to be put upon the people was lost, and irrecoverably lost, by the later Jews. Out of an exaggerated dread of possible profanation, they first disobeyed the command by substituting Adonai for that name outside the sanctuary; and finally, after the death of Simeon the Just, the priests ceased to pronounce the name at all, and therefore lost the tradition by which the pronunciation was fixed. Our method of spelling and pronouncing the name as Jehovah is merely conventional, and almost certainly incorrect."

The apostle John describes the ultimate blessing that is awaiting God's children in heaven in terms of the Name of the Father and the Son being put on their foreheads. We read in Revelations: "Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads," and, "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."[ 29 ] The content of God's blessing is in the bearing of God's Name, and God's Name expresses God's character. When God says to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and He puts His Name on us, that means that we will be as HE IS. John affirms this in his first epistle by saying: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."[ 30 ]

Now, let us have a look at the formula, the words that convey the fact that God's Name is put upon His children. The NIV translation of the blessing reads:

"The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

The Pulpit Commentary points out that the Name of the Lord is used three times in the blessing and it asks the question: "Are we to see in this threefold use of the Divine name a shadowing forth of the Holy Trinity?" The commentator continues: "It is obvious that it cannot be proved, and that it would not even have suggested any such idea to the priest who gave, or to the people who received, the benediction. To them the threefold form merely added beauty and fulness to the blessing (cf. Eccles. iv. 12). But that is not the question. The real question is whether the Old Testament was written for our sakes ( 1 Cor. ix. 10; x. 11; 2 Tim. iii. 15,16), and whether the God of the Jews was indeed the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (John v. 17; viii. 54). If so, it is not possible for us to avoid seeing in this benediction a declaration of the threefold Being of God and it is not possible to avoid believing that he meant us to see such a declaration, veiled indeed from the eyes of the Jew, but clear enough to the Christian." We fully accept this approach to the text. It is the Old Testament version of the New Testament blessing, which the apostle Paul expresses as: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."[ 31 ]

The Adam Clarke Commentary remarks: "There are three forms of blessing here, any or all of which the priests might use on any occasion. The following is a verbal translation:

1. May Yahweh bless thee and preserve thee!

2. May Yahweh cause his faces to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee!

3. May Yahweh lift up His faces upon thee, and may be put prosperity unto thee!

This is a very comprehensive and excellent prayer, and may be paraphrased thus:

1. May God speak good unto thee, by giving thee his excellent promises! May he preserve thee in the possession of all the good thou hast, and from all the evil with which thou art threatened!

2. May the Holy Trinity illuminate thy heart, giving thee the true knowledge of thyself! and of thy Maker, and may he show thee His graciousness in pardoning thy sins, and supporting thy soul!

3. May God give thee communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit, with a constant sense of his approbation, and grant thee prosperity in thy soul, and in all thy secular affairs!"

TLB translates the blessing with:

"May the Lord bless and protect you;

may the Lord's face radiate with joy because of you;

may he be gracious to you, show you his favor,

and give you his peace."

We could read: "May the Lord bless you, in keeping you, in making His face shine upon you and in being gracious to you, in turning His face toward you and in giving you peace." The verb "bless" is used to express the content of the blessing, which is: protection, joy, grace and peace.

The word Hebrew word for "keep" is shamar which is defined by Strong's as; "to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to." We need this protection in the hostile world in which we live. The Lord Himself is our only defense against the attacks of the Evil One upon us. At least eighteen times in the book of Psalm is God referred to as "our shield" or "my shield." Just a few examples are: "But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head,"[ 32 ] "My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart,"[ 33 ] "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word,"[ 34 ] and "He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me."[ 35 ] When a woman marries, she acquires the name of her husband, which means that her husband is responsible for her protection. In putting His Name upon us, God guarantees our safety in a way that surpasses all other protections we may claim in this life. The more we understand who the foe is we are facing, the more we will appreciate and use the protection of the Name of our Savior.

The second part of the blessing is that the Lord makes his face shine upon you and is gracious to us. The translation of TLB really brings this phrase to life with: "may the Lord's face radiate with joy because of you." We could interpret "the LORD make his face shine upon you" as may God's face light up when He sees you. We rarely come to the point where we can believe that God would take pleasure in us. David's question: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"[ 36 ] keeps on haunting us, because we are too conscious of the fact that we are sinners. It is hard for us to see that God would see us as forgiven and that His face would light up with joy when He sees us. But if we really believe that God loves us, why would we not believe that He would act as a lover acts when he sees the object of his love? This is, probably, what Jesus meant when He tells the story of the servants who receive the talents and the master says to the faithful servant: "Enter into the joy of your master."[ 37 ] What greater blessing can one desire than to be the object of God's love and joy!

The blessing reminds us of the fact that God's joy over us is part of God's grace toward us. The word "gracious" is chanan, which means, literally: "to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor," but it also has the meaning of to implore or to entreat, according to Strong's Dictionary.

In the rendering of the NIV the blessing continues with: "May the LORD turn his face toward you." The RSV as well as the KJV translate this phrase with: "The Lord lift up his countenance upon you." The word face here is the same, however, as the word used in the previous verse, and the NIV translates the word correctly in the same way in both instances. The Pulpit Commentary says: "This clause seems to repeat the last in a somewhat stronger form, as implying more personal and individual attention from the Lord. His face shines upon all that love him, as the sun shines wherever no clouds intervene; but his fact is lifted up to that soul for which he has a more special regard. …To lift up the eyes or the face upon any one is to look upon that one with peculiar and tender interest." The apostle Paul expresses this thought clearly when he writes to the Corinthian Christians: "But the man who loves God is known by God."[ 38 ] The omniscient God knows, of course, everybody and everything. There is, however, a special knowledge that is found within the context of a loving relationship., there is a difference between God knowing or our existence in all its details and being known by God. To keep within the realm of human understanding, we can say that when God turns His face toward us, He recognizes us.

The benediction ends with the words: "and give you peace." The Hebrew word is shalom, which has become one of the key words in modern Hebrew. According to Strong's Definition the word is derived from shâlam, which means "to be safe" or "to be completed." It carries the connotation of happiness, friendliness, welfare, health and prosperity.

The chapter began with regulations regarding the Nazirite vow and it ends with the blessing which puts the Name of YHWH upon the people of Israel. Although no connection between the two parts is mentioned, it seems that one flows into the other. It is in the act of dedication to the Lord that the blessing is received. But above all, it is through the supreme Nazirite vow that was made and carried out by our Lord Jesus Christ that God's blessing came to the world. The core of all Nazirite vows was expressed in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Of this the writer to the Hebrews says: "Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.' First he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them' (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, 'Here I am, I have come to do your will.' He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."[ 39 ] And the apostle Paul puts it all in a nutshell when he writes to the Galatians: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.' He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."[ 40 ]

[ 1 ] John 3:8

[ 2 ] Ps. 4:7

[ 3 ] Eph. 5:18

[ 4 ] Matt. 22:31, 32

[ 5 ] Judg. 13:5

[ 6 ] I Sam. 1:11

[ 7 ] Luke 1:15

[ 8 ] Matt. 26:29

[ 9 ] Matt. 27:34

[ 10 ] John 19:28-30

[ 11 ] Ps. 40:6-8

[ 12 ] Matt. 2:23

[ 13 ] Heb. 10:5-7

[ 14 ] See Matt. 22:37

[ 15 ] Lev. 19:27

[ 16 ] Judg. 16:20

[ 17 ] Rom. 3:23

[ 18 ] Mark 7:18-23

[ 19 ] See John 18:28

[ 20 ] Acts 21:24

[ 21 ] See Matt. 27:27-30

[ 22 ] John 19:30

[ 23 ] Lev. 14:10

[ 24 ] Lev. 7:12

[ 25 ] See Lev. 7:32

[ 26 ] Deut. 18:3

[ 27 ] Phil. 3:12-14

[ 28 ] Ex. 3:14

[ 29 ] Rev. 14:1; 22:4

[ 30 ] I John 3:1,2

[ 31 ] II Cor. 13:14

[ 32 ] Ps. 3:3

[ 33 ] Ps. 7:10

[ 34 ] Ps. 119:114

[ 35 ] Ps. 144:2

[ 36 ] Ps. 8:4

[ 37 ] Matt. 25:21 (RSV)

[ 38 ] I Cor. 8:3

[ 39 ] Heb. 10:5-10

[ 40 ] Gal. 3:13,14