Numbers 6:1

Numbers 6:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse two adds, 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:  Being a Nazarite was not a matter of birth, but of choice and applied to both men and women, something we seldom see in the Bible.  Matthew Henry says these were not Nazerites for life, like John the Baptist, but for a specified time.  Verse three continues, 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.  The man who became a Nazarite, or separated himself to the service of God, was to avoid all alcoholic drinks.  I personally believe if we are to serve God effectively today, we need to avoid alcohol, but this is not really stated in the Bible.  Verse four concludes, All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.  While set aside to God's service, the man was to avoid eating or drinking anything grown on a vine.  Verse five adds, All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no rasor 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.  The men were not to shave or cut their hair during the time of their vow.  We can tend to judge men by whether they have shaved and cut their hair or not, but maybe the best thing to do is to leave it up to God and them.  The only thing that really matters now is a person's relationship with Jesus Christ.  Verse six states, All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.  Verse seven adds, 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.  A person who had taken a vow tobe a Nazarite was not to touch a dead person, even if it was their father, mother, sister, or brother, since doing so would have made them spiritually unclean.  Verse eight continues, All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.  For all the time of his vow, the man was considered to be holy unto the LORD.  We as followers of Christ today are considered to be Holy unto the Lord, since we have taken a vow to Jesus Christ, so we should avoid anything that would corrupt us spiritually.  Verse nine says, And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.  The men were given instructions for what to do if a person died suddenly and touched them.  They were to shave their head on the seventh day of their cleansing.  This was an physical sign of their obedience, and as Christians we really don't have any today, except baptism and observing the Lord’s Supper.  Verse ten adds, 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:  Verse eleven continues, 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 that same day.  On the eighth day, the man was to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the door of the tabernacle and give them to the priest there, and the priest would offer one as a sin sacrifice and the other as a burnt offering to atone for the man's sin.  This applied to when the man who had taken a vow as Nazarite unavoidably came in to contact with a dead person, and not when he deliberately did so.  Today, as followers of Christ, all our sins have been atoned for by the blood of Jesus. Verse twelve concludes, And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.  The man was also to bring a lamb less than a year old as a trespass offering, and the days of his vow as a Nazarite would start over.  We cannot expect the days we have faithfully followed Jesus Christ to exempt us from sins we may commit today.  If we do fall into sin, we must confess our sins and begin to walk faithfully with Jesus Christ once more.  He is the sacrifice for our sins, and will always be the only sacrifice that will matter.