Daily Scripture Reading Numbers 6:1-21
Robert wasn’t a religious man, but the night his wife went into premature labor, he found himself standing outside the hospital chapel. The baby’s heartbeat was unstable, and Sarah looked frighteningly pale. With no one else to turn to, he made a promise.
“God,” he said quietly, “if You let them both live, I’ll build a house for someone who needs it. I’ll do the work myself, every board and nail. I won’t quit until it’s done.” Three days later, Sarah held their healthy daughter in her arms.
Robert bought a small, overgrown lot on the edge of town and started building right away. Every evening after work, he drove out with his tools. He poured the foundation himself, framed the walls, and worked late into the night under work lights. For the first month and a half, he didn’t miss a single day.
Then life got in the way. He received a big contract to repair the roof of the old church. The money was good, and Robert told himself he would finish the little house on weekends. However, weekends were soon filled with his own family, fatigue, and other jobs that kept appearing. He started skipping days, and then weeks.
The framed house stood half-finished through the seasons. The wood turned gray. Rain warped the plywood. Robert drove past it less and less often, and when he did, he looked away.
Two years after he made the promise, a summer storm rolled through town. Without a roof or proper bracing, the structure couldn’t hold. In the morning, Robert found the walls collapsed into a tangled heap of lumber.
He stood in the mud for a long time, staring at what remained of his broken promise.
It’s easy to get swept up in emotion and make grand promises to God. Sometimes we make promises that are hard to keep. The sixth chapter of Numbers contains rules for Nazirite vows. One of the stipulations reminds us that half-filled promises don’t count.
Num. 6:1 ¶ Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Num. 6:2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh,
Notice the word “vow”. The rules in this chapter applied when Israelites made a vow to Yahweh.
Notice also the words “Nazirite” and “dedicate”. The Hebrew word that is translated Nazirite is from a root word that means to dedicate, consecrate, or separate. A Nazirite vow was a vow to be dedicated to Yahweh.
Num. 6:3 he shall abstain as a Nazirite from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.
Num. 6:4 All the days of his Nazirite vow he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.
The first rule of being a Nazirite was that a Nazirite could not consume any product of a grape vine.
Num. 6:5 ¶ ‘All the days of his vow as a Nazirite no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he dedicated himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.
The second rule of being a Nazirite was that a Nazirite could not cut his hair.
Num. 6:6 ¶ ‘All the days of his dedication as a Nazirite to Yahweh he shall not go near to a dead person.
Num. 6:7 He shall not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the Nazirite vow to his God is on his head.
The third rule of being a Nazirite was that a Nazirite could not touch a dead person.
Num. 6:8 All the days of his Nazirite vow he is holy to Yahweh.
Num. 6:9 ¶ ‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles the head of hair during his Nazirite vow, then he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day.
Notice the word “suddenly”. This verse acknowledges the possibility that a Nazirite might accidentally touch a dead person if a person beside him suddenly died without warning. In that case the Nazirite violated his vow due to no fault of his own.
Num. 6:10 Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Num. 6:11 And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall set apart his head as holy,
Even though the violation of the Nazirite vow was not due to anything the Nazirite did, the Nazirite was still guilty and needed to bring a sin offering.
Num. 6:12 and shall dedicate to Yahweh the days of his Nazirite vow and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his Nazirite vow was defiled.
Notice the word “void”. When a Nazirite made a vow to be a Nazirite for a certain number of days, he had to fulfill those days consecutively. If the vow was interrupted by someone suddenly dying beside him, he had to start the vow over.
This illustrates teachings we see elsewhere in the Bible about the importance of fulfilling our promises to God. Deuteronomy reminded the Israelites to fulfill their vows to Yahweh promptly. Not vowing was better than failing to fulfill a vow (see Deuteronomy 23:21-23). Solomon repeated that teaching in the book of Ecclesiastes (see Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). Through the prophet Malachi, Yahweh criticized Israelites who vowed a healthy animal, but brought a blemished animal instead (see Malachi 1:14).
Num. 6:13 ¶ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his Nazirite vow are fulfilled: he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Num. 6:14 And he shall bring his offering near to Yahweh: one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering and one ram without blemish for a peace offering,
Num. 6:15 and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering.
Num. 6:16 Then the priest shall bring them near before Yahweh and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.
Num. 6:17 He shall also offer with the ram a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering.
Num. 6:18 The Nazirite shall then shave the head of hair for his Nazirite vow at the doorway of the tent of meeting and take the hair of his head of his Nazirite vow and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.
Num. 6:19 And the priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved the hair of his Nazirite vow.
Num. 6:20 Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by raising up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’
Num. 6:21 ¶ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to Yahweh according to his Nazirite vow, in addition to what else he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his Nazirite vow.”
This is the only passage in the Mosaic Law which mentions Nazirite vows.
The regulations regarding a Nazirite vow make it clear that fulfilling a vow halfway was not sufficient. The vow had to be fulfilled fully and completely, or it did not count at all.
Later in the Old Testament, we see grave warnings about failing to fulfill vows to Yahweh (see Deuteronomy 23:21-23). The book of Proverbs alerts us to the danger of giving in to emotions and making a rash vow before we stop to think about what we are doing (see Proverbs 20:25). Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that not vowing was better than half-hearted fulfillment of a vow. He also wrote that God would not accept the excuse that a vow was a mistake (see Ecclesiastes 5:4-6).
The New Testament prohibits us from swearing oaths and making vows, but that same passage also tells us to let our yes be yes and our no be no (see James 5:12). In other words, we need to do what we say we will do. If we make a promise to God, we better do what we say we will do.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”