It's late. And I seriously considered putting off this entry with a simple, "I read it today." I have a pretty good reason: it seems the easiest way to ensure time to my devotional time is in the evening after my daughter's gone to bed. It never works in the morning: if I get up before she does, it is so early and it takes so long to wake up enough for real consciousness, she inevitably gets up before I can get any thinking done. She does, after all, tend to get up around 5:30 in the morning. So evenings, where I'm actually at my best mentally, seem the best time. However, tonight, I had friends from out of town (one from outside the country) surprise me with a visit! (Yes, very exciting. No really, incredibly exciting and wonderful. I love those girls!) I could have kicked them out after a certain time (and they may not have minded) and said, "I need to do my devos, get out!" (Or rather something nicer...) Truth is, though, that it has been so long since I've seen either one of them, let alone both of them (I think both goes back to my wedding two years ago) that I was reluctant to let them leave, even to go to bed.
So, I could cop out tonight. But I have reflections I want to get down.
The majority of today's passage is on the Nazirite vow. Believe me, no small amount of irony was far from my mind. Who is the most famous Nazirite of the Bible? Yes, Sampson. Yes, of Sampson and Delilah fame. Reading through the regulations for a Nazirite, physically, Sampson kept one down pretty good: not cutting the hair. Otherwise, they all went out the window. Nazirites were not to go near a dead body. Though this was referring to a human body, it was meant to keep the Nazirite from uncleannes. Any dead body (human, unclean animal, clean animal) would make a person unclean, so Sampson eating honey from a lion carcass made him unclean. Nazirites were not to drink wine; the Scriptures never explicitly state that Sampson drank wine (that I could find), but the feasting that took place when he married his Philistine wife was of the sort where alcohol was in abundance and where everyone, especially the groom, would drink, making it very likely he didn't abstain from alcohol. Sampson did not observe God's statutes about intermingling with foreign peoples, as he had a taste for pagan women. A Nazirite was to be holy unto the Lord, to dedicate themselves to the Lord, but everything about Sampson showed contempt for the Lord and his statutes, calling on God only when he was a risk for death. Ironic, yes? It shows that for the vow to be truly relevant, an attitude of respect and fear was necessary before the Lord. I'm sure we'll be talking about this more when we meet Sampson in Judges, but, man! It seems so counter to wisdom that a man like that would be given such power. But God used him, even in his weakness, in his weakest moments.
A side note: the blessing here in Numbers 6 is my favorite benediction in the Bible. So let's end with that, shall we?
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
Tomorrow's Reading: Numbers 7:1-42
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