Numbers 6:1-12
Aside from the Levites, any Israelite, man or woman belonging to the other tribes, could be consecrated to the LORD by taking the vow of a Nazarite. But in contrast with the sons of Levi, such consecration was individual and voluntary. The Nazarite was free not to make this vow, but once entered into, his liberty was at an end; his private and public life were subjected to strict obligations. So in an army, the volunteer is subjected to the same discipline as would be a conscript. The requirements of a Nazarite were three in number:
1. To abstain from all the products of the vine: symbol of the world’s joys.
2. To allow his hair to grow: type of the setting aside of self which must characterise the disciple of Christ.
3. To avoid contact with death, the wages and proof of sin.
In principle each child of God bears this triple character. He is dead to the world, to self and to sin. But he can only have the strength to maintain this difficult standard, so contrary to our nature, if his Nazariteship, his being set apart for Christ, is the outcome of a joyful decision in his heart. Vv. 9-12 remind us how easy it is to lose our character of a Nazarite through loss of vigilance, and how hard it is to recover it.