Set Apart: What It Means to Be a Nazirite

The Nazirite Vow

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The angel told Samson's mother, “the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judges 13:5). What is a Nazirite? The answer is in the book of Numbers.

Anyone could. God said, “When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord” (Numbers 6:2). Consecrate means to give something to God.

The word. Nazirite comes from a Hebrew word that means separated or set apart. A Nazirite was set apart to belong to God.

Rule one: no grapes. A Nazirite was to “eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin” (Numbers 6:4). That meant no wine, no grape juice, no grapes and no raisins.

Rule two: no haircut. “All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head” (Numbers 6:5). Long hair showed everyone that this person belonged to God.

Rule three: no dead bodies. A Nazirite was not to go near a dead body, not even for a family funeral (Numbers 6:6-7).

Holy. “He shall be holy” (Numbers 6:5). Holy means set apart for God.

Giving up good things. Grapes and wine were not sinful. A Nazirite gave up good things to show that God was even better.

A sign to see. Every time people saw a Nazirite's long hair, they remembered that this person belonged to God.

For a time. Most people made the vow for a set time. At the end they brought offerings, and their hair was shaved and burned on the altar fire (Numbers 6:13-18).

Samson was different. Samson did not choose the vow. God chose it for him, and it was for life: “from the womb to the day of his death” (Judges 13:7).

His mother too. Before he was born, his mother was told, “She may not eat anything that comes from the vine” (Judges 13:14).

Samuel. Hannah promised that no razor would come on her son's head (1 Samuel 1:11). Samuel was given to God all his life.

John the Baptist. An angel said John would drink no wine and would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15).

What we learn. A Nazirite's life was a picture for everyone to see: some people belong to God in a special way.

What to do. Think about what your life shows others. This week, do one thing that shows you belong to Jesus.

Numbers 6 gives the law of the Nazirite. Knowing it helps us understand Samson's calling and his failures.

The name. Nazir (say: nah-ZEER) comes from nazar (say: nah-ZAR), to separate or to set apart. The vow was a choice to live separated to the Lord (Numbers 6:2).

Open to all (6:2). “Either a man or woman” could take the vow. It was not only for priests. Ordinary people could give a season of life wholly to God.

No vine (6:3-4). Not only wine but “vinegar,” “grape juice,” “fresh grapes or raisins.” Grapes were a sign of the good life of the land. The Nazirite gave up even good things to show that God mattered more.

No razor (6:5). The uncut hair was the visible sign of the vow. The Hebrew word for crown or consecration, nezer (say: NEH-zer), is used for the hair in Numbers 6:7. The hair was the Nazirite's crown before God.

No corpse (6:6-8). Even for a father or mother, a Nazirite was not to touch the dead, because his separation to God was on his head (6:7). Like the high priest, he was to stay away from death.

Like a priest. Priests on duty could not drink wine (Leviticus 10:9), and the high priest could not go near the dead (Leviticus 21:11). A Nazirite lived with some of the holiness of a priest, though he was not one.

Defiled by accident (6:9-12). If someone died suddenly beside him, the Nazirite had to shave his head, bring offerings and start the vow again.

The end of the vow (6:13-21). The Nazirite brought burnt, sin and peace offerings and shaved his hair at the door of the tabernacle, and it was burned under the peace offering.

Lifelong Nazirites. Samson (Judges 13:5), Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11) and John the Baptist (Luke 1:15) were set apart from birth. In Samson's case God made the choice before he was conceived.

A gift to Israel. Amos 2:11-12 says God raised up Nazirites, but Israel made them drink wine. Nazirites were God's living reminders, and the people tried to silence them.

Later examples. Paul seems to have taken a vow like this, cutting his hair at its end (Acts 18:18), and he paid the costs for four men finishing a vow (Acts 21:23-26).

Application. Being set apart is not about looking strange. It is about belonging so completely to God that your choices show it.

Set Apart Today

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God set Samson apart before he was born. But as Samson grew up, he did not always live like a man who belonged to God.

Strength from God. When a lion attacked Samson, “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart” (Judges 14:6). His strength came from God.

A broken rule. Later Samson took honey from the dead lion's body and ate it (Judges 14:8-9). A Nazirite was not to touch the dead, but Samson did not care.

Telling the secret. Samson told Delilah, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb” (Judges 16:17).

The Lord departed. When his hair was cut, Samson thought he would be strong as before. “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20).

Not in the hair. Samson's power was never in his hair. It was in the Lord. The hair was the sign that he belonged to God.

Grace. In prison, “the hair of his head began to grow again” (Judges 16:22). God had not given up on Samson.

Samson's prayer. At the end Samson cried out, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once” (Judges 16:28). God heard him.

Still in the list. Hebrews 11:32 names Samson among the people of faith. God's grace is bigger than our failures.

Jesus is different. Jesus was called a Nazarene because He grew up in Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). That is a different word from Nazirite.

Truly set apart. Jesus is the holy One who never failed. He is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).

He makes us holy. “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). Sanctified means made holy and set apart.

Chosen people. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (1 Peter 2:9).

Not our own. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Live holy. “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Christians do not take Nazirite vows to be saved. Jesus makes us holy, and then we live for Him.

What to do. Ask Jesus to help you say no to one thing that pulls you away from Him this week.

Samson's calling was clear from before his birth. His life shows that a holy calling does not make a person holy. Only Jesus does that.

The Spirit's power (14:6). “The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.” Samson's strength was the Spirit's work. The vow marked him as God's, but the power was God's alone.

The carcass (14:8-9). Samson scooped honey from the lion's carcass and hid it from his parents. The Nazirite law kept him away from the dead (Numbers 6:6). Samson treated his separation as if it did not matter.

The feast (14:10). Samson held a wedding feast in Timnah. The Hebrew mishteh (say: mish-TEH) means a drinking feast, a hard place for a man who must never touch wine.

The secret (16:17). “If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me.” Samson knew the hair was the last outward sign of the vow. When he gave it away, he gave away the sign of belonging to God.

The Lord departed (16:20). “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” This is one of the saddest lines in Judges. Sin had dulled Samson until he could not tell when God's presence was gone.

Grace (16:22). “However, the hair of his head began to grow again.” God's story with Samson was not over. Hebrews 11:32 still names him among the faithful.

Judges 16:28. Samson's last prayer, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray!”, shows a broken man turning back to God. Grace met him there.

Nazarene and Nazirite. Matthew 2:23 calls Jesus a Nazarene, from Nazareth. He was not a Nazirite: He drank wine at meals and touched the dead to raise them. Yet He is the truly set-apart One.

Hebrews 7:26. Jesus is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” Samson's separation was a rule he kept poorly. Jesus' holiness is who He is.

Hebrews 10:10. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The Greek hagiazo (say: hah-gee-AH-zoh), to sanctify, means to make holy and set apart for God. Jesus does this by His death.

1 Peter 2:9 and Titus 2:14. The whole church is a holy nation, a people Jesus purified “for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Romans 12:1. The response is to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” Christians are set apart by grace, then live set apart out of love.

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