02.21.2016 Old Testament: Num 6.9–12

To read the Bible in a year, read Numbers 5–6 on February 21, In the year of our Lord 2016

By Don Ruhl

For a child of Israel to consecrate him or herself for the Nazirite vow, he could not defile himself, even if it happened unintentionally; he had to go through a procedure to consecrate himself to the Lord again,

“And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. He shall consecrate to the LORD the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled” (Numbers 6.9–12).

In this case, it was not that the Nazirite had sinned, but something happened to defile him, and the Lord provided for just such a case.

Here is what I have observed in the Scriptures: The Lord provides for us whenever we do good works for Him. He provides the knowledge, the wisdom, the training, and the resources, even as He made certain allowances for the Nazirites.