NKJV 365 / Times for Special Devotion

NKJV 365 Day Reading Plan

Day 55 of 365 Times for Special Devotion A Nazirite was a consecrated and separated person who took special vows of abstention as an act of devotion to the Lord. The laws in this chapter prohibit such a person from drinking wine, intoxicating drink, vinegar, and eating raisins. The hair could not be cut during the entire period of separation to God. The third prohibition was to avoid ceremonial uncleanness through contact with a dead body. The vow was open to men and women, was for a temporary period of time, and was an act of commitment or devotion performed by a lay person in Israel. Samson was the best known of the Nazirites (Judg. 13:2-5). The prophet Amos castigates his contemporaries for making the Nazirites drink wine and commanding the prophets to be silent. To serve God by abstaining even from legitimate things in the Christian's privilege today as well. As the hymn writer says, "Have done with lesser things, give your heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings." Taken from The Devotional Daily Bible Numbers 6:1-8 NASB 1 Again the L ord spoke to Moses, saying, 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 to the L ord , 3 he shall abstain 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. 4 All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. 5 'All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the L ord ; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. 6 'All the days of his separation to the L ord he shall not go near to a dead person. 7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he is holy to the L ord .