Judges 13:2-5 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,
"Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
In this passage, Sampson is chosen by God to live the life of a Nazirite, from the womb, and all of his life.
There were three conditions a Nazirite had to observe:
• He could not touch a dead body of any kind.
• He was not allowed to drink wine or strong drink, or even to have any contact with the grapes.
• He was to let his hair grow long.
The Nazirite was to follow these conditions as a sign that he was called, set apart, and visibly chosen for a specific task for the Lord.
These Old Testament provisions, again, are symbolic snapshots of things which hold true in our spiritual life today. A Nazirite in the Old Testament symbolizes sanctification, so how can we apply this to our lives today?
In the New Testament, "sanctified" means "set apart” for a particular purpose." Those of us who know Jesus Christ as Lord are said to be sanctified, to be set apart to serve him. And the same three conditions obtained under the Nazirite vow are true for us in the spiritual realm:
#1 We are not to touch anything dead.
We are to have nothing to do with the old life. We are not to go back and attempt to resurrect the old life, the flesh which has been crucified with Christ, and try to live out of that resource. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians:
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:2-3)
We have been given a new life, a resurrection life, which Paul says is life indeed.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)
#2 Find our satisfaction in the Lord
We should find our joy not in the things of this life, from wine or any other natural thing, but rather, from the Spirit of God. The prophet Habakuk wrote:
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Hab 3:18)
#3 Long Hair?
The provision regarding long hair is very interesting. In the Scriptures long hair is said to be a shameful thing for a man (1 Cor 11:14). It is a sign of weakness. This refers, of course, to excessively long hair--longer than the accepted length for women at any particular time. Even though long hair was considered shameful, the Nazirite would put himself under that condition in order to indicate his weakness, because his strength would grow out of that weakness.
The same is true for us. The Scriptures say that where we are weak that is where we are strong.
For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10)
If we sense our need for dependence upon another resource, if we are not counting upon our own credentials, our own strength, our own abilities--that is proper recognition of our weakness. It is in weakness that we discover our strength in our indwelling Lord.
So, just as a Nazirite was to fulfill these three conditions of separation, we too have been called, set apart, and chosen for a specific task by the Lord.
It is also interesting that Samson was called to be a Nazirite from his birth, which was unusual. Ordinarily a person would take this vow later on in life, generally for only a short term. But Samson was to be one from his birth.
We, as well, are Nazirites from our birth, our new birth. So from the moment we are born into God’s family, we are called, set apart, and visibly chosen for a specific task.
(this application nugget was taken from our Wednesday evening study of Judges, click here to listen to the entire message, or other messages from our Judges study)
...till the whole world hears,
Pastor Clay
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