By Jimmy Swaggart
(NUM. 6:2) “SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND SAY UNTO THEM, WHEN EITHER MAN OR WOMAN SHALL SEPARATE THEMSELVES TO VOW A VOW OF A NAZARITE, TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES UNTO THE LORD.
The structure is:
1. Numbers, Chapter 6 portrays the voluntary Nazarite vows.
2. Nearly always the term “Nazarite” is thought of as referring to men, but according to this, a woman could also take the Nazarite vow and separate herself unto God and His Service (Num. 6:2).
3. From the Nazarite idea came the Rachabites, the Essenes, Anchorites, Hermits, Monks, and other monastic orders. To say that Christ was a Nazarite is unscriptural, for He drank of the fruit of the vine and touched the dead, which Nazarites were forbidden to do (Mat. 9:25; 11:19; 26:29; Mk. 14:25).
4. But yet we know that Jesus had a consecration that was more complete and genuine than that of a Nazarite, because He was sanctified when He was sent into the world (Jn. 10:36), and depended on the Holy Spirit’s Anointing to distinguish Him as separated unto God, rather than the outward show of abstinence from certain things.
