A question recently asked at Living Stones reads, “Is there a practical reason for not eating grapes in the Nazarite Vow in the Old Testament?”
The Nazarite Vow is described by Moses in Numbers chapter 6. Essentially, the vow would be taken by an Israelite for the purpose of connecting to God during a certain period of time. During this time a person would deal with sin issues or apathy and build on their relationship with God.
During the vow, one of the things that a person would give up was wine and any other grape product. The purpose of the vow was to give up practical things that people experienced as a part of everyday life, things that were seen as normally being blessings from God. Grapes and wine were things enjoyed by Israelites daily and were considered blessings, so they were among the things given up.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
A group of my roommates took the Nazarite Vow in its entirety, including not shaving. It was an incredible thing to watch and they all were truly blessed by the experience. I would highly recommend it to anyone and would agree with Danny that it IS a very practical way of connecting and drawing closer to God.
In Acts Ch 18:18 and 21:24-26 we see Paul taking part in the Nazarite Vow.
Acts 21:24-26 24 Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. 25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering #4376 should be offered for every one of them.
4376 prosfora, prosphora {pros-for-ah'}
Meaning: 1) the act of offering, a bringing to 2) that which is offered, a gift, a present. In the NT a sacrifice, whether bloody or not: offering for sin, expiatory offering
Most people can't believe that Paul was still offering sacrifices after the cross. But we see in Numbers Ch. 6 that several sacrifices were required during the Nazarite Vow. Temple sacrifice did not stop until 70 AD when the last Temple was destroyed and will not start again until the Ezekiel's Temple seen in Ez 40:38-41 and 46:1-12.
Wayne
Hello Wayne,
Just so I am on record, I actually believe that Paul might have been wrong in Acts when he participated. The purpose of his participation was to "observe the law". You mentioned that temple worship continued until 70AD, which is true, but Paul also wrote Galatians before that time and in that letter he condemned adherence to the law as a necessary thing. Paul was compelled in Acts by a nervous and man fearing situation to put the law in a place that he himself condemned in his own writings. I could be wrong, but I have always struggled with this and believe that its possible that Paul made a mistake.
Danny,
I believe Ezekiel's Temple seen in Ez 40:38-41 and 46:1-12 is the Millennial Temple of Jesus. In it we once again see sacrifices taking place. I could not believe it the first time I read it either. What do you think?
Wayne
Actually this portion of Ezekiel is talking about the post exilic temple that God promised Israel. This is the temple that was reconstructed whose one wall still stands in Jerusalem today.
Danny,
I would disagree, upon a closer reading of Ezekiel Ch. 37:15-23 we see the reunion of Judah (Jews) and Ephraim (The lost ten tribes of Israel). This has not yet taken place. In v24-28 we see more unfulfilled prophesies. In Ch. 38-39 we see the future Gog / Magog war that has yet to happen. In Ch. 40-42 we see the detailed description of a Temple of God that is about 10 time the area of any past Temples (Do a search under Ezekiel’s Temple) , along with some other changes. Ch. 43 we see the offering of sacrifices on the alter once again. Ch. 47 tell us about water flowing from under this new Temple of God that will flow to the Dead Sea making it come back to life. We most certainly know that this has never happen in all the history of Israel. Would you not agree that Ezekiel’s Temple is the future Temple we call the “Millennial Temple”. These thing can only be explained in one of two ways. Either Ezekiel was a false prophet or we have been taught the traditions of men instead of the word of GOD.
Wayne
Hey Wayne,
We might have to simply disagree here, which is fine because Ive known many fine scholars who hold your view, but here are things to consider. Some of the prophecies you mentioned are pre chapter 40 which seems to shift into a new line of thinking with different prophecies, so things like the Gog Magog issue do not apply to the temple prophecy. The differneces in some of the occurences and the size of the temple are explained by Israels disobidience. Ezekiel 43:11 says that this design of the temple as described will only come to fruition if the people approach God with a shame and repentance of their past. No such repentance was ever offered by the house of Israel so they temple they recieved as described in Haggai turned out to be different than the one prophesied by Ezekiel. To believe that the temple in Ezekiel is a still yet future temple flies in the face of Hebrews 7-10. This also implies some sketchy things about the position of Jesus in the millenuim that simply cant be true.
please read "james the brother of jesus" by robert eisenman.
please also study about the apostle paul..
paul is not what most christians believe. there is ALOT more to the "story"..
peace.
Post a Comment