MARCH 1 READINGS…Numbers 6:1-27 & 10:1-36.
The Lord had made provision for the people of Israel…both male and female…to make a special vow, called the Nazarite vow. This was a vow of dedication of one’s self to serve the Lord in a special way. This vow was usually for a period of time, it was limited in it’s duration. Nazarite is a Hebrew word that comes from Nazir which means separated or consecrated person. Nazarites were ascetics who had taken a vow, or whose parents had taken a vow on their behalf. Two notable men who were set aside as Nazarites from birth were Samson and John the Baptist. The Nazarite vow included…Abstaining from all wine and anything else made from the grape vine plant, such as cream of tartar, grape seed oil, etc.
Refraining from cutting the hair on one’s head; allowing the locks of the head’s hair to grow. Not to becoming ritually impure by contact with corpses or graves, even those of family members.
The second part of our readings bring us to the completion of the Israelites time at Mount Sinai…they spent a year there. It was time for God to move them, and it was God who would go before them in the cloud. The instruction for both packing and carrying the tabernacle has been given to the clans of Levi. The tribes of Israel have received their instruction for how they were to move forward…including the exact location and order they were to move. They were to move as a nation, and their Leader was to be the Lord Himself. We now are the children of God, and we have no other leader than the Lord Himself. You might say the Israelites had Moses, and we have Pastors…these play a subservient role to the Lord Himself. It was both Moses role, and the role of the Pastor, to point to people of God to look to Him…to follow Him…for He is the Head of His people.
Please share any insight, input, or questions you might have from today’s readings. I want to remind you that you have already complete two months of reading through the Bible…great job! Stay with it and experience the blessings of being in the Word of God!
TOMORROW’S READINGS…Numbers 11:1-13:33.
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