Wednesday Bible Study Acts 21 – Nazarite

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Just one question today for review:
Who have we been talking about for the last several weeks?

Answer: John 1:6-8
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

Today I thought we would be covering John 1:9-13 but wanted to take one more swing at this Nazarite business. We find in Acts 21 that Paul and his friends had come back to Jerusalem after an extended stay in Gentile lands. They were considered, by those fastidious Jews, to be unclean, brushing elbows with a people they reviled. Little did they know that because of their hard hearted ways, God had included Gentiles in his saving Grace and that would really stick in their craw.

Act 21:17-26
17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;
21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.
22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.
23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;
24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

This shaving of the head was a practice commonly associated with a Nazarite vow. Num. 6:18

25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”
26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

So you see that being a Nazarite, this special vow unto God that you would be sober minded in all things, in accordance to God’s will, carried some weight upon the shoulders of those that held this vow. Shaving their heads would be noticeable to all and out of the ordinary for the average Jew. Just travelling around with Paul had to be quite an experience. You would likely be included in beatings and the occasional stonings just for hanging around with the guy.

Also take note that this part of Acts is just before the Jews seized Paul for basically forsaking his Jewish heritage and bringing the knowledge of the Light to the Gentiles.

So, with that thought in mind let’s follow where Acts leads us. John will just have to wait a bit.

Acts 21:27
27 When the seven days were almost over, (this being the purification process) the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,

These Jews from Asia had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. These same Jews had followed Paul around in Asia like a bad smell and knew him by sight. So they probably had been watching Paul eagerly as he passed in and out of the courts of the Temple. He was seized, with all the tokens of his purification still upon him (compared with Acts 24:18), about to offer sacrifices, and raised a cry which was sure to throw the whole city into an uproar.

The standard period of time for a vow of a Nazarite was for 30 days. It could go longer, of course, but not shorter. And to complete the purification process, a sacrifice was called for. These Jews from Asia knew this and grabbed Paul before he could sacrifice. Paul, knowing that Christ had removed the need for sacrifice, was doing this because it was the traditional end of this kind of vow and more than likely for the men that were with him.
We find in MacLaren’s Expositions, which is a commentary I quite often use, this bit of text describing Paul’s actions:

“The stronger a man’s faith, the greater will and should be his disposition to conciliate. Paul may seem to have stretched consideration for weak brethren to its utmost, when he consented to the proposal of the Jerusalem elders to join in performing the vow of a Nazarite, and to appear in the Temple for that purpose. But he was quite consistent in so doing; for it was not Jewish ceremonial to which he objected, but the insisting on it as necessary. For himself, he lived as a Jew, except in his freedom of intercourse with Gentiles. No doubt he knew that the death-warrant of Jewish ceremonial had been signed, but he could leave it to time to carry out the sentence. The one thing which he was resolved should not be was its imposition on Gentile Christians. Their road to Jesus was not through Temple or synagogue. As for Jewish Christians, let them keep to the ritual if they chose. The conciliatory plan recommended by the elders, though perfectly consistent with Paul’s views and successful with the Jewish Christians, roused non-Christian Jews as might have been expected.

This incident brings out very strikingly the part played by each of the two factors in carrying out God’s purposes for Paul. They are unconscious instruments, and co-operation is the last thing dreamed of on either side; but Jew and Roman together work out a design of which they had not a glimpse.”

A disposition to conciliate, this is a pretty good description of what we all need to think about when it comes to other people’s faith. My sterner interpretation of scriptures is quite often at odds with a disposition to conciliate. I have had a problem with the “Faith, but” attitude I find in many people. I understand God to be sovereign over all things and I do mean all things. To the point that if God chose to make an example of me for my sterner than thou ways, I might possibly walk out of this room with leprosy. A disease that is not at all common in this land. And He might get a hearty round of applause for doing that.

Paul went through a purification process and was going to carry through with a sacrifice that he knew was not necessary, but his brethren needed because their faith was not one where Jesus knocks you off your horse and asks you why you are doing what you have been doing.

How do we handle our friends, family and others that are in fear of dying, in fear of catching the COVID 19, or anything at all, now? They are afraid of being closer to another human than a very arbitrary distance of 6 feet. We have people that have stopped coming to our church because they think we are in violation of the governor’s Emergency Powers Act of a strong recommendation of wearing masks and keeping our distance to other people no closer than 6 feet. However, if you are protesting, you are good to go. As of yet there is no mandate to wear masks, but still we have people that are convinced that mask-wearing is essential for something or other, and angry at you if you don’t wear one in their presence.

So how do we handle these people? That their faith is not our faith, which I admit is a little bit troubling to think about. The Apostle Paul went the extra distance, to the point of almost being killed at the temple by these rabble-rousing Jews.

Back to Paul, the whole city is in an uproar, and it’s a two-part outrage. First part, Paul who they have been dogging through all of Asia Minor is now standing in the temple in Jerusalem. They bring against Paul virtually the same charge as what they charge Stephen with and that is found in Acts 6 verses 11 to 13, so let’s go there.

Acts 6:11-13
Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council.
13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law;

So they charge Paul with speaking against Moses and God and generally making a nuisance of himself..

The second part is that he brought Greeks, uncircumcised Gentiles into the Holy Place. The specifics of this is beyond the middle wall of partition (Ephesians 2:14) which divided the court that was open to strangers from that which none but Jews might enter.

We find in Ephesians 2:14
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

Christ is our peace and brought Jew and Gentile together. He tore the curtain down the middle at his crucifixion, removing the barrier to coming to God without a sacrifice, because He was our sacrifice. And the Jews weren’t buying it, still aren’t buying it.

Here’s an interesting bit of history that was dug up by the Palestine Exploration Society in 1871. They found a slab which illustrates the horror with which the Jews looked on such a desecration. Its contents show that it must have formed part of the low wall just mentioned:—“NO MAN OF ALIEN RACE IS TO ENTER WITHIN THE BALUSTRADE AND FENCE THAT GOES ROUND THE TEMPLE. IF ANY ONE IS TAKEN IN THE ACT, LET HIM KNOW THAT HE HAS HIMSELF TO BLAME FOR THE PENALTY OF DEATH THAT FOLLOWS.” This, accordingly, was the punishment which the Jews of Asia were now seeking to bring on St. Paul and his friends.

Let’s jump back a bit, and again go through Acts 21:17 and beyond. Paul steps off the boat and gets a warm welcome. We’ll pick it up there. The Bible tells the story much better than I do.

Act 21:17
17 After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;

21 and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

22 What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

23 Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;

24 take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

25 But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.”

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

The next thing you know, Jews are pulling their hair out and wanting to kill him. For Paul that’s pretty much a typical day.

Let us continue at verse 28:

28 crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

30 Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

They closed the temple doors so they could piously claim that he was not killed in that Holy Place.

We go back to MacLaren’s Expositions:
“Notice the carefulness to save the Temple from pollution, which is shown by the furious crowds dragging Paul outside before they kill him. They were not afraid to commit murder, but they were horror-struck at the thought of a breach of ceremonial etiquette. Of course! for when religion is conceived of as mainly a matter of outward observances, sin is reduced to a breach of these. We are all tempted to shift the centre of gravity in our religion, and to make too much of ritual etiquette. Kill Paul if you will, but get him outside the sacred precincts first. The priests shut the doors to make sure that there should be no desecration, and stopped inside the Temple, well pleased that murder should go on at its threshold.”

And we will leave it right here just like they used to do in the old black and white serial movies. A cliffhanger if you will. Paul and friends grabbed, about to be killed on the temple steps.

Rom. 15:5-6 – May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Nazirite or Nazarite, both spelling are accepted.
When a Nazirite completed a vow he was to cut his or her hair and present the locks of hair, which represented the duration of the oath of service, at the Temple in Jerusalem where it was to be burned on the sacrificial Altar with animal and grain sacrifices. The sacrificial requirements for a completed vow were an expensive undertaking and often wealthy Jews would sponsor a poor Nazirite who had completed a vow. The required offerings are described in Numbers 6:13-21:

a ritually perfect male lambs to be entirely burnt up on the Altar
a ritually perfect female lambs as a sin sacrifice which after having been roasted on the Altar the Old Covenant priests will eat.
a ram to be boiled and then eaten by the offers and their families in the Holy Place as a communion offering
along with unleavened bread and wine to accompany the sacrificial meal.
the appropriate cereal offerings and wine libations for the Altar sacrifice and the sacrificial meal.
In addition to the “ram without blemish” for the communion (peace) offering, the Nazirite had to provide a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine wheat flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil in addition to the regular meat offering and wine libation [Numbers 6:14, 15]. The Mishnah explains how and in what proportions the unleavened bread that accompanies the communion sacrifice was to be prepared and that all was to be offered in one vessel. The sin offering [which the offerer could not eat but would be eaten by the priests] was the first sacrifice presented, then the holocaust sacrifice which would be wholly consumed in the fire of the Altar, and finally the sacrifice which was the communion or peace offering, which reestablished fellowship with Yahweh after He had accepted the offerer’s atonement for sins in the sin sacrifice.

According to the Mishnah, after the required animal, grain and wine sacrifices, had been offered by the priest the Nazirite withdrew to the Nazirite’s chamber which was located in the Court of the Women. There the peace offering cut up and was boiled in a cauldron and cutting off the hair that had remained unshorn during the length of the vow, the hair was then thrown into the fire under the cauldron. The priest then “waved” the offering as it is described in Numbers 6:19 & 20, and the fat was salted and burned upon the holy sacrificial Bronze Altar in the courtyard of the Temple. The breast of the sacrificed animal, the fore-leg and the boiled shoulder of the peace offering as well as the waved cake and wafer of unleavened wheat flour belonged to the priests. The loaves of unleavened bread and the remaining meat of the communion sacrifice were eaten by the Nazirite and his friends and family.

In Acts 21:18-26, James the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem requested that St. Paul, as a sign of good faith and solidarity with his Jewish brethren, sponsor 4 Nazirites who had completed their vow period: So the next day Paul took the men along and was purified with them, and he visited the Temple to give notice of the time when the period of purification would e over and the offering would have to be presented on behalf of each of them.” Paul in obedience to James submitted to a Old Covenant ritual which no longer had any real meaning in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ for every Christian had now been consecrated to accepting a lifetime vow of service in the royal priesthood of believers who received the sacrament of baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The Latin word sacramentum is translated as “oath”. In the Sacraments we swear our oath of consecrated service to the Most Holy Trinity and claim that one perfect sacrifice that is ours for all time and eternity. In the Book of Hebrews, St. Paul writes:”He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.” Hebrews 10:8-10.

In this sense all New Covenant believers serve God as perpetual Nazirites who are not defiled by death for our Savior has conquered death. In our vow of holiness we offer our lives as a living sacrifice in service to Christ: “I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people. Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and mature.” Romans 12:1-2

By Michal Hunt, https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Nazirite%20Vow.htm


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