The Calling of the Nazirite, Paul, and Israel

The Nazirite — A Living Sacrifice, Not a Priest

Parashat Nasso contains the laws of the Nazirite, one of the most misunderstood figures in all of scripture. First, let me state clearly what a Nazir is not. A Nazir is not a priest and does not have to be from the tribe of Levi. A Nazir does not serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple. A Nazir does not offer sacrifices on the holy altar. The Nazir himself is the sacrifice: a person separated by God from the community, commanded to have a special life with extra restrictions that a normal priest from the tribe of Levi does not even have.

Here is the full definition from our Torah portion:

The person — male or female — who is a Nazirite is in effect dedicated to be a fulltime intercessor. He or she is especially appointed either by individual choice, by the family, or by God Himself through an angel, like in the case of Samson. The only two people in the Bible that I remember to be Nazirites are Samson and Samuel the prophet. In the case of Samuel, his mother Hannah dedicated him to God before his birth. Similarly, Samson was announced to be a Nazirite before his birth, by a divine figure — an angel of the Lord who met his mother in the field and announced about her pregnancy.

There is an interesting detail in the Samson story that is often missed. Manoah, Samson's father, was not happy that the angel came to talk to his wife first. So, he demanded that the angel come to him in person and give him the news. So the angel of the Lord complied and came to talk to Manoah in person and to confirm the message. In this story there are so many interesting parallels to the annunciation of the Angel of the Lord to Mary the mother of Yeshua.

Victor Mature on a Golf Cart

The story of Samson in the book of Judges is the source of several Hollywood movies made in the middle of the 20th Century. The one that was most impressive for me was Samson and Delilah, with Angela Lansbury and Victor Mature. I had the good pleasure to meet Victor Mature when he was really old and while he was riding a golf cart in a restaurant in Rancho Santa Fe, California. We had a great conversation on the Bible, and especially on Samson, the movie, and the story. Mr. Victor Mature said to me that his playing Samson in the movie also changed his own life. He said that that story gave him some lessons for life: "I learned that a person can't run away from God's given destiny."

Samson was born a Nazirite and didn't cut his hair until he fell for a Philistine bar room prostitute who deceived him and got him drunk and cut his hair — which was the source of his strength. He did everything to run away from the calling with which God called him before his birth. Yet in the end, whether in a burning bush like Moses, or like Samson shackled on the pillars of a Philistine pagan temple — the mission still gets accomplished. We can run, but we can't hide from God's blessing and calling.

The Myriads That Christian History Has Tried to Silence

When Paul arrives in Jerusalem after his vow — bringing seven Gentile disciples as the first fruits of the nations, seven for the 70 nations of the Gentiles — he is met by James (Jacob) and the leadership. What James tells him is one of the most important statements in the entire New Testament, and one of the most ignored:

Tens of thousands of Jews who believed in Yeshua — and continued to be zealous for the Torah. This is an amazing revelation for most Christians. It has been ignored by the Christian churches since the early 4th Century after Christ. It cannot be deleted. It cannot be hushed and hidden, but it can be ignored malignantly by the leaders, pastors, elders, cardinals, and popes. The implications of this text are very far-reaching for Christian history. This information proves that the historical post-Constantinian church and all her daughters — the Protestant churches — have by design and premeditation twisted the Word of God. If they would have affirmed this scripture, there couldn't have been the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition that burned tens of thousands of Jews alive because they wanted to celebrate the Passover or eat kosher food.

Paul himself kept his vow. He knew he would be imprisoned in Jerusalem — the prophet Agabus bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt and said:

Paul went anyway. That is faithfulness to the Lord and to His mission. The nation of Israel is the best example of all people who tried to run away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — and in the end, the unbelievable has become believable: the only nation that was in exile, spread on the face of the whole earth, has been gathered and is being gathered. In the end the Jews will fulfill God's calling and be the light of all the nations, as the prophets predicted.