Lit., shall be wonderful to vow a vow. A Nazarite was sanctified by making a special vow to separate himself to God. The priests, who were such by birth, were ordained by God out of His initiation, whereas the Nazarite, who became such by a vow, was separated to God by himself out of his initiation. God’s ordaining of one family (Aaron’s) to be the priests excluded all others from this opportunity. But the vow of the Nazarite opens the gate, affording all the people of God an equal opportunity to be absolutely for God as a warrior (Judg. 13:5) or as a priest (1 Sam. 1:11; 2:11). Whoever is willing may take this opportunity on his own initiative. The accomplishing of God’s purpose requires man’s cooperation to complement God’s ordination, as illustrated by the case of Samuel, who as a Nazarite fulfilled the duty of a priest, complementing the deficient Eli, a priest ordained by God (1 Sam. chs. 1—3).

God desires that all His people be Nazarites. To be a Nazarite is to be sanctified, separated, absolutely and ultimately to God, i.e., to be for nothing other than God. Cf. note Rom. 6:19^2b.

According to typology, among the human race the unique Nazarite is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, a Nazarite is a type of Christ in His living absolutely for God in His humanity (John 5:30; Phil. 2:8).

Heb. nazar; the root of the noun Nazarite. Separation unto God is on the negative side, and sanctification to God is on the positive side. Such a separating and sanctifying of oneself to God should follow the dealing with all the defilements and the test of chastity (Num. 5).

Abstaining from wine and anything related to its source (vv. 3-4) signifies abstaining from all kinds of earthly enjoyment and pleasure (cf. Psa. 104:15; Eccl. 10:19) and from anything that issues in earthly enjoyment or pleasure. A Nazarite, one who is absolutely for God, is altogether separated from anything of earthly pleasures (cf. Matt. 8:20; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15).

Not shaving the head signifies not rejecting but being absolutely subject to the headship of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3, 6, 10, 15) as well as to all deputy authorities appointed by God (Rom. 13:1-2a; Eph. 5:21, 23; 6:1; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:5). Cf. note Num. 5:18¹.

The most hateful thing in the eyes of God is death. A Nazarite must not touch anything dead so that he might not be defiled. See note Lev. 11:31².

Or, separation to his God. A Nazarite should not be defiled by the death of his blood relatives, the relatives closest to him, but should remain in his separation to be holy to God. This signifies that we should not be defiled by the deadness that comes through natural affection, but should keep ourselves clean in our sanctification (cf. Matt. 12:46-50). The defilement of death will make void our Nazarite vow.

If the head of a Nazarite’s separation was defiled by the sudden death of one beside him, he was to be cleansed on the seventh day (the last day of his separation — Acts 21:27) by shaving his head. This indicates that if we are defiled by some unexpected deadness, we should be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.

The first day of a new week, signifying the day of resurrection (John 20:1). On the eighth day the Nazarite was to have a new beginning by bringing two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, one for a sin offering (Lev. 4) and the other for a burnt offering (Lev. 1), to make expiation for him (vv. 10-11). This signifies that we should offer Christ as both the sin offering and the burnt offering, in resurrection, for our forgiveness through His redemption (Eph. 1:7).

The Nazarite’s sanctifying his head means that he was to have a new consecration for his subjection under the headship.

This was a new vow of consecration for the Nazarite to separate himself to God again. For this he needed a lamb for a trespass offering. His failure in his vow was a sin, for which he needed a sin offering (vv. 10-11). His mistake in touching something dead was a trespass, for which he needed a trespass offering. Once our former separation has been made void, we should reseparate ourselves to God by taking Christ as our trespass offering.

The Nazarite’s separation lasted for seven days (Acts 21:27), signifying a full course, even a lifetime (cf. note 1 Cor. 5:8¹). Each of the offerings brought to God by the Nazarite was a type of Christ. The enjoyment of Christ as these offerings indicates the overcoming of natural affection, earthly pleasure, rebellion, and death (see note Num. 6:3^1a, note Num. 6:5¹, note Num. 6:6¹, note Num. 6:7¹).

Here male signifies strong, lamb signifies meek, a year old signifies fresh, and without blemish signifies without defects. The lamb for a burnt offering typifies Christ as our burnt offering that we may be acceptable to God in Him and live to God by Him (see notes on the burnt offering in Lev. 1). In offering the burnt offering, the offerer laid his hands on the offering (Lev. 1:4), thus identifying himself with the offering and making himself one with the offering. This signifies our offering not only Christ Himself but also ourselves identified with Christ. The completion of the Nazarite’s days of separation signifies not an ending but a beginning of a life of the burnt offering, a life absolutely, utterly, and ultimately for God.

Here a female lamb signifies submission. It typifies Christ as our sin offering for our redemption. Because we are still in the old creation, at the beginning of our Nazarite life we need God’s redemption, which has been completed in Christ (Heb. 9:12).

The ram here signifies being strong for enjoyment. It typifies Christ as our peace offering for our mutual enjoyment with God in fellowship with peace. The result of the burnt offering and the sin offering is the peace offering. Cf. note Lev. 7:37².

In this verse a basket signifies fullness, unleavened signifies without sin, bread signifies formed, cakes signifies more formed, fine signifies even and balanced, flour signifies Christ ground in His humanity, with oil signifies with the Holy Spirit (divinity), wafers signifies easy to eat, anointed signifies poured upon, meal offering signifies holy food, and drink offerings signifies holy drinks for God. All this typifies Christ in His humanity with His divinity offered to God for us as food both to God and to us and also as holy drinks to God.

See note Lev. 23:13^2a.

The shaving of the head did not mean that the Nazarite put away the headship and gave up his submission. The Nazarite had offered the burnt offering (v. 14), which was a promise to God that he would continue for his whole life to live as in the days of his separation.

In vv. 19-20 the shoulder signifies strength to bear, to wave signifies to offer in resurrection, the breast signifies love to embrace, the wave offering signifies resurrection, and the heave offering signifies ascension. All of the above refer to Christ in different aspects. The types here signify that the believer who separates himself by a vow to be a Nazarite and becomes a serving one of God will be supplied by Christ with Himself as the life supply in different aspects in His resurrection and ascension.

The blessing in vv. 23-27 comes after the dealing with defilement (Num. 5:1-10), the test for chastity (Num. 5:11-31), and the Nazarite vow (vv. 1-21). This blessing, like that in 2 Cor. 13:14, is not outward and material. Rather, it is the eternal blessing of the Triune God, which is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment. In the entire universe the unique blessing is the Triune God, and this blessing comes to us through the dispensing of the divine Being into us in His Divine Trinity — in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1 gives us a record of how the Triune God blesses His chosen, redeemed, and transformed people in His Divine Trinity, issuing in the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (see notes in Eph. 1). As the consummation of the entire record of the Bible, the New Jerusalem is the very God in His Divine Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — mingled with His chosen, redeemed, transformed, and glorified people as their eternal blessing. Such a blessing is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s blessing to Israel in Num. 6.

“Jehovah bless you and keep you” (v. 24) can be ascribed to the Father; “Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you” (v. 25) can be ascribed to the Son; and “Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” (v. 26) can be ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Father blesses us, the Son shines upon us, and the Holy Spirit lifts up His countenance upon us. As a result, we are kept, we receive grace, and we have peace.

The Father blesses us in every way and in every aspect in His love (cf. Eph. 1:3), and He keeps us in every way and in every aspect in His power (cf. John 17:11, 15; 1 Pet. 1:5).

The word face here signifies presence. As the One whose face shines upon us, Christ the Son is the visible presence of the invisible God (cf. John 14:7-9). God and His presence are invisible, but through His incarnation He became the shining sun (Luke 1:78; cf. Matt. 4:16; John 8:12). This shining sun is God’s invisible presence becoming visible.

Jehovah’s face shining on us and His being gracious to us are equivalent to God’s incarnation as the shining of His presence, which was accompanied by grace (John 1:14, 16-17). For the Lord to be gracious to us means that He is continually grace to us. This grace is the grace of Christ (2 Cor. 13:14a), which is actually Christ Himself.

The face (v. 25) denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person. To lift up one’s countenance upon a person means to confirm, assure, promise, and give everything to that person. Jesus, the Son, came as the face of God (see note Num. 6:25^1a), and the Holy Spirit comes as the countenance of God (cf. Eph. 4:30). When the Triune God is dispensed into us, we have the face of the Triune God and also His countenance. Eventually, we are kept in the Triune God, the Triune God becomes grace to us, and we have peace.