SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2018 10:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 "Paul in Transition"
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Act 18:18-23
Message of the verses: “18 Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. 19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, 21 but taking leave of them and saying, "I will return to you again if God wills," he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.”
I said in our last SD that we would look more closely at
the vow that Paul had made in our SD for today.
John MacArthur explains “The vow Paul made was a Nazirite vow—a special
pledge of separation and devotion to God (cf. 2 Cor. 6:17). It was usually made in gratitude to the
Almighty for gracious blessing or deliverance.
In Numbers 6, God Himself inaugurated the Nazirite vow, saying to Moses,
‘2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ’When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4 ’All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. 5 ’All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.’
“The vow was for a specific period (usually a month,
although Samson [Judg. 16:17], Samuel [1 Sam. 1:11], and John the Baptist [Luke
1:15] were Nazirites for life). At the
end of that time there was an elaborate ceremony:
‘13 ’Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. 14 ’He shall present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering, 15 and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. 16 ’Then the priest shall present them before the LORD and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. 17 ’He shall also offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 ’The Nazirite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. 19 ’The priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his dedicated hair. 20 ’Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’ 21 "This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the LORD according to his separation, in addition to what else he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his separation."’
When we get to Acts chapter 21:23 and following we see of
another time when Paul was involved in a vow, this time it was for someone
else, but Paul was suppose to pay to have their hair cut after their vow was
complete. Now as far as Paul’s vow there
was a provision made for those away from Jerusalem at the termination of their
vow to shave their heads, as Paul did, then within thirty days present the hair
at the Temple. John MacArthur gets this
information from Josephus book entitled Wars.
Now there is much more to look at in our verses for this
SD and we will continue to look at them in our next SD.
Answer to yesterday’s
question: “Zechariah” (Zechariah
11:12-13).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Today thou shalt be
with me in Paradise’?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/2/2018 10:42 AM
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