Route 66 - Biblical Culture

In today's reading there were several things that stood out, but one passage struck me as odd.

In Numbers 6:9-12 it is talking about the Nazirite vow. It is a serious commitment to the Lord. This passage begins bu saying, "If someone falls dead beside them..." How weird is that! What kind of place do you have to be living in where people just fall dead beside you? Talk about culture shock! I can't even imagine what that is like. I am sure that there are places, even in our world today, where this happens, and the people don't think that much about it, but it has never happened anyplace I have been. That would totally freak me out!

Further in the passage it says that if this happens, the days of their vow before this event don't count, and they have to start all over again. Imagine if this is the last day of your vow! Some vows were as short as 30 days, and they are to the Lord, but a long vow what ever commitment was made, that could be really tough! Imagine Lent (if you follow that) for an extended period of time.

A weird as this is, we take to take from it how serious it is to make a vow to God. We need to fulfill it at any cost, no matter how long it takes. If we commit to doing something for a number of consecutive days, and something interrupts those days (no matter what it is, even someones death), then you need to start over. Always fulfill your vows to God!