SEPARATED UNTO GOD MOST HIGH

"A Nazarite unto God from the womb." -Judges 13:5 [KJV]

And what, in the language of scripture, was a Nazarite unto God? Certainly what the very term implies; one dedicated to God, set apart, and sanctified. Both the person and character are largely descried, Numbers 6:1-21. And was Samson such? It cannot be doubted, notwithstanding the many strange particularities in his life, which were departures from sanctity of character. But in that part of Samson's life wherein the Nazarite was strongly marked, he was eminently proved to be one; and it is in this feature of the illustrious Danite, that we behold him as a striking type of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

My soul! as it hath pleased the Holy Ghost to give the church so circumstantial an account of Samson, do thou ponder the subject well, and remark (what was evidently the only design for which it was given) how gracious the Lord the Spirit was, thus to set forth, in type, Jesus of Nazareth, so many ages before His incarnation. Was Samson a Nazarite unto God from the womb? Such was Jesus, who was so named by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And what was the object for which Samson was separated from his birth as a Nazarite to God? We are told that it was to deliver his brethren out of the hands of their enemies, Judges 13:5. The same was declared of Jesus: He shall be called Jesus; for "He shall save His people from their sins," Matthew 1:21. Was holiness unto the Lord the distinguishing feature of the Nazarite?  

How suitably did it set forth the Lord Jesus, "who sanctified Himself for His people," John 17:19. The very devil himself saluted Christ with His name, when he said, "Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." Mark 1:24. And so very important was it considered by the Holy Ghost, that the church's Lord and Saviour should be known by this name of "the Nazarite unto God from the womb," that it is remarkable how many persons have given their testimony, and some of them plainly without design, to this one character of our Lord.  

The angel at the annunciation; the devil, as before remarked; the Jews in contempt, John 18:5; the Roman governor in his inscription on the cross, John 19:19; the angels at the sepulchre, Mark 16:6; the apostles glorifying in this name after His ascension, Acts 2:22; and Jesus Himself, from heaven, at the conversion of Paul, Acts 22:8.  

Precious Nazarite to God! Holy Lord Jesus! Thou art indeed the true, the only one; for of Thee, and by Thee, can it be said, "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire," Lamentations 4:7. Help me, Lord, by Thy grace, to keep Thee ever in remembrance. And while the cry of the infidel is still heard, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Oh! may my soul hear Thy sweet voice, by faith: "the LORD hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name!" Isaiah 49:1. Lord, thus it is fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene," Matthew 2:23. 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827) A.D.  


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