Neville Goddard on Numbers 6:2-21 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Numbers 6 in context

Scripture Focus

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:

3He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

4All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

5All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

6All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.

7He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

8All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.

9And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

10And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

11And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.

12And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

13And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

14And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings,

15And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.

16And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:

17And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.

18And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

19And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:

20And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

21This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the LORD for his separation, beside that that his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.

Numbers 6:2-21

Biblical Context

Numbers 6:2-21 presents a vow of separation as a sacred discipline: abstaining from wine and grape products, letting the hair grow, and avoiding contact with dead bodies until the period is complete. The ritual culminates in offerings that sanctify the person and their vow.

Neville's Inner Vision

Beloved, this passage is not a history lesson but a map of a state of consciousness. The Nazarite who vows to separate himself unto the LORD is choosing to withdraw attention from the many surfaces of life so that the I AM—your own divine awareness—may dwell more fully within. The restrictions are symbolic conditions of mind: no wine or grape products signifies abstaining from intoxicants of sensation and the drift of appetite; growing the hair represents the growth of a consecrated thought-world, a long, unshorn sense of purpose kept before the face of God. The prohibition against coming near a dead body signals the decision to suspend sympathy with fear, guilt, and outer identification that would defile your inner temple. If suddenly a 'dead man' appears, you shave away the old self in cleansing and return to sanctified thought on the day of renewal. The offerings at the end are the natural fruits of a mind that refuses to stop at appearances, and who, having fulfilled the vow, drinks again from the well of inner life.

Practice This Now

Imaginative_act: For seven days, assume you are the Nazarite of your life—consecrated to the I AM; feel your awareness grow unshorn in steadfast devotion. In your imagination, let the 'offering' you bring be new, purer thoughts planted in place of old cravings.