Ｃ
Not being defiled by the death of his blood relatives, but remaining in his separation to be holy to God, signifies that a Nazarite overcomes natural affection (Num. 6:7):
１
God does not want us to love with our natural love but with Him as our love (Matt. 12:48-50; Phil. 2:21; 1 Cor. 13:4-8, 13; 2 Tim. 1:7).
２
The problem between Paul and Barnabas was caused by the natural life with natural relationships (Lev. 2:11; Acts 15:35-39; Col. 4:10).
３
We need to separate ourselves from everything of our natural man with its natural enthusiasm, natural affection, natural strength, and natural ability so that we may live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and serve by the Spirit, doing everything by the Spirit in our spirit for God's unique testimony (Lev. 10:1-11; Gal. 5:25; Phil. 3:3; Rom. 1:9; 8:4; Zech. 4:6).
Ｄ
Not coming near a dead person or not being defiled by the sudden death of one beside him signifies that a Nazarite is separated from death (Num. 6:6-9):
１
The most hateful thing in the eyes of God is death (Rev. 3:4; Lev. 11:31).
２
Different kinds of spiritual death may spread among God's people in the church life—wild death (the carcasses of beasts), mild death (the carcasses of cattle), or subtle death (the carcasses of creeping things) (5:2; cf. 1 John 5:16a).
３
In order to be saved from death, we must set our mind on the spirit, paying attention to our spirit, caring for our spirit, and using our spirit (Rom. 8:6).
４
In order to be saved from death, we must be filled with "anti-death," filled with Christ as the life-giving Spirit by exercising our spirit to pray (v. 11; Eph. 6:18).
５
If we are defiled by some unexpected deadness, we need to have a new start with a new consecration by reseparating ourselves to the Lord (Num. 6:9-14a; cf. 1 Sam. 1:11; 2:11).
Morning Nourishment
Num. 6:6-7 All the days that he separates himself to Jehovah he shall not come near a dead person. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is upon his head.A Nazarite must not touch anything dead so that he might not be defiled. The most hateful thing in the eyes of God is death, and a Nazarite must not be defiled by it.
A Nazarite should not be defiled by the death of...the relatives closest to him but should remain in his separation to be holy to God (Num. 6:6-8). Even the death of his father and mother should not defile him. This signifies that we should not be defiled from the deadness that comes through natural affection, but should keep ourselves clean in our sanctification. A Nazarite must remain fully sanctified, separated to God from all things, and should continually cleave to God. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 61-62)
Today's Reading
A Nazarite had to abstain from earthly pleasure and not be defiled by the deadness that comes through natural affection. Pleasure is a matter of enjoyment, and natural affection is a matter of love.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 (Num. 6:9-12). This indicates that if we are defiled by some unexpected deadness, we should be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.
Humanly speaking, it would not be the fault of a Nazarite if one beside him died suddenly. Nevertheless, such a sudden death would defile the Nazarite, and the Nazarite was held responsible for this defilement. Today we are living among others, and we cannot predict when, spiritually speaking, someone will die beside us. If we are defiled by unexpected deadness, we need to have a new start. We need to be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.
We do not realize how dirty and defiling death is....In the church life, sin may come in to defile the church and damage the saints, but more often we are defiled by death. Death is something hidden. Often death is right beside us, yet we have no consciousness of it or feeling concerning it and become defiled by it.
How can we know that we have been defiled by death? We know this by having a sense, or feeling, of deadness. Sin brings in condemnation, which affects our conscience. However, death is not a matter of condemnation....Rather, death is a matter that deadens us and makes us dead.
If we are living in the Spirit in every way, when we come to a meeting, we may immediately have the sense that deadness is there. We may realize not only that the meeting is low and slow but that in the meeting there is deadness hidden beneath the surface. At such a time we need to pray very much to counter that deadening situation: "Lord, cover me with Your blood against any deadening, against any spiritual deadness." We must fight against deadness.
We must be those who are full of life, which is "anti-death." This depends on how much we exercise our spirit to pray, not in a general way but with a prayer that fights against the enemy.
Sin is of Satan (John 8:44), who is also the source of death (Heb. 2:14). With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there is evil; however, the result of partaking of this tree is not evil—it is death. When we eat of the tree of life, the result is life. In the church life we must constantly fight against death. For example, if in the prayer meeting death makes it difficult for us to pray, we need to fight against death and its influence.
The Nazarites...are very vigilant, full of feeling for the war against death. In every church there is the need of the sense, the consciousness, of death so that we may fight against it. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 62-65)
Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 9-10