Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk,
they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was
of sapphire: Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not
known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is
withered, it is become like a stick.--Lamentations iv. 7, 8.
In the Old Testament we find a description of the order of the
Nazarites and their laws; we discover a Nazarite to be one set
apart or separated for the Lord, either for a given time, as in the
case of a vow, or for life, as Sampson, who was a Nazarite from his
birth.[36] The order was one of Israel's glories; for the Lord when
enumerating some of the many honours conferred by him on the nation,
adds; "and I raised up of your young men to be Nazarites." They were
all so many types, pointing to the one great Nazarite, even Jesus;
whom it will not be difficult to recognise, under this description.
Jesus is the true Nazarite unto God, in the eternal council of
peace; he was set apart to accomplish the Lord's great work of
redemption.[37] Of him it can truly be said, he is purer than snow,
and whiter than milk: he, and he alone, is free from the least spot
or stain of sin: being "holy, harmless, undefiled, and _separate_
from sinners. The Church describes her Lord, "as white and ruddy;"
as the "altogether lovely and the chiefest among ten thousand." Yet
when tabernacling here below "his visage was so marred more than
any man's," and his "form more than the sons of men:" when seen in
our streets he had "no form, comeliness, nor beauty, that those who
saw him should desire him." This lamentation of the prophet was
called forth, by the state of misery and wretchedness, to which the
Chaldeans had reduced the nation; yet it had a peculiar reference to
him, who in after ages was known by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
No doubt his having resided in a town of that name, was _one_ cause
of his having so universally obtained the appellation. We find it
used by the band of armed men when they came to apprehend him, and
by the maid-servant in the hall; Pilate affixed it to the cross;
the devils used it. It was also used by blind Bartimeus; by the
apostles, both before, and after their Lord's resurrection; by the
angels at the tomb, and by Jesus himself. And by the power of the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was one lame from his birth made
to leap, arise, and walk.[38] We are told the word is derived from
Natzar, which signifies a branch; and is not Jesus described as the
man whose name is "the Branch?" yes, he is the branch out of Jesse's
root, whom the Lord has made strong for himself.
[36] Numbers vi. 2, 3. 13. 18-21. Judges xiii. 5 7., xvi. 17.
[37] Hebrews ix. 14. 2 Tim. i. 9.
[38] The first who appears to have called our Lord, Jesus of
Nazareth, was the Devil in the person of the poor maniac, and is
it not probable that Satan influenced the minds of men to give him
that distinction with a view to deceive them as to the place of his
birth; which was not at Nazareth, but at Bethlehem?