March 6

Redemption Song Lyrics
By Bob Marley
Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look? Ooh
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fullfil the book

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our mind
Woh, have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fullfill the book
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever had
Redemption songs
All I ever had
Redemption songs
These songs of freedom
Songs of freedom

OT -- Numbers 6:1-7:89
What do Bob Marley, Samson, John the Baptist, The Apostle Paul, and Jesus have in common?
They were all Nazirites.
What is a Nazirite?
According to Wikipedia, a Nazirite is someone who is set apart, holy, and has taken a vow for either forever or for a period of time.
During the vow period, the Nazirite (and it can be either a man or a woman) does not cut their hair, does not drink wine and does not go near a dead body.
I am sure you agree to Samson and John the Baptist. But the Apostle Paul, Jesus, and heck, Bob Marley?
Here is my argument.
Paul, being a devout Jew, knew all about the Nazirites. His teacher, Gameliel, even had someone swear a death vow (Nazirite til death) in front of him which made a HUGE impression as he wrote of it multiple times in the Mishnah (his commentary on the Torah). Paul shaves his head in Acts 18 ‘for a vow’ and accompanies a group of Nazirites to the Temple to fulfill the vow in Acts 24. (You remember that you must make mikvah (bath) and a sin offering at the Temple in order to complete the vow.)
Multiple times Jesus is referred to as Jesus, the Nazarene. Several of the commentaries I read on this claim that this was a mistranslation of Nazirite. I always assumed that it was because he was from Nazareth. But no one else in scripture is referred to this way, not even his father. They are referred to as Galileans (from the whole province of Galilee). Nazarene, instead, has messianic implications. Or some vow. Later on in Acts and in the extra-Biblical writings of Josephus, Paul and his followers are referred to as Nazarenes. And Paul clearly was not from Nazareth.
Jesus, however, does drink wine. He even changes water into wine. On at least two occasions so far, he has been questioned as if he were drunk. And he definitely does not shy away from dead bodies since he has revived the slave of the Roman centurion and the daughter of Jairus. Later in Luke, he will bring Lazarus back from the dead.
And Bob Marley. How does he fit in? Well, for one – check out the hair. Bob was a Rastafarian and most of them abstained from alcohol and did not cut their hair based on this passage. Also, while he did not abstain from wine, he did from meat for the same reasons – religious in nature. Also, he took multiple vows as a Rastafarian to bring peace and justice to Babylon (the western world).
But back to Bible Land: My Stone Chumash takes a different approach to the whole Nazirite experience. Rashi says that the whole purpose of the vow was to achieve spiritual gain. If this is true, it does not matter if Samson drank wine or approached dead bodies. Instead, we are to focus on whether or not he came closer to God as a RESULT of his vows. (Not sure that he did until the end but I guess we will work on THAT question when we read Judges).
If this is true, especially in Mark, Jesus appears to take NUMEROUS oaths. He also asks lots of people to take one as well, and it is repeatedly noted that no one is following his example. This was also true of the Nazirites. It was apparently extremely difficult to accomplish. The Mishnah records one time that a Queen Helena was weeks away from the conclusion of her seven year vow period THREEE times before she finally accomplished it 21 years after she had begun.
If the final oath that Jesus takes is at the Last Supper “I will drink no more wine until I drink in the kingdom of heaven”, it makes sense that Jesus refuses the wine on the sponge that is given at crucifixion. His Nazirite vow is to the death, his own. To save the world, he gives himself up.
What do you think?