"On the eighth day he shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make propitiation for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall sanctify his head that same day" (Num. 6:10-11). The eighth day is the day of resurrection, the day that is against death. On this day the Nazarite was to have a new start. In order to have a new start, he had to bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to the priest, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. A sin offering was needed because he had failed in his Nazarite vow, and this failure was a sin. A burnt offering is an offering of absolute consecration and absolute sanctification. Through these offerings propitiation was made for him, and he was redeemed from his wrongdoing. For us today, these offerings indicate that we should offer Christ as both the sin offering and the burnt offering, in resurrection, for our forgiveness through His redemption.
On the eighth day the Nazarite was also to sanctify his head. This means that he was to have a new consecration for his subjection under the headship.
Numbers 6:12 says that the Nazarite was to "separate himself to Jehovah for the days of his separation, and bring a lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled." This was a new vow of consecration for the Nazarite to separate himself to God again. For this, he needed a lamb for a trespass offering. His failure in his vow was a sin, for which he needed a sin offering. His mistake was a trespass, for which he needed a trespass offering. Applying this verse to us today, we see that once our former separation has been made void, we should reseparate ourselves to God by taking Christ as our trespass offering.
From reading these verses in Numbers 6, we see that it is a serious matter to make a Nazarite vow. It should not be taken lightly. In making such a vow, we must be especially careful to keep ourselves from being defiled by death. If we keep ourselves from the defilement of death, we will be living persons who can be absolute for God, for His army, and for His priesthood.
God ordained one family (Aaron's) to be the priests. This ordination excluded all others from this opportunity. But the vow of the Nazarite opens the gate, affording all the people of God an equal opportunity. The Nazarite vow depends on our initiation, not God's. It depends on our willingness. If we are willing, the door is open.
Here we see God's sovereignty. He has His ordination and also His regulation, the vow of the Nazarite. Not only the house of Aaron had the privilege of being absolute for God; this opportunity was available to all. God's regulation balanced His ordination and gave equal opportunity to all God's people to be absolute for God as a warrior or as a priest.
Consider the case of Samuel. Samuel was not a priest; he was a Nazarite who eventually fulfilled the duty of a priest. Samuel filled in the gap caused by the deficiencies of Eli, who was a priest according to God's ordination. The one who was a volunteer filled the deficiency of the one who was a priest by God's ordination. This indicates that, eventually, God's regulation is equal to, if not better than, His ordination. The ordination depends on God's initiation, but the regulation depends on our initiation. The door is now open to everyone. Whether or not we take the opportunity depends on our willingness.