"The Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering" (v. 18). Here we see that at the end of his separation the Nazarite was to shave his head. This does not mean that the Nazarite put away the headship and gave up his submission. The Nazarite had offered the burnt offering, which was a promise to God that he would continue for his whole life to live as in the days of his separation.
Every man, every male, has two statuses. The first status is that of a female, submissive to God and having long hair as a sign of submission. The second status is that of a male, representing God and having his head shaved as a sign of his being God's representative. In the position of a female, the Nazarite kept his hair during his vow. Then, at the completion of the vow, he took the position of an ordinary man and shaved his head. In a proper family, there is a male representing God as the head, and there is also a female in submission. But when we come to kneel before the Lord, we all come as females, having the long hair of submission.
"The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the palms of the Nazarite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation. And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering" (vv. 19-20a). "Shoulder" signifies strength to bear, "wave" signifies offering in resurrection, "the breast" signifies love to embrace, "wave offering" signifies resurrection, and "heave offering" signifies ascension. The types here signify that Christ will supply the believer who separates himself by a vow to be a Nazarite and becomes a serving one of God with Himself as the life supply in different aspects in His resurrection and ascension.
In the Old Testament, the offerers and the priests were two different categories of people. Thus, besides the offerer, there was the need of a priest. In the New Testament, we are both the offerers and the priests. On the one hand, we are those who offer Christ; on the other hand, we are those who carry out the priestly service. Eventually, what we enjoy is the very Christ we offer to God in His resurrection and ascension.
"After that the Nazarite may drink wine" (v. 20b). After all the procedures in verses 13 through 20a were accomplished, the Nazarite was permitted to drink wine.
As we have pointed out, the Nazarite's separation was of seven days, signifying a full course of time. Samson was a Nazarite from his mother's womb for the full course of his life (Judg. 16:17). The source of Samson's power was his long hair. When he was submissive to the Lord, taking the Lord as his head, he had power. But when his head was shaved, he lost his power. From this we see that in submission there is power.