For Jovial and all others who want to deny that Jesus did not have to fulfill the vows of the NAZARITE.....

By denying this fact, you are stating that we can never again enter the Garden of Eden (the Garden of God/God's kingdom).  Man, as well as the Garden, and the earth, was cursed after partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This curse had to be removed.  See Leviticus 25:10..."And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:  it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."  This Jubilee could NOT be fulfilled until the curse was removed from both man and the Garden (earth).

There was only one LEGAL means of restoring what was done in the beginning....the vow of the Nazarite.  It was the vow to NOT partake of the! "tree of the knowledge of good and evil".  This act had to be UNDONE to regain the Garden for mankind.

The "tree" was a grape tree.  After the curse, it became a "vine" to crawl along the ground (just as the Serpent lost his legs and had to crawl on the ground).  According to an archaeological book, there was lead coffin discovered near a Jewish colony (Hedra).  One side was decorated with a naked boy.  In his right hand was a serpent, and in his left hand was a bunch of GRAPES.  Also, in Chapter 32 of the Book of Enoch, the tree was described as having "clusters." 

This is why the NAZARITE vow was to abstain from grapes (fruit of the vine).  The vow could be temporary (as Jesus took), or it could be lifelong (as in Sampson, Saul, and John the Baptist).  With Jesus, it was temporary.  What was the significance of the vows? 

1.  Abstaining from the "fruit of the vine" represents abstaining fr! om the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil"....to undo the curse.

2.  Growing the hair (or not cutting it off) represents restoring the "covering" of the Glory of God that belonged to Adam and Even before they became "naked and ashamed."

3.  Not going among the dead represents partaking of the tree of life and not experiencing death.  NO MAN prior to Jesus could accomplish this because only He had the power to not STAY among the dead.  Every man before Him, "touched death" (even if they had kept their vows for a lifetime, they would have failed when they died.)  Only Jesus had the power of resurrection.

So, He took the vows at the Last Supper....but those vows were broken when He drank the vinegar before He died.  Those broken vows had to be restored...see Numbers 6:9-12.  Anyone who was to restore the corrupted Garden HAD to be a NAZARITE.  These were God's laws.  A Nazarite was consecrated and devoted ! to God for the purpose of restoring the Garden.

Jesus restored t! he Garden by fulfilling the vows of the Nazarite.  Otherwise, the Jubilee could NOT be ultimately fulfilled when man could return to his own property....the Garden of Eden.  Jesus took the vows, broke them, and then He restored them anew in Heaven after His resurrection.  The restoration was an 8-day process.  (see John 20:26). Once completed, the Garden previously lost was restored so that man could now return.  This, legally, makes the Jubilee possible.  Jesus did it symbolically when He took the vows, entered the Garden of Gethsemane (Garden of Eden) while Peter, James, and John "slept" (symbolizing the death of Sampson, Saul, and John the Baptist....all who failed the vows).

By partaking of the vinegar on the cross, Jesus was actually taking on all the curses of man and the Garden.  This fulfilled the part of Revelation 13:8 that He was "slain from the foundation of the world" to save the world. (Jesus went back in time to compl! ete His mission).  I John 4:14.

And, knowing all this, would you still deny that Jesus took the Nazarite vows?

Arlene