18:18 So Paul still
remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria,
and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea,
for he had taken a vow. 19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he
himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked
him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, 21 but took leave of
them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I
will return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.
Let me begin with a humbling story. It will all make sense in
the end. If it doesn't you know where to find me. ;)
Our local Canadian Tire store is a frequent handy man stop.
In the auto parts department one of the associates is female, about 20 years
old, hair of several bright shades, multiple piercings etc... Of course my
religious upbringing judged her and quite harshly. I assumed she would know
little to nothing about cars/parts etc... she was likely on drugs, and I'd be
better off with anyone else helping me. We'll did I ever get a surprise. God
has to 'slap us around' sometimes. She turned out to be the most helpful and
knowledgeable person in the whole department. I have come to be so impressed by
her that when I go there I look for her if I need a hand. Last week I even
called for a manager and told her that girl is the best employee in the whole
store. Now back to Paul...
We could speculate for hours but I've yet to find an
explanation for what vow Paul made and why he made it and why it involved
cutting his hair. One thing we do know is that it was not a Nazarite vow
because the details don't fit. You can read about that in Numbers 6.
However since we're on the topic of vows the Bible has two
things to say about them. The first is that if you make a vow, you should keep
it. The second is straight from the lips of Jesus and He infers we are far
better off not making any vows at all. I mean think about it. How do we know
we'll be able to keep a vow even if we intend to?
It's interesting that Paul's vow involved shaving his hair
off. There is an obscure law (one of many) in Leviticus that forbids shaving
the hair on the sides of the head yet Paul did. Also in that list of obscure
laws is the command to not wear clothing that has mixed materials in it.
Tattoos are also forbidden.
What are we to make of those laws that are stated once and
never repeated? Clearly Paul didn't feel held by them. What's even more curious
to me is that some will hold to one or more of those laws while completely
ignoring other ones.
What it all says to me is that we struggle to look at the big
picture. We make decisions about what "rules" we will follow that
have no consistency or basis in logic. This is a problem. Wouldn't it be wiser
to seek to understand those old laws in their context and then seek to hold
onto the principle?
For example Samson lived under the Nazirite vow which forbid
cutting the hair at all. Paul takes a vow that involves cutting all his hair.
Leviticus says not to cut the hair on the sides of the head. That is three
distinctly different hair styles. Clearly God has no set law for hair. Why
would He? Nature is full of variety. Some animals have very long hair, some
short hair, some no hair, while a male lion has short and long hair.
Bad religion fixates on these issues. Jesus did not. Jesus
was concerned with something much more basic and important: live with
integrity. That's why He advised not making vows. It's much easier to live with
integrity if you don't make promises that circumstances might prevent you from
keeping. Paul did make a vow and he kept it. That's the important part. Live
with integrity before God.
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