We are in Numbers chapter six with our word for today. גֶּ֫פֶן climbing plant, vine. It is used 55 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of vine, a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface. 2 Kings 4:39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild גֶּ֣פֶן vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. 2 Kings 18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own גַּפְנוֹ֙ vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern. Our word is also used in the sense of a grape vine, a plant that produces clusters of grapes. Genesis 40:9-10 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a גֶ֖פֶן vine before me, וּבַגֶּ֖פֶן and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. Song of Solomon 7:12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the הַגֶּ֙פֶן֙ vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. This is the context of how our word is used in our chapter today. Numbers 6:2-4 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced מִגֶּ֣פֶן by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. As we have already seen when we looked at our word Nazirite that the point of separating yourself was the desire to glorify God and obey his word. This was the really what God desired all of his people to do, glorify and obey him. We see God’s people compared to our word. Psalm 80:8-9 You brought a גֶּ֭פֶןvine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I planted you a שֹׂרֵ֔ק [this is a different word literally a choice species of vine] choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild הַגֶּ֥פֶןvine? Later in the New Testament Jesus does the same thing with the word translated the same as our word. Mark 12:1-9 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. The good news is that because of Jesus we can be forgiven of our sins and restored to God and become his people again. I’ll close with our word translated used in the context of communion or the Lord’s supper. Jesus gave his people this opportunity to remember his death in our place the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:27-29 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
