Numbers 6:1-12

Regulations for Nazirites. A Nazirite was one, whether man or woman (2), who undertook either for life or for a shorter time a vow to observe certain rules, involving various abstinences. An instance of a lifelong vow is afforded by Samson (Judges 13:7): examples of temporary vows occur only outside the OT (1Ma_3:49, cf. perhaps Acts 18:18; Acts 21:23 f.), though it is to the latter kind alone that the regulations here prescribed relate. The three requirements insisted on are (1) abstinence from all intoxicants and all products of the vine (cf. Amos 2:11 f.); (2) abstinence from cutting the hair; (3) precautions against incurring defilement through contact with the dead. Of these certainly the second (Judges 13:5). and probably the first (Judges 13:7; Judges 13:14), were observed by a lifelong Nazirite like Samson, but the third must have been impossible to such (Judges 14:19; Judges 15:8; Judges 15:15). As the Nazirite was consecrated unto Yahweh (Numbers 6:2; Numbers 6:5; Numbers 6:8), it seems likely that the first of the specified requirements had its origin in certain religious associations attaching to intoxicants. Intoxication, like other abnormal conditions (such as madness, 1 Samuel 16:14), was doubtless at an early time ascribed to the entrance into the person affected of some Divine power (cf. amongst the Greeks the connexion of Dionysus with the vine). To the Israelites, originally a pastoral people, the vine and its products were unfamiliar until Canaan was reached; and since the Canaanites ascribed the gift of wine to the Baalim (cf Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:8), the use of it might be regarded by strict adherents of Yahweh as a secession from the cult of the God of Israel to that of another god (p. 85, cf. the attitude towards the vine displayed by the nomadic Rechabites, Jeremiah 35:6 *). The second requirement, that the man should not be shorn, goes back to the belief that the hair (inasmuch as it grows more quickly than any other part of the body) was in a special degree the seat of Divine energy (cf. Judges 16:17); so that if a man cut his hair, the Divine virtue in him would be impaired. The third regulation, that the Nazirite should not come near a dead body, was only a special application of a principle which extended to ordinary persons. Contact with the dead always involved defilement (Numbers 5:2 *); but in the case of one who was consecrated it was particularly to be avoided, and if incurred, it entailed the renewal of the whole period of the vow. To the prohibitions here named parallels are forthcoming from elsewhere: for instance, the Roman flamen dialis might not walk under a vine, touch a dead body, or enter a place where one was burned. Examples have also been adduced from the early Saxons and from modern savages, of men vowing to keep their hair unshorn until they should fulfil some desired act of vengeance, the primitive idea involved in such vows being that during periods of stress the Divine powers on which men's strength depends are manifestly estranged, so that it becomes desirable to propitiate them by cherishing what is a special seat of the virtue they impart (RS 2, 323- 335, 481- 485).

2. Nazirite: the word means one separated unto God (cf. Judges 13:5).

Numbers 6:4. kernels. husk: better, pips. skins, but the real meaning is uncertain.

Numbers 6:10. turtle doves: these were the least costly of animal sacrifices (Leviticus 5:7; Leviticus 12:8).

Numbers 6:12. for a guilt offering: the guilt was incurred through the discharge of the vow being delayed in consequence of the accidental defilement.