1 Kings 8:14

8:14 Then the king turned around ¹  and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. ² 

Numbers 6:23-26

6:23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way ³  you are to bless ⁴  the Israelites. Say ⁵  to them:

6:24 “The Lord bless you ⁶  and protect ⁷  you;

6:25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you; ⁸ 

6:26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you ⁹ 

and give you peace.”’

Numbers 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹⁰  takes a special vow, ¹¹  to take a vow ¹²  as a Nazirite, ¹³  to separate ¹⁴  himself to the Lord,

Numbers 6:18

6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹⁵  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ¹⁶  where the peace offering is burning. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 6:1

The Nazirite Vow

6:1 ¹⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ¹⁹  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ²⁰  famous men. ²¹ 

[8:14]  ¹ tn Heb “turned his face.”

[8:14]  ² tn Heb “and he blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel was standing.”

[6:23]  ³ tn Or “thus.”

[6:23]  ⁴ tn The Piel imperfect has the nuance of instruction. The particle “thus” explains that the following oracle is the form to use.

[6:23]  ⁵ tn Here is the only use of the verb אָמַר (’amar) as an infinitive absolute; it functions as a verb form, an imperative or an imperfect of instruction. Several commentators have attempted to emend the text to get around the difficulty, but such emendations are unnecessary.

[6:24]  ⁶ tn The short blessing uses the jussive throughout, here the Piel jussive with a pronominal suffix. While the jussive has quite a range of nuances, including wish, desire, prayer, or greeting, the jussives here are stronger. The formal subject of the verb is the Lord, and the speaker pronouncing the blessing is the priest, notably after emerging from the holy of holies where atonement has been made. The Lord says in this passage that when the priest says this, then the Lord will bless them. The jussive then is an oracle, not a wish or a prayer. It is a declaration of what the Lord imparts. It is as binding and sure as a patriarchal blessing which once said officially could not be taken back. The priest here is then pronouncing the word of the Lord, declaring to the congregation the outcome of the atonement.

[6:24]  ⁷ tn The verb “to keep” concerns the divine protection of the people; its basic meaning is “to exercise great care over,” “to guard,” or “to give attention to” (see TWOT 2:939). No doubt the priestly blessing informed the prayer and promise that makes up Ps 121, for the verb occurs six times in the eight verses. So in addition to the divine provision (“bless” basically means “enrich” in a number of ways) there is the assurance of divine protection.

[6:25]  ⁸ tn Whereas the first line of the blessing had three Hebrew words, the second has five, and the third has seven. In this second line and the following third, the blessing takes the form of an emblem followed by the truth. For the Lord to make his face shine on them would mean to be gracious to them. M. Noth rightly calls this image of the shining face “a figure of speech for benevolence and favour” (Numbers [OTL], 59); see, for example, Pss 4:7; 31:17; 44:4; 67:2; 80:4, 8, 20; 119:135; Dan 9:17). The image may have its inspiration in the theophanies. The picture is of divine favor – the beaming face of a parent for his beloved.

[6:26]  ⁹ tn The last line of the blessing also has first the image and then the parallel interpretation – for God to lift up his face is for God to give peace. The idea of the fallen face is one of anger (see Gen 4:6,7); and the idea of the hidden face is that of withholding support, favor, or peace (see Deut 31:18; Ps 30:8; Ps 44:25). If God lifts his face toward his people, it means he has given them peace – peace, prosperity, completeness, health, safety, general well-being, and the like.

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn The formula is used here again: “a man or a woman – when he takes.” The vow is open to both men and women.

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn The vow is considered special in view of the use of the verb יַפְלִא (yafli’), the Hiphil imperfect of the verb “to be wonderful, extraordinary.”

[6:2]  ¹² tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the cognate accusative: “to vow a vow.” This intensifies the idea that the vow is being taken carefully.

[6:2]  ¹³ tn The name of the vow is taken from the verb that follows; נָזַר (nazar) means “to consecrate oneself,” and so the Nazirite is a consecrated one. These are folks who would make a decision to take an oath for a time or for a lifetime to be committed to the Lord and show signs of separation from the world. Samuel was to be a Nazirite, as the fragment of the text from Qumran confirms – “he will be a נָזִיר (nazir) forever” (1 Sam 1:22).

[6:2]  ¹⁴ tn The form of the verb is an Hiphil infinitive construct, forming the wordplay and explanation for the name Nazirite. The Hiphil is here an internal causative, having the meaning of “consecrate oneself” or just “consecrate to the Lord.”

[6:18]  ¹⁵ tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).

[6:18]  ¹⁶ sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.

[6:1]  ¹⁸ sn This chapter can be divided into five sections: The vow is described in vv. 1-8, then the contingencies for defilement are enumerated in vv. 9-12, then there is a discussion of discharging the vows in vv. 13-20, and then a summary in v. 21; after this is the high priestly blessing (vv. 22-27). For information on the vow, see G. B. Gray, “The Nazirite,” JTS 1 (1899-1900): 201-11; Z. Weisman, “The Biblical Nazirite, Its Types and Roots,” Tarbiz 36 (1967): 207-20; and W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament (OTL), 1:303-6.

[16:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ²⁰ tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”