Discovery BoxActs 21:24
Context21:24 take them and purify 1 yourself along with them and pay their expenses, 2 so that they may have their heads shaved. 3 Then 4 everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told 5 about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with 6 the law. 7
Numbers 6:5-9
Context6:5 “‘All the days of the vow 8 of his separation no razor may be used on his head 9 until the time 10 is fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord. He will be holy, 11 and he must let 12 the locks of hair on his head grow long.
6:6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact 13 a dead body. 14 6:7 He must not defile himself even 15 for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, 16 because the separation 17 for 18 his God is on his head. 6:8 All the days of his separation he must be holy to the Lord.
6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly 19 beside him and he defiles 20 his consecrated head, 21 then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.
Numbers 6:18
Context6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head 22 at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire 23 where the peace offering is burning. 24
Numbers 6:1
Context6:1 25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses:
Colossians 1:20
Context1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 26 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
[21:24] 1 sn That is, undergo ritual cleansing. Paul’s cleansing would be necessary because of his travels in “unclean” Gentile territory. This act would represent a conciliatory gesture. Paul would have supported a “law-free” mission to the Gentiles as an option, but this gesture would represent an attempt to be sensitive to the Jews (1 Cor 9:15-22).
[21:24] 2 tn L&N 57.146 has “δαπάνησον ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ‘pay their expenses’ Ac 21:24.”
[21:24] 3 tn The future middle indicative has causative force here. BDAG 686 s.v. ξυράω has “mid. have oneself shaved…τὴν κεφαλήν have one’s head shaved…Ac 21:24.”
[21:24] 4 tn Grk “and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.
[21:24] 5 tn The verb here describes a report or some type of information (BDAG 534 s.v. κατηχέω 1).
[21:24] 6 tn Grk “adhere to the keeping of the law.” L&N 41.12 has “στοιχέω: to live in conformity with some presumed standard or set of customs – ‘to live, to behave in accordance with.’”
[21:24] 7 sn The law refers to the law of Moses.
[6:5] 8 tc The parallel expression in v. 8 (“all the days of his separation”) lacks the word “vow.” This word is also absent in v. 5 in a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts. The presence of the word in v. 5 may be due to dittography.
[6:5] 9 sn There is an interesting parallel between this prohibition and the planting of trees. They could not be pruned or trimmed for three years, but allowed to grow free (Lev 20:23). Only then could the tree be cut and the fruit eaten. The natural condition was to be a sign that it was the
[6:5] 11 tn The word “holy” here has the sense of distinct, different, set apart.
[6:5] 12 tn The Piel infinitive absolute functions as a verb in this passage; the Piel carries the sense of “grow lengthy” or “let grow long.”
[6:6] 13 tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.
[6:6] 14 tn The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the
[6:7] 15 tn The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.
[6:7] 16 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive – “in the dying of them” – to form the adverbial clause of time.
[6:7] 17 tn The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct – what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.
[6:7] 18 tn The genitive could perhaps be interpreted as possession, i.e., “the vow of his God,” but it seems more likely that an objective genitive would be more to the point.
[6:9] 19 tn The construction uses the imperfect tense followed by the infinitive absolute, יָמוּת מֵת (yamut met). Because the verb is in a conditional clause, the emphasis that is to be given through the infinitive must stress the contingency. The point is “if someone dies – unexpectedly.” The next words underscore the suddenness of this.
[6:9] 20 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.
[6:9] 21 sn The expression is figurative for the vow that he took; the figure is the metonymy because the reference to the head is a reference to the long hair that symbolizes the oath.
[6:18] 22 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] 23 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] 24 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] 25 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.
[1:20] 26 tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì46 א A C D1 Ψ 048vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.
