Numbers 6:6

6:6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact ¹  a dead body. ² 

Numbers 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ³  takes a special vow, ⁴  to take a vow ⁵  as a Nazirite, ⁶  to separate ⁷  himself to the Lord,

Numbers 6:12

6:12 He must rededicate ⁸  to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, ⁹  but the former days will not be counted ¹⁰  because his separation ¹¹  was defiled.

Numbers 6:3

6:3 he must separate ¹²  himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar ¹³  made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice ¹⁴  of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ¹⁵ 

Numbers 6:5

6:5 “‘All the days of the vow ¹⁶  of his separation no razor may be used on his head ¹⁷  until the time ¹⁸  is fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord. He will be holy, ¹⁹  and he must let ²⁰  the locks of hair on his head grow long.

[6:6]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.

[6:6]  ² 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 Lord, avoiding all such contamination would be a witness to the greatest separation, even in a family.

[6:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.”

[6:12]  ⁵ tn The same idea is to be found now in the use of the word נָזַר (nazar), which refers to a recommitment after the vow was interrupted.

[6:12]  ⁶ tn The necessity of bringing the reparation offering was due to the reinstatement into the vow that had been interrupted.

[6:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “will fall”; KJV “shall be lost”; ASV, NASB, NRSV “shall be void.”

[6:12]  ⁸ tc The similar expression in v. 9 includes the word “head” (i.e., “his consecrated head”). The LXX includes this word in v. 12 as well.

[6:3]  ⁷ tn The operative verb now will be the Hiphil of נָזַר (nazar); the consecration to the Lord meant separation from certain things in the world. The first will be wine and strong drink – barley beer (from Akkadian sikaru, a fermented beer). But the second word may be somewhat wider in its application than beer. The Nazirite, then, was to avoid all intoxicants as a sign of his commitment to the Lord. The restriction may have proved a hardship in the daily diet of the one taking the vow, but it spoke a protest to the corrupt religious and social world that used alcohol to excess.

[6:3]  ⁸ tn The “vinegar” (חֹמֶץ, homets) is some kind of drink preparation that has been allowed to go sour.

[6:3]  ⁹ tn This word occurs only here. It may come from the word “to water, to be moist,” and so refer to juice.

[6:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “dried” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[6:5]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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 Lord’s. It was to be undisturbed by humans. Since the Nazirite was to be consecrated to the Lord, that meant his whole person, hair included. In the pagan world the trimming of the beard and the cutting of the hair was often a sign of devotion to some deity.

[6:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “days.”

[6:5]  ¹² tn The word “holy” here has the sense of distinct, different, set apart.

[6:5]  ¹³ tn The Piel infinitive absolute functions as a verb in this passage; the Piel carries the sense of “grow lengthy” or “let grow long.”