The Law of the Nazirite

The chapter below describes the requirements when any Israelite man or woman takes the vow of the Nazirite. The purpose of the vow appears to be to keep oneself pure and separated for God. The laws concerning the vow are listed, They include:
- not eating any grape products ranging from raisins to wine.
- not to cut their hair.
- not making oneself unclean by coming into contact with a corpse even if it is the body of one's relatives.

The separation lasts for a certain period, so that they can be holy to the Lord. At the end of the separation, they bring the sin and burnt offering to the priest to be offered to the Lord. At that time they can cut their hair. His head shall be shaved at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, then burned as a sacrifice of peace offering.

The requirements of the vow of the Nazirite to set oneself apart (consecrate) for God are physical - it involves not doing certain things. This may appear difficult to do in daily life, but the requirement of Jesus may be even more difficult because it is not only physical but instead the New Covenant requires even our thoughts and motives to be pure. We are to set ourselves apart for God not only for a certain period, but until when Jesus returns and removes corruption in the world. Until then remember the words of our Lord like, if we have hatred in our hearts it is as if we have committed murder, if we looked at another with lustful eyes it is as if we have committed adultery. But also remember that we have the Holy Spirit on our side to help us on the right track.


Numbers 6

The Law of the Nazirite

 1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. 7 He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD.
9 ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. 10 Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; 11 and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. 12 He shall consecrate to the LORD the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 14 And he shall present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering, 15 a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their drink offerings.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; 17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. 18 Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
19 ‘And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, 20 and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD; they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’
21 “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the LORD the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”