Num 6:1-3 | Clarke | STEP | The vow of the Nazarite, , . In what it consisted, . When accidentally defiled, how he is to be purified, . The sacrifices he is to bring, and the rites he is to perform, when the vow of his separation is fulfilled, . The manner in which the priests are to bless the people, . The name of the Lord is to be put on the children of Israel, whom He promises to bless, .

‏ Numbers 6:1-3

Introduction

The vow of the Nazarite, Num 6:1, Num 6:2. In what it consisted, Num 6:3-8. When accidentally defiled, how he is to be purified, Num 6:9-12. The sacrifices he is to bring, and the rites he is to perform, when the vow of his separation is fulfilled, Num 6:13-21. The manner in which the priests are to bless the people, Num 6:22-26. The name of the Lord is to be put on the children of Israel, whom He promises to bless, Num 6:27. Verse 2

When either man or woman shall separate, etc. - The word נזיר nazir, from נזר nazar, to separate, signifies merely a separated person, i. e., one peculiarly devoted to the service of God by being separated from all servile employments. From the Nazarites sprang the Rechabites, from the Rechabites the Essenes, from the Essenes the Anchorites or Hermits, and in imitation of those, the different monastic orders. Some contend strongly that the Nazarite was a type of our Lord; but neither analogy nor proof can be produced. Our blessed Lord both drank wine and touched the dead, which no Nazarite would do: as to his either shaving his hair or letting it grow, we know nothing. His being called a Nazarene, Mat 2:23, is nothing to the purpose, as it can mean no more than either that he was an inhabitant of Nazareth, which was a place of no credit, and therefore used as a term of reproach; or that he was in a general sense consecrated to the service of God - so were Samson, Samuel, Jeremiah, and John Baptist; or rather, that he was the נצר netser or Branch, Isa 11:1, and צמח tsemach, Zac 3:8; Zac 6:12, which is quite a different word; but this title is expressly applied to our blessed Lord by the above prophets; but in no place do they or any other prophets call him a Nazarite, in the sense in which נזיר nazir is used. Indeed it could not in truth be applied to him, as the distinguishing marks of a Nazarite never belonged to him. He was, it is true, the נצר netser or branch out of the root of Jesse, the genuine heir to the throne of David, whose dominion should extend over the universe, who should be King of kings, and Lord of Lords; but the word Ναζωραιος, Mat 2:23, signifies merely a Nazoraean, or inhabitant of Nazareth. Verse 3

No vinegar of wine, etc. - חמץ chomets signifies fermented wine, and is probably used here to signify wine of a strong body, or any highly intoxicating liquor. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the Leper being the most defiled and loathsome of creatures, was an emblem of the wretched, miserable state of man by the fall; and that the Nazarite was the emblem of man in his state of innocence. Wine and grapes are here particularly forbidden to the Nazarite because, as the doctor thinks, being an emblem of man in his paradisiacal state, he was forbidden that tree and its fruits by eating of which Adam fell; for the doctor, as well as the Jewish rabbins, believed the tree of knowledge to have been none other than the vine.

Vinegar of strong drink - See the note on Lev 10:9.