John Calvin Commentary Numbers 6:2

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself unto Jehovah," — Numbers 6:2 (ASV)

When either man, or woman shall separate themselves. God recently appointed a tribute for every soul, by which the Israelites were to acknowledge that they were His children. By that profession, then, He bound them all to Himself, from the least to the greatest. A closer tie of obligation is now addressed, when anyone voluntarily devoted himself to God for a season.

These were called Nazarites, which is equivalent to separate or select, because there was greater dignity or excellence in them than in the common people. For they were like ornaments to the Church, and God willed that His special glory should shine brightly in them.

When, therefore, Amos expostulates with them (Amos 2:11) because they had prevented the prophets from exercising their office and had corrupted the Nazarites with wine, he says, in amplification of their crime, that they had been honored with a special blessing when God had made some of their sons Nazarites and prophets. And when Jeremiah deplores the desolation of the Church, he insists on this corruption: that their Nazarites no longer appeared as of old, purer than snow, etc. (Lamentations 4:7).

Nor is it to be doubted that when Jacob distinguished Joseph his son by the title of a Nazarite³³¹ among his brothers (Genesis 49:26), he alluded in the spirit of prophecy to that degree of honor in which, afterwards under the Law, those stood who separated themselves to God as the lights of the Church.

Therefore, although this consecration did not pertain to the whole people, yet it should deservedly be counted among the exercises of piety, because the Nazarites were like standard-bearers to show others the way. And though they did not attract all to follow their example, yet the ardor of their zeal was of no little advantage to the weak and inexperienced, exciting them forward according to their capacity.

Now, because God abominates all fictitious worship, He put a restraint on their licentiousness by giving them a clear and certain rule. And, from the testimony of Amos which I have just quoted, it is gathered that God alone was the institutor of the Nazarite vow.

We must remember, then, that the Nazarites shone among the people of God like precious jewels. Although few imitated them, they were like standard-bearers and leaders to awaken zeal among the multitude for the service of God.

We must observe, by the way, that Samson was a Nazarite of another kind, because he did not take the vow upon himself only for a season but was sanctified from the womb for his whole life and separated from the rest of the people. In this respect, too, he was a type of Christ and represented Him, as it were.

And surely whatever is taught here should be referred to the sole Fountain of sanctity, as if the image of Christ had been set before the eyes of the Jews in a mirror. For the nearer anyone under the Law approached God, the more Christ shone forth in him.

We know that the whole priesthood of the Law was nothing but His image. The same may be said of the Nazarites, whose purity and abstinence adorned them with special dignity.

³³¹ The Hebrew word rendered separate in the A. V of Genesis 49:26, is נזיר, Nazir. — W. Vide C. in loco.