John Gill Commentary Numbers 6

And the Lord spoke to Moses
At the same time, or immediately after the law concerning the woman suspected of adultery was given; with which the following law concerning Nazarites may be thought to have a close connection, as some Jewish writers observe, women being concerned in it as well as men;

And as wine leads to adultery, as Jarchi observes, abstinence from it, which the Nazarite's vow obliged to, and forbearance of trimming and dressing the hair, and a being more strictly and closely devoted to the service of God, were very likely means of preserving from unchastity, and any suspicion of it:

saying ;
as follows.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them
Which the following law only concerned, and not Gentiles; so runs the Jewish canon: "the Gentiles has no Nazariteship, though they may bring their vows and freewill offerings as an Israelite, yet if they vow the vow of a Nazarite, the law of the Nazarite is not obliging on them, or they are bound by it; but it is free for them to drink wine and defile themselves for the dead; for it is written, 'speak unto the children of Israel'"^F17.

when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a
Nazarite.
Or "do a wonderful thing"^F18: something unusual and uncommon, and what is out of the way of the men of the world, who give themselves up to pleasure, and have little regard to the worship and service of God; wherefore for a person, a man or woman, to vow abstinence from wine and dress, and from the company of others, and to oblige themselves to strict and close devotion to God, was something singular and surprising. This is to be understood of such persons who were at their own disposal. For such that were in their minority, and under the power of parents, or were married women, if they vowed, their vows did not stand, and their parents or husbands could disannul them, unless they had consented to them by their silence, when they heard them made (Numbers 30:3–14).

There were various sorts of Nazarites. Some were appointed by God, as Samson; some were devoted by their parents, as Samuel; and some by themselves, concerning whom this law is more especially. Some were perpetual Nazarites, a Nazarite for life, as the two persons just mentioned; though the Jews distinguish between a Samsonian Nazarite and a perpetual one^F19. And some were only for a certain time, according as they vowed.

to separate themselves unto the Lord.
The Targum of Jonathan is, "to the name of the Lord," to the honour of his name. Such persons devoted themselves and set apart their time to serve the Lord in a stricter and purer manner than others, and therefore were had in great account (Lamentations 4:7; Amos 2:11). They were types of Christ, who, though he was not strictly a Nazarite but a Nazarene, yet answered to the Nazarites in his being set apart in divine predestination by his Father to the office of Mediator; in the sanctification of himself and devoting himself, his time and service, to his Father's glory; and in his being holy and harmless in his life and conversation, and separate from sinners. And they were also emblems of the special people of God, who are a separate people in election, redemption, and calling, and in the intercession of Christ; and as they will be at the last judgment and to all eternity, and should be now separate from others in their lives and conversations.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Misn. Nazir, c. 9. sect. 1. Maimon & Bartenora in ib.
• F18: (alpy) "mirificaverit", Montanus; "si mirandum aliquid fecerit", Munster; and some in Fagius and Vatablus; so Aben Ezra.
• F19: Misn. Nazir, c. 1. sect. 2.

He shall separate [himself] from wine
Old or new, as Ben Gersom; from drinking it, any of it: not only from an immoderate and excessive drinking of it, which every man should abstain from, but from drinking of it at all, that he might be more free and fit for the service of God; for prayer, meditation, reading the Scriptures, and attendance on the worship of God in all its branches, and be less liable to temptations to sin; for, as Aben Ezra observes, many transgressions are occasioned by wine, which, if drank immoderately, intoxicates the mind, and unfits for religious duties, excites lust, and leads on to many vices:

and strong drink ;
any other intoxicating and inebriating liquor besides wine, or any other sort of wines besides such that is made of the fruit of the vine, as wines of pomegranates, dates or such as are made of barley, as our ale, or of apples and pears, called cider and perry, respectively:

and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink ;
all the three Targums paraphrase it, vinegar of new wine, and vinegar of old wine, these operating in like manner as wine and strong drink themselves:

neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes ;
any liquor in which grapes are macerated, as the Targum of Jonathan; or water into which they are squeezed, or which is made of the lees of wine, or is a second sort of wine made of the grapes after they have been pressed, which we call "tiff":

nor eat moist grapes or dried ;
which have somewhat of the nature and taste of wine, and produce some of the like effects, and may lead to a desire after drinking it; wherefore this, as other things mentioned, are, as Aben Ezra says, a kind of an hedge, to keep at a distance from drinking wine.

All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is
made of the vine tree
Of its leaves, branches, and fruit, especially the latter, put into any sort of food, or infused into any liquor, or mixed with any sauce for food: the days or time of separation were according as the vow was made, for a shorter or longer time; though the Jews ^F20 say, where the vow is, absolutely expressed, it is always to be understood of thirty days, during which time the Nazarite was not to eat or drink of any composition that has anything the vine in it:

from the kernels even to the husk ;
the Jews ^F21 are divided about the two words here used, which of them signifies the outermost part of the grape, and which the innermost; Ben Gersom agrees with us, but it matters not much who are in the right, since both are forbidden: by this part of the law, the people of God, who are spiritual Nazarites, are taught to live temperately and soberly, and to abstain from all appearance of sin: it is pretty remarkable what the Jews ^F23 say, that when the son of David comes, it will be free for a Nazarite to drink wine on sabbath days and festivals, though not on week days; from where it appears, they seem to be conscious of a change of the ceremonial law in his days.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Misn. Nazir, c. 1. sect. 3. & c. 6. sect. 3.
• F21: Misn. Nazir, c. 6. sect. 2. Aben Ezra in loc.
• F23: T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 43. 1.

All the days of the vow of his separation
Be the time he has vowed to be a Nazarite a week, a, month, or more, even a thousand days, but not less than thirty, as Ben Gersom observes:

there shall no razor come upon his head ;
he might not shave his beard, nor cut off his locks, and shave his head, nor cut short his locks with a pair of scissors, nor any with anything by which the hair may be removed, as Ben Gersom; nor pluck off his hair with his hands, as Maimonides says ^F24 ; but let it grow as long as it would during the time of his separation, which is expressed in the latter part of the verse:

until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth [himself] unto
the Lord ;
to his service, to which he wholly addicted himself as long as his vow continued:

he shall be holy ;
separate from other men, and their practices and customs, and spend his time in holy exercises, in a religious way, and abstain from what might be a temptation to sin, or in the least hinder him in his acts of devotion:

[and] shall let the locks of his hair grow ;
two reasons Fagius gives of this part of the law, the one is, because of the mystery of it; letting the hair grow signified an increase of virtue or grace, as Samson's strength was increased and became very great while his hair was not cut; and so spiritual Nazarites, while they are in the way of their duty, grow in grace, and in knowledge of God and Christ, and all divine things, and grow stronger and stronger in the Lord, and in the power of his might; and Ainsworth hints at the same thing, and also supposes it might be an emblem of the subjection of the saints to Christ, as the letting the hair grow was a sign of the woman's subjection to man:

the other is, that it was appointed to take the Israelites off of the errors and superstitious they had imbibed in Egypt, by ordering them to perform those rites and ceremonies to the honour of the true God, which they had used in the service of demons; and for this he cites a passage out of Cyrill; but it does not appear, by any good authority, that such a custom obtained among the Egyptians, or any other Gentiles so early; and what were used among them in later times took their rise from hence, and were imitations of this law; though there seems to be no great likeness between this law of Nazariteship and the customs of the Heathens, who used to consecrate their hair to their deities, Apollo, Hercules, Bacchus, Minerva, and Diana: what seems best to agree is what Lucian says ^F25 , who observes, that young men consecrate their beards, and let their hair grow, consecrated from their birth, which they afterwards cut and lay up in vessels in the temple, some of gold, others of silver.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Hilchot Nezirut, c. 5. sect. 11.
• F25: De Dea Syria.