The Nazirite Vow
The Nazir! This is an optional commandment, and in no way does it imply this is one
that MUST be kept — merely that should you wish, you may do so.
The preceding chapters had treated of sacrifices required by law; and in the laws here delivered in respect to vows must have been very useful, as they both prevented and annulled rash vows, and provided a proper sanction for the support and performance of those which were rationally made, and which were made to HASHEM .
Commandment 217
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Torah of the Annulment of Vows
| Commandment 219 B’midbar 6:3 1HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: ‘A man or woman who shall dissociate himself by taking a Nazir vow of abstinence for the sake of HASHEM , 3from new or aged wine shall he abstain, and he shall not drink vinegar of wine or vinegar of aged wine; anything in which grapes have been steeped shall he not drink, and fresh and dried grapes he shall not eat. 4All the days of his abstinence, anything made from wine grapes, even the pips or skin, he shall not eat. |
Besides the religious nature of this institution, it seems to have been partly of a civil and prudential use. The sobriety and temperance which the Nazir was obliged to observe were very conducive to health. Accordingly, they were celebrated for their fair and ruddy complexion; being said to be both whiter than milk and more ruddy than rubies (Eikhah 4:7); the sure signs of a sound and healthy constitution. It may here be observed, that when God intended to raise up Samson, by his strength of body, to scourge the enemies of Yisra'el, he ordered, that from his infancy he should drink no wine, but live by the rule of the Nazi, because that would greatly contribute to make him strong and healthy; intending, after nature had done her utmost to form this extraordinary instrument of his providence, to supply her defect by his own supernatural power. See Jenning’s Jewish Antiquities, B. I. c. 8.
| Commandment 220 B’midbar 6:3 1HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: ‘A man or woman who shall dissociate himself by taking a Nazir vow of abstinence for the sake of HASHEM , 3from new or aged wine shall he abstain, and he shall not drink vinegar of wine or vinegar of aged wine; anything in which grapes have been steeped shall he not drink, and fresh and dried grapes he shall not eat. 4All the days of his abstinence, anything made from wine grapes, even the pips or skin, he shall not eat. Commandment
221 Commandment 222 Commandment 223 Commandment 224 Commandment 225 |
This expression, “the consecration, or separation, of God is on his head,” denotes his hair, which was the proof and emblem of his separation, and of his subjection to God through all the peculiarities of his Nazirite. Rabbi Sha'ul probably alludes to this circumstance in 1 Corinthians 11:10 by considering a married woman as a Nazirite for life, i.e., separated from all others, and united to her husband, to whom she is subject.
| 1Corinthians 11:10 10For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Commandment 456 Commandment 218 |
This will be a first for some of my readers; the concept of a broken-verse commandment, and a repetition. Notice how B’midbar 6:3 is broken into no less than three commandments, and B’midbar 6:5 is repeated twice, once for the last half of a commandment, once for the first half. Why the repetition? A Repetition is usually because the commandments are divided into 365 negative and 248 positive commandments. A single verse of Scripture will often have both a Positive and a Negative in it. What personality in Scripture often spoke in this manner? Cha’zon 1 & 2 and Ur 6 reveal the answer: Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ (Yeshua Ha'Nezeret, Melech Mashiach. Since we have his assurance that “Before Abraham was, I Am.” (Yochanan 8:22), we know the author of Torah— Yeshua Ha'Mashiach!
| Hebrews 12:2 2looking unto Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. |
This of course puts a cramp in the style of those Messianic Jews, non-Jews, and Christians who hair-split (very nicely, I might add) that we need only obey the commandments that Yeshua himself gave. However, the point is of course, moot. Yeshua did not "Add" to the Commandments, he merely did what was prophesied what Mashiach would do; clear up understandings in the Torah, explain how the Torah was to be kept, and take away the need for sin sacrifices once and for all by atoning for the sins of the people with his own blood. (This was prophesied by Pharisees in the Midrashim).
The Nazir was a group of very extreme persons. The group would place themselves voluntarily under an oath specified by Torah, for a length of time, not to cut their hair, go near a dead body, or eat or drink of grape or grape products. The exact reasons why are not specified in Torah. The Talmud hazards a reason:
| Nedarim 10a Abaye said: Simeon the Just, R. Simeon, and R. Eleazar hakappar, are all of the same opinion, viz., that a nazir is a sinner. Simeon the Just and R. Simeon, as we have stated. R. Eleazar ha-Kappar Berabbi, as it was taught: And he shall make atonement for him, for that he sinned against a soul. Against which ‘soul’ then has he sinned? But it is because he afflicted himself through abstention from wine. Now, does not this afford an argument from the minor to the major? If one, who afflicted himself only in respect of wine, is called a sinner: how much more so one who ascetically refrains from everything. Hence, one who fasts is called a sinner. |
Now, it might appear that the Talmud concludes that a Nazirite is a sinner, for abstaining from wine. However, "Sin is the breaking of the Torah", and the Torah orders a Nazirite to abstain from Grape. The text can be seen here to question the conclusion of R. Simon the Just, R. Simeon and R. Eleazar with the retort, "Hence, one who fasts is called a sinner". This is a Shnei Ketuvim argument, not a Dvar (the difference being that a Dvar is derived from the close proximity of verses, the point R. Simon, Simeon and Eleazar were trying to make, and the Shnei is pointing out a contradiction in a text to derive a Halachah. In this case, the Halachah is established already at Sinai in the Torah without derivation, and the Shnei is rebuking the attempt at Dvar...don't worry, if you don't understand any of that now, you will someday).
The contradiction here is not in the Torah (which of course, it never is, but rather in the Mishnah does the contradiction appear), but rather in the command “Shall be Holy” and the Rabbinic inference that "The Nazir is a sinner". Man may not call evil what Torah calls Holy. The closest reason we can hazard for taking of the Nazir oath is "That you may be holy". Now that we sort of know why (more why not), let's examine the processes of becoming a Nazirite.
| Nedarim 3b
For, as soon as one
says, ‘Behold, I am a nazir’ he is one; if he eats [grapes], he is liable for,
nor eat moist drapes or dried; if he drinks [wine], he violates, he . . . shall drink no
vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes. Ta'anit 17a R. Mattena said: A Nazirite's unspecified [term of] vow is thirty days. Whence is this to be adduced?— Scripture uses the word yihyeh יהיה the numerical value of which is thirty. |
| י | 10 |
| ה | 5 |
| י | 10 |
| ה | 5 |
| = | 30 |
All you have to do to become Nazirite, is simply say, "I shall be a Nazirite (specify length of time)". If you do not specify, the time is thirty days. From here until the end of your vow, you may not eat grapes, raisons, any combination of the two, drink wine or vinegar. This means you cannot eat cookies or cakes (the amount of foods using raisins is an unbelievable amount), drink fruit juices unless pure (the number of juices mixing Grape is incredible), eat mayo, mustard or catsup (vinegar), eat jellies, etc. You may not trim your hair until the vow is complete. Some Rabbis felt you should not comb or brush your hair, as this will tear out the hair, but this is "too far a fence around Torah", and it violates Mashiach's injunction not to call attention to one's piety ("say, why won't you comb your hair?" "Well, let me tell you about this vow I've taken..." "Man, you Messianics are weird. Can't you all just be Christians ?(response of Christian) "Man ,you Messianics are weird. Can't you just be normal? (worldly person)).
The specific injunction once the vow is over is to shave your head, and burn the hair (although cutting your hair short is probably sufficient, but you still should burn it). I'll not describe the sensation of being a Nazir, except to say that if you replace the Resh in Nazir נזר with the letter before it (Qof), it spells Nazeq נזק, to suffer. Try it and find out what I mean. Does the New Covenant forbid the Nazir vow? The New covenant speaks against Oaths, not vows.
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Web Author: Azayel ben Hillel
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
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