6:1–12 The gender parity of “a man or a woman” (v. 1) is noteworthy, since the high degree of ritual holiness for the Nazirite vow is on par with that for the high priest. The Mosaic law evinces great concern for females, especially those in precarious situations, such as widows, servants, and girls (e.g., Ex. 21:3–5, 7–11; 22:22). The previous law made provisions for a wife to be exonerated from guilt and shame due to the unfounded suspicions of a jealous husband (Num. 5:15, 28). Numbers legislates the right for daughters to succeed to their fathers’ lands and transmit them to their children (chs. 27; 36). Whereas they may seem archaic today, these laws in their cultural context protect women from certain discriminatory practices and abuses.

“Makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite” (6:2; cf. Lev. 27:22) could read “Does something special by vowing [nadar] the vow of [neder] a Nazirite.” The same form of palaʾ is translated “[do something] too hard” (Gen. 18:14), “bring on [something] extraordinary” (Deut. 28:59), and “do wonderful things” (Isa. 29:14). In this sense, what is “special” is that the vow is “the vow of the Nazirite.” But the verb is perhaps more likely a biform of palah, meaning here “he set (himself) apart”56 by vowing the Nazirite vow.

Deuteronomy 23:23 defines a vow as “What you have promised with your mouth” (cf. Ps. 66:14). Vows are voiced obligations to do or not to do something with a stated purpose, such as having a prayer answered (e.g., 1 Sam. 1:11). Nothing is said here about the content or purpose of the vow. The proper noun “Nazirite” (nazir; Num. 6:2, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21) is semantically and morphologically related to the verb rendered “separate” (from nazar; vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, 12) and the noun generally translated “separation” or occasionally “consecration” (from nezer; vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12 [2x], 13, 18 [2x], 19, 21 [2x]). The Nazirite must first “separate himself to the Lord” (v. 2) then “separate himself from” (v. 3) certain things. “All the days of his separation”57 (v. 4; cf. vv. 5, 6, 8)—the number is determined by the Nazirite—he must abstain from three otherwise legitimate things and activities. He could consume “nothing . . . produced by the grapevine” (v. 4); “no razor shall touch his head” (v. 5). He could not “go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother” (vv. 6–7). All these temporary injunctions have a connection with the priesthood (cf. discussion on v. 11). Their reason is straightforward: “All the days of his separation [nezer] he is holy to the Lord” (v. 8).

These three prohibitions perhaps symbolize the deprivation of covenant blessing, even as someone under a curse, which may explain the pronouncement of benediction at the end of the chapter. The vine and its products are symbols of God’s blessing (Lev. 26:5; Deut. 7:13; Isa. 65:8). Not enjoying the fruit of the vine is among the covenant curses (Deut. 28:30; cf. Isa. 24:7). Also, any product from an unpruned vine (called nazir; Lev. 25:5) is impure, since to prune a vine is to cleanse it (Gk. kathairō; John 15:2). Captives are exiled with shaved heads as a covenant curse (Jer. 48:37; Amos 1:15; cf. Isa. 15:2; Jer. 2:16; Ezek. 5:1–4; 27:31; 29:18). The shaving of hair is a sign of mourning for the dead (Jer. 16:6). A covenant curse for defiling the land leaves it filled with unburied corpses (Lev. 26:30; Deut. 28:26).

Numbers 6:9–12 prescribes what must occur “if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated [nezer] head” (v. 9). “Suddenly” implies either the Nazirite unintentionally makes physical contact with a corpse or his defilement is unavoidable. Purification requires a series of rites. Seven days (v. 9) is the standard lapse of time required for purification (e.g., Lev. 15:13). A leper’s head is shaved on the seventh day (Lev. 14:8–9), and anyone contaminated by a corpse is sprinkled with water for impurity on the third and seventh days (Num. 19:12). But the Nazirite’s purification is more complex. The next stage of purification, “on the eighth day,” involves offering “two turtledoves or two pigeons” (6:10), one for a “sin offering” and the other for a “burnt offering” (v. 11). Cleansed lepers who are poor sacrifice turtledoves or pigeons for these same two offerings (Lev. 14:22). The higher degree of corpse contamination contracted by a Nazirite is underscored by the absence of water for impurity required in other cases (Num. 19:9).

Ritual infractions are sin, in this case the infraction of becoming impure. Two types of “atonement” (kpr) should be distinguished, one requiring blood and the other not requiring it (for the latter cf. comment on 16:36–50 [at v. 46]). Blood is always required in the ritual domain. Such blood always involves the death of a substitute, a life as payment. To make atonement the blood of an animal is sprinkled on the altar, smeared on its horns, or poured at its base. The blood cleanses or purifies the altar from defilement that has resulted from sin. Thereupon the guilty party is pardoned for having contaminated the altar and for the act that made it impure. Ritually, this is expressed as “his cleansing” (6:9). Drawing upon this ceremonial aspect of atonement, the shedding of Christ’s blood is linked to purification and pardon in the NT (Heb. 9:22; cf. 1 John 1:7).

“He shall consecrate his head that same day” (Num. 6:11), the “same day” being the “eighth day,” when atonement for him is made. “Consecrate” (from qadash) literally means to “make holy.” “Consecrating his head” is the first step toward renewal of the voided Nazirite vow. This means “no razor shall touch his head. . . . He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long” (v. 5). Letting hair grow is a sign of holiness. The head of a priest receives special attention. As high priest, Aaron’s head is anointed with holy oil (Ex. 29:7). He wears a holy crown (nezer haqqodesh; Ex. 29:6) with a golden plate on which is written “Holy to the Lord” (Ex. 28:36–38; 39:30). The degree of Nazirite separation involves a ritual consecration second only to that of a high priest (Lev. 21:10–12). The hair of the high priest is the summum of holiness; it is not to be cut (Lev. 21:10; cf. Ezek. 5:1). The high priest can never let his hair “hang loose” (paraʿ; Lev. 21:10; cf. the hair of the woman that is unbound [paraʿ] by the priest; Num. 5:18). Like the Nazirite, the high priest “shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother” (Lev. 21:11). On him is the “consecration of [nezer] the anointing oil” (Lev. 21:12).

The Nazirite must “separate himself [from nazar] to the Lord for the days of his separation” (nezer; Num. 6:12), that is, recommence his aborted vow (v. 5) for the initially pledged period. In addition to the sin and the burnt offerings, “a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering” (ʾasham; v. 12) is required. The law for cleansing a leper also requires a male lamb (Lev. 14:12). “The previous period shall be void” (Num. 6:12; lit., “the days shall fall”)—that is, the period the Nazir voluntarily fixed for his vow is aborted (cf. 5:27), “because his separation [nezer] was defiled” (6:12).

6:13–21 This law stipulates how the Nazirite’s ritual holiness is divested so that he can return to a normal life. Unlike those made lifelong Nazirites from birth—Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptist—the law here encompasses a self-imposed time limit. Two interrelated steps are taken to close the vowed period: sacrifices and shaving of the head. To do so, first “he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting” (v. 13; cf. v. 18). The verb, although in the active voice (yabiʾ; cf. v. 10: “he shall bring,” yabiʾ), seemingly has no explicit subject and is rendered as a passive (cf. Lev. 14:2 the passive yubaʾ). However, the verb is in the active voice because it has an object, “him/it” (ʾotho, untranslated by ESV). The literal reading is “he/one shall bring him/it.” “It” could render collectively the offerings that “he,” the Nazirite, must bring.58 Or, “one,” possibly a Levite, must bring “him,” the Nazirite, to the entrance after verifying the Nazirite has fulfilled his vow. This kind of guard duty could be done by Levites over fifty years old who no longer perform hard physical labor in tabernacle service (8:25–26). If it were a woman Nazirite, she could be accompanied by one of the women ministering at the tabernacle (Ex. 38:8). Such activities find echoes in the ministry of the church diaconate.

The first step to end the vow involves various offerings. “He shall bring his gift to the Lord” (Num. 6:14) requires mediation: “The priest shall bring [the offerings] before the Lord” (v. 16). “Gift” (qorban) is cognate with “shall bring” (form of qarab). The law stipulates that no one shall appear before the Lord empty-handed (Ex. 23:15; 34:20; Deut. 16:16). The gifts include a “male lamb,” a “ewe lamb,” and a “ram,” each “without blemish,” for, respectively, a “burnt offering,” a “sin offering,” and a “peace offering” (Num. 6:14). In addition, he is to bring a “basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings” (v. 15; cf. v. 17). Concerning the order of the burnt and sin offerings, as in verse 14, the Leviticus administrative order is for the burnt offering to come first (ch. 1), followed by the sin offering (ch. 4). But when actually made, the order is inverted.59 The Nazirite offers the “sin offering” and then the “burnt offering” (Num. 6:16; cf. Lev. 9:7; 14:19–20). The sin offering “de-sins” or removes the stain of impurity, generally from the main altar, with blood that, like soap, washes it away. Only after purification is made by the sin offering could the burnt offering, which produces a pleasing aroma to the Lord, be made. Thereafter comes the “peace offering” (Num. 6:17).

The second step taken to terminate the vow involves shaving the head (vv. 18–20; cf. Acts 21:24). Since hair is a sign of the sacredness of its wearer (cf. comment on Num. 6:1–11 [at v. 9]), it is removed as part of the process of divesting ritual holiness. Hair shaving is also part of the leper’s cleansing (Lev. 14:8–9). Shaving the “hair of his consecration” (Num. 6:19) reduces the Nazirite’s state from holy to common. The shaved hair must be burned “under the sacrifice of the peace offering” (v. 18). The hair disappears, as does the holiness it represents (cf. Ezek. 5:1–2).

The unburnt parts of the peace offering—boiled “shoulder of the ram,” “unleavened loaf,” and “unleavened wafer”—are put in the hand of the Nazirite, who gives them back to the priest who had made them a “wave offering before the Lord” (Num. 6:19–20). They are the priest’s “holy portion,” as are the “breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed” (v. 20; cf. comment on 15:1–21 [at v. 20, regarding “contribution”]). Of the three types of peace offerings (freewill, thanksgiving, and votive), it is the last that is made in 6:15, 17, 19. “And after that the Nazirite may drink wine” (v. 20), resuming a normal life. The “law of the Nazirite” (v. 21) has been observed and the “vow of a Nazirite” (v. 2) fulfilled.

Verse 21 contains a supplement to the Nazirite vow “if he vows an offering to the Lord above his Nazirite vow.” Two conditions are imposed: “as he can afford” and “in exact accordance with the vow that he takes.” Other laws pertain to sacrifices offered to fulfill vows as freewill offerings (Lev. 22:21; Num. 15:3, 8; 29:39; Deut. 12:6, 11, 17). Behind these conditions is an implicit warning not to make a rash or hasty vow that, being difficult, someone may be tempted not to keep (Deut. 23:21–23; cf. Lev. 27:10; Num. 30:2; Judg. 11:35; Prov. 20:25).

6:22–27 This blessing is formulated by the Lord himself and communicated to Moses, who shall transmit it to Aaron and his sons, who in turn are to invoke it on the people (vv. 22–23). The literary pattern of the three-verse blessing in three double-clause lines is cumulative in Hebrew: three words (v. 24), five words (v. 25), seven words (v. 26). “The Lord” appears once in each line. The addressee is “you” (sg.) twice in each verse (e.g., “bless you . . . keep you”; v. 24), identified in the conclusion as “the people of Israel . . . them” (v. 27).

“Speak to Aaron and his sons” (v. 23) occurs only here in Numbers (elsewhere Lev. 6:18; 17:2; 22:2, 18). “Thus” (Hb. koh) introduces the manner in which the blessing is bestowed: “You shall bless [2nd person pl.] . . . say to them.” God blesses through the mediacy of priests’ speaking his word of blessing, “The Lord bless you” (v. 24). Pronouncing a blessing in the ritual domain, like officiating at the altar, is the exclusive domain of the priesthood. Aaron’s blessing of the people is mentioned in Leviticus 9:22.

As may be seen from the Genesis blessing (1:28) and curse (3:17–19), as well as and the covenant blessings as compared with corresponding curses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), divine blessing vivifies and promotes life, whereas a curse stifles life, which leads ultimately to death. The stark contrast is succinctly stated: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse” (Deut. 30:19). Both blessing and curse are providential (e.g., rain, Heb. 6:7; withered fig tree, Mark 11:20–21). The law promises life for obedience (Lev. 18:5) but is powerless at any time to deliver it to sinful people (Rom. 7:10; Gal. 3:12; cf. Luke 10:28). The supreme blessing is eternal life (Ps. 133:3), granted and restored since the fall by grace alone. It is promised in the Word (1 John 2:25; cf. John 12:49–50) and pictured in the sacraments, grace always anticipating Christ’s accomplished redemptive work and the gospel-promise fulfillment (cf. Gal. 3:14; Eph. 1:3). The ultimate curse is the second death. The Lord’s blessing and its benefic results are the antidote to the curse and its malefic effects (cf. Num. 5:27–28; Deut. 23:5). This is clearly illustrated in the Balaam narrative (Numbers 22–24).

The blessing here is for the “people of Israel” (6:23). What is reported in chapters 5–6 could leave “the people of Israel” (5:2, 6, 12; 6:2) with the question of whether anyone could receive God’s favor, since no one is exempt from impurity; the high degree of holiness required by the Nazirite vow, while ritually attainable, is but temporary and must be relinquished. The blessing in this context reassures the Israelites that it is their God who, recognizing their fallen and frail human condition, blesses them by pure grace—not only because he is able but because he desires to do so.60 This passage also anticipates Balak’s scheme to have Balaam curse the people; in light of it, it is not surprising that Balaam cannot. God’s blessing is his people’s protection; he turns the curse scheme of their enemies into a blessing (24:9) because he loves his people (Deut. 23:5; cf. Josh. 24:10).

The Lord’s keeping (“keep you”; shamar, “guard”) in the immediate context points to his appointing priests and Levites to avert divine wrath by preventing the people’s impurities from polluting the tabernacle (Num. 1:53; 18:5).

In a broader sense his keeping sustains life during the wilderness period. This is celebrated in Psalm 121:4–8 (translation of shamar italicized):

    Behold, he who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

    The Lord is your keeper;

    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

    The sun shall not strike you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

    The Lord will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

    The Lord will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time forth and forevermore.

Concerning the Lord’s “face” and “countenance” (both translate the same form of paneh), two actions in Numbers 6:25–26 (“make shine” and “lift”) describe his acceptance, beneficence, and ultimately the salvation of those so blessed (cf. Pss. 4:6; 44:3; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15). Seeing the face of the king is an honor enjoyed only by those highest in office (Est. 1:14). Being in the light of his face is life; the opposite is his wrath and death (Prov. 16:14–15). In recognition of Esau’s mercy Jacob exclaims: “I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me” (Gen. 33:10; cf. Ps. 27:8). A fallen or turned face (Gen. 4:5; cf. 1 Kings 21:4) and a darkened or hidden countenance (Deut. 31:18; Job 23:17; Ps. 143:7) communicate strong displeasure and anger (cf. 2 Sam. 14:24; Ps. 27:9; Isa. 57:17; 59:2), even a covenant curse (Ezek. 39:23–24). The Lord spoke to his people through his spokesman mediator, Moses, “face to face” (Ex. 33:11; Deut. 5:4; cf. Num. 12:8: “mouth to mouth”). The Lord had said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. . . . But . . . [Moses] cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:19–20). He saw only God’s back (Ex. 33:23; cf. Jer. 18:17). Seeing God’s face in a theophany is not permissible, but seeing its manifestation in beneficent words and deeds is (cf. Jer. 18:17). His blessing permits faith to comprehend his attendant grace, expressed in physical terms.

His shining and lifted face leads to two benefits: he will “be gracious to you” and “give you peace.” His being “gracious” (khanan), like his mercy, is consonant with his goodness (Ex. 33:19; cf. Isa. 30:18–19). In Exodus 33 his being gracious is predicated upon his pardon granted to the sinful people after Moses’ intercession. Only then can God’s “peace” (shalom) be experienced, the peace of reconciliation and the absolved guilt. In turn, the Israelites bless each other in personal greetings (Ruth 2:4; Ps. 129:8), a practice also attested in apostolic “grace and peace” salutations (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:3; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Rev. 1:4).

The result of the blessing is described thus: “So shall they [the priests] put my name upon the people of Israel” (Num. 6:27). Only here it is said that the Lord’s name is put upon the people. This implies that the people belong to him. A woman’s being called by a man’s name points to the one on whom she depends and to whom she belongs (Isa. 4:1). This name is “the Lord” (yhwh, from hayah, “to be,” Ex. 33:19). When spoken of, his name is “He is” (yhwh; Ex. 6:2). When speaking of himself, his name is “I am” (ʾehyeh; Ex. 3:14).61 He reveals his name at the second-greatest moment in redemption history (Ex. 3:14). The greatest revelation comes in the person of Jesus Christ, the “I am” (John 8:58), who accomplishes the eternal plan of redemption. His name is put on those who call upon him (Acts 15:17; Rev. 14:1; 22:4).

In the introduction, “You shall bless the people” (Num. 6:23) emphasizes the means of this grace, since the priesthood mediates the blessing (1 Chron. 23:13); in the conclusion, however, “I will bless them” (Num. 6:27) reminds the people that the Lord is the source.