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Nazarites.

From: The New Topical Textbook By: Reuben Archer Torrey

• 1 min. read • grade level: 8

Persons separated to the service of God. Num. 6:2²Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: (Numbers 6:2).

DIFFERENT KINDS OF,

From the womb. Judg. 13:5⁵For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5). Luke 1:15¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. (Luke 1:15).

By a particular vow. Num. 6:2²Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: (Numbers 6:2).

Required to be holy. Num. 6:8⁸All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord. (Numbers 6:8).

Esteemed pure. Lam. 4:7⁷Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire: (Lamentations 4:7).

PROHIBITED FROM

Wine or strong drink. Num. 6:3³He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (Numbers 6:3). Luke 1:15¹⁵For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. (Luke 1:15).

Grapes or anything made from the vine. Num. 6:3, 4³He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. ⁴All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. (Numbers 6:3‑4). Judg. 13:14¹⁴She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. (Judges 13:14).

Cutting or shaving the head. Num. 6:5⁵All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. (Numbers 6:5). Judg. 13:5⁵For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5). Judg. 16:17¹⁷That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. (Judges 16:17).

Defiling themselves by the dead. Num. 6:6, 7⁶All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. ⁷He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. (Numbers 6:6‑7).

Raised up for the good of the nation. Amos 2:11¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord. (Amos 2:11).

Ungodly Jews tried to corrupt. Amos 2:12¹²But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. (Amos 2:12).

DEFILED DURING VOW

To shave the head the seventh day. Num. 6:9⁹And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. (Numbers 6:9).

To bring two turtle doves for a burnt offering. Num. 6:10, 11¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: ¹¹And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. (Numbers 6:10‑11).

To recommence their vow with a trespass offering. Num. 6:12¹²And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled. (Numbers 6:12).

ON COMPLETION OF VOW

To be brought to tabernacle door. Num. 6:13¹³And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: (Numbers 6:13).

To offer sacrifices. Num. 6:14-17¹⁴And he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, ¹⁵And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings. ¹⁶And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering: ¹⁷And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering. (Numbers 6:14‑17).

To shave their heads. Num. 6:18¹⁸And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. (Numbers 6:18). Acts 18:18¹⁸And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow. (Acts 18:18). Acts 21:24²⁴Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. (Acts 21:24).

To have the left shoulder of the ram of the peace offering waved upon their hands by the priest. Num. 6:19, 20¹⁹And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven: ²⁰And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine. (Numbers 6:19‑20), with Lev. 7:32³²And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. (Leviticus 7:32).

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

Christ. Heb. 7:26²⁶For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Hebrews 7:26).

Saints. 2 Cor. 6:17¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:17). James 1:27²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27).

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The New Topical Textbook

• Naphtali, the Tribe of.

• Nazarites.

• New Birth, the.

• Nile, the River.

• Oak-Tree, the.

• Obedience to God.

• Offenses Against the Holy Ghost.

• Olive-Tree, the.

• Ostrich, the.

• Palm-Tree, the.

• Part I — Concerning God

• PART II — Man Was Created.

• Part III — Concerning Man.

• Part IV — Concerning Redemption