What does Numbers 6 require when sudden death interrupts a Nazarite’s vow?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The defiled Nazarite must follow the specified shaving and offering steps and consecrate the days again. The former days become void because the consecration has been profaned.

Chapter breakdown

Numbers 6 gives the Nazarite law and the blessing of Israel. The Lord tells Moses to speak to the children of Israel about a man or woman who vows to be sanctified and consecrates themselves to him. They must abstain from wine and everything that can make a person drunk. They must not drink wine vinegar, vinegar of any other drink, or anything pressed from grapes, and must not eat fresh or dried grapes. Throughout the vow they must eat nothing from the vineyard, from the raisin to the kernel.

No razor may pass over the Nazarite’s head until the days of consecration are fulfilled. The Nazarite must be holy and let the hair grow. During this time the Nazarite must not go in to any dead person or become unclean even for a father, mother, brother or sister who dies, because God’s consecration is upon the head. All the days of separation are holy to the Lord.

If a man dies suddenly before the Nazarite, the head of consecration is defiled. The Nazarite must shave it immediately on the same day of purification, and again on the seventh day. On the eighth day the Nazarite must bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entry of the covenant of the testimony. The priest offers one for sin and the other as a whole burnt offering, and prays for the Nazarite because of the sin by the dead. He sanctifies the head that day. The Nazarite must consecrate the days of separation to the Lord, offering a one-year-old lamb for sin. The former days become void because the consecration was profaned.

When the days set by the vow end, the Nazarite is brought to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant. The offering to the Lord is a one-year-old male lamb without blemish for a whole burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb without blemish for sin, and a ram without blemish for peace. There must also be a basket of unleavened bread mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and the drink offerings belonging to each. The priest presents them before the Lord and offers the sin and whole burnt offerings. He offers the ram for peace with the basket of unleavened bread and the drink offerings due by custom.

Before the tabernacle door the Nazarite shaves the hair of consecration and puts it on the fire under the peace offering. After the shaving, the priest takes the ram’s boiled shoulder, one unleavened cake and one wafer from the basket and puts them in the Nazarite’s hands. He receives them back and raises them before the Lord. These sanctified portions belong to the priest, as do the breast and shoulder set apart. After this, the Nazarite may drink wine. This law covers the Nazarite’s vowed offering during consecration, besides whatever the hand finds. The Nazarite must do according to the vow made in the mind to fulfil the consecration.

The Lord tells Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the children of Israel with these words: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.” “The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee.” “The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace.” They must invoke God’s name upon the children of Israel, and he will bless them.

The story inside

The chapter separates an interrupted vow from a completed one. Sudden death brings defilement, followed by shaving on the purification day and again on the seventh day, birds on the eighth day, and a one-year-old lamb for sin. The old days are void because the consecration was profaned. Completion has a different sequence: the stated animals, bread and drink offerings, shaving at the tabernacle door, the hair beneath the peace sacrifice, and portions raised by the priest. Only after these completion directions does the text permit wine. These are prescribed steps; the chapter does not narrate a named Nazarite successfully carrying them out.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The vow can be made by a man or woman. Its food, hair and death-related restrictions apply through the stated period; the text does not present consecration as a rule about wine alone.
2
Interruption has exact timing and a stated consequence. The two shavings and eighth-day birds must remain distinct, and the former days are void for the reason given in the text.
3
The priestly blessing names God as the one who blesses. Aaron and his sons speak the words and invoke his name upon Israel, while the Lord promises the blessing.

Test your recall

Why are the former days of the Nazarite’s vow made void after sudden death causes defilement?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 14634–14651
Numbers Chapter 6 The law of the Nazarites: the form of blessing the people. 6:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:2. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When a man, or woman, shall make a vow to be sanctified, and will consecrate themselves to the Lord: 6:3. They shall abstain from wine, and from every thing that may make a man drunk. They shall not drink vinegar of wine, or of any other drink, nor any thing that is pressed out of the grape: nor shall they eat grapes either fresh or dried. 6:4. All the days that they are consecrated to the Lord by vow: they shall eat nothing that cometh of the vineyard, from the raisin even to the kernel.
Lines 14653–14663
6:5. All the time of his separation no razor shall pass over his head, until the day be fulfilled of his consecration to the Lord. He shall be holy, and shall let the hair of his head grow. 6:6. All the time of his consecration he shall not go in to any dead, 6:7. Neither shall he make himself unclean, even for his father, or for his mother, or for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head. 6:8. All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.
Lines 14665–14678
6:9. But if any man die suddenly before him: the head of his consecration shall be defiled: and he shall shave it forthwith on the same day of his purification, and again on the seventh day. 6:10. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons to the priest in the entry of the covenant of the testimony. 6:11. And the priest shall offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and shall pray for him, for that he hath sinned by the dead: and he shall sanctify his head that day: 6:12. And shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a lamb of one year for sin: yet so that the former days be made void, because his sanctification was profaned.
Lines 14680–14697
6:13. This is the law of consecration. When the days which he had determined by vow shall be expired, he shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, 6:14. And shall offer his oblation to the Lord: one he lamb of a year old without blemish for a holocaust, and one ewe lamb of a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a victim of peace offering, 6:15. A basket also of unleavened bread, tempered with oil, and wafers without leaven anointed with oil, and the libations of each: 6:16. And the priest shall present them before the Lord, and shall offer both the sin offering and the holocaust. 6:17. But the ram he shall immolate for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, offering at the same time the basket of unleavened bread, and the libations that are due by custom.
Lines 14699–14716
6:18. Then shall the hair of the consecration of the Nazarite, be shaved off before the door of the tabernacle of the covenant: and he shall take his hair, and lay it upon the fire, which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. 6:19. And shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he shall deliver them into the hands of the Nazarite, after his head is shaven. 6:20. And receiving them again from him, he shall elevate them in the sight of the Lord: and they being sanctified shall belong to the priest, as the breast, which was commanded to be separated, and the shoulder. After this the Nazarite may drink wine. 6:21. This is the law of the Nazarite, when he hath vowed his oblation to the Lord in the time of his consecration, besides those things which his hand shall find, according to that which he had vowed in his mind, so shall he do for the fulfilling of his sanctification.
Lines 14718–14732
6:22. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6:23. Say to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: 6:24. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. 6:25. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. 6:26. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace. 6:27. And they shall invoke my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.