What was the Nazarite? Before I answer this question, let me give you some context.
After God freed the nation of Israel from a 400 year slavery in Egypt, it was necessary for this chosen people to be cultivated to represent their Lord before the nations. After spending so many years subjugated, it is not strange that the town lost much of its cultural identity and that it did not have religious and social laws that would facilitate worship and coexistence. During the time that the people spent on Mount Sinai, God gave them laws for worship, but also moral laws so that they would know how their behavior should be at the family, social and religious level (Ex 19:1-2).
The Lord also spoke of the Nazarite vow in the midst of all those regulations and laws. The Nazarites were those people who could represent that connection between the correctly religious and the ethically social. Although this same image can be seen in kings, priests, and prophets, the difference from the Nazarite was that he did not necessarily serve directly in the temple. The word nazir or nazarene is understood as:
“person consecrated to God. The Hebrew noun nazir comes from the verb nazar, which means ‘bind’, and hence ‘separate’. The Nazireate or Nazarite is a very old pre-Mosaic institution, regulated by the Law of Moses (Numbers 6:1-21). The dedication of nazir it supposes a distancing from certain things that separate from God or hinder his consecration to Him. ‘All the time of his Nazarite, he will be holy to Yahweh’ (Numbers 6:8). The Nazarite lasted a certain period, but it does not imply a break with social life or asceticism.
The Nazarite was also defined as one “chosen and set apart to be dedicated and consecrated which sometimes involved political or military service.” The laws on the Nazarite are found mostly in Numbers 6. This chapter describes the specific elements of the characteristics and conditions for the proper fulfillment of the Nazarite.
Regulations for a Nazarite
- The Nazarite vow could be taken by a man or a woman (Numbers 6:2).
- During the time of the Nazarite, he could not eat grapes or their derivatives, nor could he drink vinegar or any other kind of liquor (Numbers 6:3-4).
- While the Nazarite lasted, he was not to cut his hair because this would be the obvious sign of his dedication as a Nazarite (Numbers 6:5). Long hair was a symbol of power and abundant vitality (cf. 2 Sam 14:25-26). At the conclusion of the Nazarite, the Nazarite should shave his head and put the hair on the altar fire under the peace offering that was burning, thus sacrificing to the Lord the hair on his head that had been brought in honor of Him (Num 6: 18).
- The Nazarite will not go near any dead person (Numbers 6:7-8).
- If you inadvertently touch a person when they die, you will be unclean and must comply with the purification protocol described in Nm 6:9-12.
- There were cases where the Nazarite was for life, but when it was temporary and the time of his dedication to God culminated, he had to comply with a religious protocol of offerings before the priest (Nm 6:16-21).
Examples and Lessons on Nazarite in the Bible
It is possible to identify an evolution of the concept and the ways to comply with the nazarite in the history of Israel. According to the oldest texts (Judges 13-15; 1 Sm 1:11; Gn 49:26; Dt 33:16), the purpose of this institution was to maintain a representative in war against the enemies of God’s people. According to some experts, for the ancient Nazarite, asceticism against the idolatrous Canaanites was not as important as defense against Israel’s enemies, as in the case of Samson (Judg 16).
In the period of the monarchy, the Nazarite evolved to new behaviors that consisted of an ascetic life that obeyed the priestly prescriptions of abstinence (Nm 6; cp. Lv 10:8; 21:11). The new concept was that the Nazarite he was consecrated to God and who opposed with his life the pagan syncretistic influences of the neighboring towns.
In the New Testament it is mentioned that John the Baptist was set apart for the service of God. John was the herald of Christ and showed an exemplary life to the point that Christ recognized him as such (Mt 11:11). With the arrival of Christ and the establishment of a new era, we find the parallel of Nazarite in the word “holy”, although it is not developed in the same way. In Christ, holiness has two elements that complement each other: positional holiness, or that we were taken out of the kingdom of darkness into the light of Christ (1 Thes 4:7), and progressive holiness, which consists of turning away from a behavior of habitual sinful practices (2 Co 7:1; Jas 1:21).
Alfonso Ropero “Nazareo”, Great Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible (Barcelona: Editorial Clie, 2014) p. 2978. In Luis Alonso Schökel, “Nazir/Nazareo”, Hebrew-Spanish Biblical Dictionary (Madrid: Editorial Trotta, 1999) p. 486.