Numbers 6:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Numbers 6:5 tc The parallel expression in v. 8 (“all the days of his separation”) lacks the word “vow.” This word is also absent in v. 5 in a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts. The presence of the word in v. 5 may be due to dittography.
2. Numbers 6:5 sn There is an interesting parallel between this prohibition and the planting of trees. They could not be pruned or trimmed for three years, but allowed to grow free (Lev 19:23). Only then could the tree be cut and the fruit eaten. The natural condition was to be a sign that it was the Lord’s. It was to be undisturbed by humans. Since the Nazirite was to be consecrated to the Lord, that meant his whole person, hair included. In the pagan world the trimming of the beard and the cutting of the hair was often a sign of devotion to some deity.
3. Numbers 6:5 tn Heb “days.”
4. Numbers 6:5 tn The word “holy” here has the sense of distinct, different, set apart.
5. Numbers 6:5 tn The Piel infinitive absolute functions as a verb in this passage; the Piel carries the sense of “grow lengthy” or “let grow long.”
6. Numbers 6:6 tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.
7. Numbers 6:6 tn The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the Lord, avoiding all such contamination would be a witness to the greatest separation, even in a family.
8. Numbers 6:7 tn The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.
9. Numbers 6:7 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive—“in the dying of them”—to form the adverbial clause of time.sn The Nazirite would defile himself, i.e., ruin his vow, by contacting their corpses. Jesus’ hard saying in Matt 8:22, “let the dead bury their own dead,” makes sense in the light of this passage—Jesus was calling for commitment to himself.
10. Numbers 6:7 tn The word “separation” here is metonymy of adjunct—what is on his head is long hair that goes with the vow.
11. Numbers 6:7 tn The genitive could perhaps be interpreted as possession, i.e., “the vow of his God,” but it seems more likely that an objective genitive would be more to the point.