Numbers 6:3

6:3 he must separate ¹  himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar ²  made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice ³  of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴ 

Numbers 6:9

Contingencies for Defilement

6:9 “‘If anyone dies very suddenly ⁵  beside him and he defiles ⁶  his consecrated head, ⁷  then he must shave his head on the day of his purification – on the seventh day he must shave it.

Numbers 21:23

21:23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he ⁸  gathered all his forces ⁹  together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When ¹⁰  he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

Numbers 27:3

27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although ¹¹  he was not part of ¹²  the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, ¹³  and he had no sons.

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¹ tn The operative verb now will be the Hiphil of נָזַר (nazar); the consecration to the Lord meant separation from certain things in the world. The first will be wine and strong drink – barley beer (from Akkadian sikaru, a fermented beer). But the second word may be somewhat wider in its application than beer. The Nazirite, then, was to avoid all intoxicants as a sign of his commitment to the Lord. The restriction may have proved a hardship in the daily diet of the one taking the vow, but it spoke a protest to the corrupt religious and social world that used alcohol to excess.

² tn The “vinegar” (חֹמֶץ, homets) is some kind of drink preparation that has been allowed to go sour.

³ tn This word occurs only here. It may come from the word “to water, to be moist,” and so refer to juice.

⁴ tn Heb “dried” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

⁵ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense followed by the infinitive absolute, יָמוּת מֵת (yamut met). Because the verb is in a conditional clause, the emphasis that is to be given through the infinitive must stress the contingency. The point is “if someone dies – unexpectedly.” The next words underscore the suddenness of this.

⁶ tn The verb is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the idea within the conditional clause.

⁷ sn The expression is figurative for the vow that he took; the figure is the metonymy because the reference to the head is a reference to the long hair that symbolizes the oath.

⁸ tn Heb “Sihon.”

⁹ tn Heb “people.”

¹⁰ tn The clause begins with a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, but may be subordinated to the next preterite as a temporal clause.

¹¹ tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.

¹² tn Heb “in the midst of.”

¹³ tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”