Nazarite

How Nave’s arranged it

• Law concerningNumbers 6:1–21Judges 13:5
• Character ofLamentations 4:7Amos 2:11Amos 2:12
• INSTANCES OF .SamsonJudges 13:5Judges 13:7Judges 16:17
• Samuel1 Samuel 1:11
• RechabitesJeremiah 35
• John the BaptistMatthew 11:18Luke 1:15Luke 7:33

The passages, in Bible order (12)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 12 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Numbers 6:1–21

   And the LORD said to Moses,

   ›Commentary on Numbers 6:1–211 voice

   “The law of the Nazarite is appropriately added to other enactments which concern the sanctity of the holy nation. That sanctity found its highest expression in the Nazarite vow, which was the voluntary adoption for a time of obligations to high and strict modes of self-dedication resembling, and indeed in some particulars exceeding, those under which the priests were placed. The present enactments do not institute a new kind of observance, but only regulate one already familiar to the Israelites Num 6:2. Num 6:2 A Nazarite - Strictly, Nazirite.

   Everything gathered on Numbers 6:1–21→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Judges 13:5

   For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

   ›Commentary on Judges 13:51 voice

   “A Nazarite - See the marginal reference. and note. The common Nazarite vow was for a limited time, like Paul’s Act 18:18; Act 21:23-26. Others, like Samuel 1Sa 1:11, were Nazarites for life.

   Everything gathered on Judges 13:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Judges 13:7

   But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Judges 16:17

   Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”

   ›Commentary on Judges 16:171 voice

   “If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me - The miraculous strength of Samson must not be supposed to reside either in his hair or in his muscles, but in that relation in which he stood to God as a Nazarite, such a person being bound by a solemn vow to walk in a strict conformity to the laws of his Maker. It was a part of the Nazarite’s vow to permit no razor to pass on his head; and his long hair was the mark of his Nazirate, and of his vow to God.

   Everything gathered on Judges 16:17→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. 1 Samuel 1:11

   And she made a vow, pleading, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.”

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 1:111 voice

   “vows are characteristic of this particular age of the Judges. (Compare Jdg 11:30; Jdg 21:5; 1Sa 14:24.) For the law of vows in the case of married women, see Num 30:6-16; and for the nature of the vow, see the marginal references.

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 1:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Jeremiah 35:1

   This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 35:11 voice

   “The word which came - in the days of Jehoiakim - What strange confusion in the placing of these chapters! Who could have expected to hear of Jehoiakim again, whom we have long ago buried; and we have now arrived in the history at the very last year of the last Jewish king. This discourse was probably delivered in the fourth or fifth year of Jehoiakim’s reign.

   Everything gathered on Jeremiah 35:1→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Lamentations 4:7

   Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.

   ›Commentary on Lamentations 4:72 voices

   “Her Nazarites were purer than snow,.... Such who separated themselves by a vow to the Lord, and abstained from drinking wine and strong drink, and by a moderate diet, and often washing themselves, as well as taking great care of their hair, appeared very neat and comely, like snow, without any spot or blemish.

   “The Nazarites from their temperance were remarkable for health and personal beauty, besides being held in religious veneration. Rubies - Or, corals. Their polishing was of sapphire - Or, their shape was “a sapphire.” The allusion is no longer to color, but to form. Their shape was exact and faultless as the cutting of a precious stone.

   Everything gathered on Lamentations 4:7→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Amos 2:11

   I raised up prophets from your sons and Nazirites from your young men. Is this not true, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD.

   ›Commentary on Amos 2:112 voices

   “(Verse 9 and following) But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedar trees, and he was strong like an oak tree. And I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below. I am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you into the wilderness for forty years, so that you could possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men.

   “And I raised up of your sons for prophets - Amos turns from outward mercies to inward, front past to present, from miracles of power to miracles of grace. God’s past mercies live on in those of today; the mercies of today are the assurance to us that we have a share in the past; His miracles of grace are a token that the miracles of His power are not our condemnation. God had, from the time of Moses, “raised up” prophets.

   Everything gathered on Amos 2:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Amos 2:12

   “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

   ›Commentary on Amos 2:122 voices

   “But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink,.... Contrary to their vow and calling, and in contempt of it, and to make them like themselves; they either persuaded them, or forced them to it: and commanded the prophets, saying, prophesy not; hard and heavy things, judgments and denunciations of vengeance, only smooth things; by this authoritative language it appears that this is said of the rulers and governors of the people, as king, princes, and priests; see Amo 7:12.

   “But ye gave the Nazarites wine - This was expressly forbidden in the laws of their institution. See Num 6:1-3. Prophesy not - They would not worship God, and they would not hear the voice of his prophets.

   Everything gathered on Amos 2:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Matthew 11:18

    For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

    ›Commentary on Matthew 11:182 voices

    “If fasting then pleases you, why were you not satisfied with John? If fulness, why not with the Son of man? Yet one of these ye said had a dæmon, the other ye called a gluttonous man, and drunkard.

    “For John came neither eating nor drinking - Leading a very austere and mortified life: and yet, he did not receive him. A sinner will not be persuaded that what he has no mind to imitate can come from God. There are some who will rather blame holiness itself, than esteem it in those whom they do not like. He hath a devil - He is a vile hypocrite, influenced by a demon to deceive and destroy the simple.

    Everything gathered on Matthew 11:18→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Luke 1:15

    for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.

    ›Commentary on Luke 1:151 voice

    “Shall be great - Shall be eminent, or distinguished as a preacher. In the sight of the Lord - Greek, “before the Lord.” That is, shall be “really” or “truly” great. God shall regard him as such. Shall drink neither wine - The kind of wine commonly used in Judea was a light wine, often not stronger than cider in this country. It was the common drink of all classes of the people. See the notes at Joh 2:11. The use of wine was forbidden only to the Nazarite, Num 6:

    Everything gathered on Luke 1:15→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Luke 7:33

    For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

    ›Commentary on Luke 7:331 voice

    “For John the Baptist,.... Who is designed by the children that mourned in the above simile, with whom his character and conduct agree; he preached very mournful doctrine, delivered it in a very solemn and awful manner, and lived a very austere life, and fasted much, as did also his disciples. The word "Baptist" is here added by Luke, which Matthew has not, to distinguish him from others; and it may be, because he had just spoke of his baptism.

    Everything gathered on Luke 7:33→

    Verse page →Original language →