1. Judges 13:5 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is known about the Nazirite vow?

Judges 13:5 (ESV)

5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

The term Nazirite transliterates the Hebrew nāzîr (נזיר), from the root nzr (נזר), meaning as a verb to separate or to hold oneself back from, and as a noun consecration or dedication.1

Though the time of the Nazirite vow’s institution is not known, it appears for the first time in the Scriptures in Numbers 6:1–21, the only passage in the Bible outlining the conduct for one wanting to become a Nazirite. Nazirites were separated in two ways: negatively, they were separated from three things: 1) wine, strong drink, grapes, and raisins; 2) the cutting of the hair or beard during the vow’s duration; and 3) contact with corpses and graves, including those of a family member. Positively, they were separated uniquely to the Lord, holy to the Lord (Numbers 6).