🔢WEB · Numbers 6:10
What does Numbers 6:10 mean?
"On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting."
— Numbers 6:10 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head.
All the days of his separation he is holy to Yahweh.
“‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day he shall shave it.
On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting.
The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and shall make his head holy that same day.
He shall separate to Yahweh the days of his separation, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
“‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
Explanation
Numbers 6:10 gives a specific instruction within the larger law of the Nazirite vow: if a person who has dedicated themselves to God through this vow becomes ceremonially defiled — specifically because someone died suddenly near them — they must, on the eighth day after their purification process begins, bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. This verse is a procedural detail, but it belongs to a meaningful ritual sequence meant to restore the Nazirite to a state of purity and renewed devotion.
The book of Numbers records laws given to Moses for the Israelites during their years in the wilderness, after they left Egypt but before entering the Promised Land. Chapter 6 addresses the Nazirite vow, a voluntary commitment some Israelites made to set themselves apart for a period of special dedication to God. Nazirites abstained from wine and grape products, let their hair grow uncut, and avoided contact with dead bodies, even those of close family members. This last restriction was serious because contact with a corpse was one of the most severe sources of ceremonial defilement in Israelite law. If someone died suddenly in the Nazirite's presence — a situation beyond their control — the vow was interrupted, and a process of purification and restoration
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