🔢WEB · Numbers 6:11
What does Numbers 6:11 mean?
"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."
— Numbers 6:11 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
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,
and he shall offer his offering to Yahweh, one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, and one ram without defect for peace offerings,
Explanation
Numbers 6:11 comes from the instructions concerning the Nazirite vow, a special commitment an Israelite man or woman could make to be set apart to the LORD for a period of time. This particular verse addresses what happens when a Nazirite's vow is interrupted by an unexpected event: someone dying suddenly nearby, defiling the Nazirite through no real fault of their own. The verse says that when this happens, the priest is to offer two birds — one as a sin offering and one as a burnt offering — to make atonement for the person, and then the Nazirite's head is to be reconsecrated as holy that same day.
To understand the context, this passage is part of the book of Numbers, traditionally attributed to Moses, written during Israel's wilderness wanderings after the exodus from Egypt. It was addressed to the Israelite community as part of the broader legal and ceremonial instructions given at Sinai and in the wilderness. The Nazirite vow, described earlier in Numbers 6, involved abstaining from wine and grape products, refraining from cutting one's hair, and avoiding contact with dead bodies — even those of close family members. Contact with a corpse was considered a serious source of ceremonial defilement in Israelite law, and if a Nazirite was suddenly exposed to a dead body (say, someone dying unexpectedly beside them), their vow was interrupted and their consecrated status was broken, even though they had not intended any wrongdoing.
Theologically, this verse highlights the seriousness with which God treated holiness and the reality that def
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