🔢WEB · Numbers 6:5
What does Numbers 6:5 mean?
"“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long."
— Numbers 6:5 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh,
he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.
All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins.
“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
“‘All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh he shall not go near a dead body.
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.
Explanation
Numbers 6:5 is part of the instructions God gave to Moses concerning the Nazirite vow, a special, voluntary consecration that any Israelite man or woman could take for a set period of time. This particular verse addresses one of the three key restrictions of that vow: during the entire time a person had separated themselves to the Lord under this vow, no razor was to touch their head. Their hair was to grow long and untouched throughout the whole period of their commitment.
The book of Numbers records the laws and history of Israel during their wilderness wanderings after the Exodus from Egypt, written down through Moses as God's instructions to the priests and people. The Nazirite vow described in chapter 6 was not required of anyone but was a way for an individual to dedicate themselves to God with unusual devotion for a specific period, whether for spiritual, thankful, or petitionary reasons. Alongside the prohibition on cutting one's hair, the vow also required abstaining from wine, strong drink, and anything made from grapes, as well as avoiding contact with a dead body, even that of a close family member. Each of these restrictions served as a visible sign that the person had set themselves apart from ordinary life for God's purposes during that time.
Theologically, the uncut hair functioned as an outward sign of an inward reality: total consecration to the Lord. Just as the priests wore special garments to mark their set-apart status, the Nazirite's long hair marked them, day by day, as someone who had voluntarily entered into an unusual closeness with God for a season. The word "holy" in this ver
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