Kasuga's offering state

The Nazirite state is a voluntarily undertaken consecration to the LORD, open to either a man or a woman. Its rules make dedication visible in daily conduct and bodily appearance, while prescribing how an accidental encounter with death interrupts the vow and how its completion is formally marked.

Entry and Conditions of the Vow

The vow begins when a man or woman expressly undertakes to consecrate themselves to the LORD. Throughout the period of Naziriteship, the person must abstain from wine and strong drink, vinegar made from either, grape liquor, and grapes, fresh or dried. The prohibition extends to every product of the vine, from pressed grapes to seeds.

The consecrated person must let the hair grow: no razor may touch the head until the vowed days are complete. The Nazirite must also keep away from a dead body. Even the death of a father, mother, brother, or sister does not suspend this restriction, because the consecration rests upon the person’s head. The text accordingly describes the Nazirite as holy to the LORD for every day of the vow.

Accidental Defilement and Renewal

An unexpected death beside the Nazirite can defile the consecrated head, even when the contact is not presented as deliberate. The prescribed response begins on the seventh day, when the person shaves the head as part of the cleansing. On the eighth day, two turtledoves or two young pigeons are brought to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting: one is offered as a sin-offering and the other as a burnt-offering, and the priest makes atonement.

The interruption has a further consequence: the earlier days of the vow are void. The Nazirite must consecrate the days anew to the LORD and bring a yearling male lamb as a guilt-offering. The rule thus treats accidental defilement not as a minor lapse that leaves the vow’s duration untouched, but as a rupture requiring both ritual cleansing and renewed observance.

Completion and Public Ritual

When the consecration period is fulfilled, the Nazirite comes to the entrance of the tent of meeting with an offering: an unblemished yearling male lamb for a burnt-offering, an unblemished yearling ewe-lamb for a sin-offering, and an unblemished ram for peace-offerings. The accompanying grain offerings include a basket of unleavened bread, fine-flour cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, together with their grain and drink offerings.

The priest presents and offers the sin-offering and burnt-offering, then offers the ram as a peace-offering with the bread and its accompanying offerings. At the entrance, the Nazirite shaves the consecrated hair and places it on the fire beneath the peace-offering. Afterward the priest sets the cooked shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake, and one wafer upon the Nazirite’s hands, and waves them before the LORD. These portions are holy for the priest, along with the breast of the wave-offering and the thigh of the heave-offering. Only after this sequence may the Nazirite drink wine again.

The regulations identify the standard offerings while allowing additional offerings according to the Nazirite’s means; the vowed person must nevertheless do what the law of Naziriteship requires. The ending is therefore marked not simply by the passage of time or the removal of uncut hair, but by offerings, priestly actions, and a defined return to wine.