NAZARITE (n5z'a-rite).
(1) Name. aleb. naw-zeer', and -11;, 1:1"2,t;:,fleh-zeer. el-o-heenz% Nazarite of God).
The term conics from the verb nalv-zar', to separate; and as such separation from ordinary life to religious purposes must be by abstinence of some kind, so it denotes 'to refrain from any thing.' Hence the import of the term Nazarite— one, that is, who, by certain acts of self-denial, consecrated himself in a peculiar manner to the service, worship, and honor of God.
We are here, it is clear, in the midst of a sphere of ideas totally dissimilar to the genius of the Christian system; a sphere of ideas in which the outward predominates, in which self-mortification is held pleasing to God, and in which man's high est service is not enjoyment with gratitude, but privation with pain.
(2) Origin. It may be questioned if at least so much of this set of notions as supposes the Deity to be gratified and conciliated by the privations; of the creature is in harmony with the ideas of God which the books of Moses exhibit, or had their origin in the law Ile promulgated. The manner in which he speaks on the subject (Num. vi:1-21) would seem to imply that he was not introducing a new law, but regulating an old custom; for his words take for granted, that the subject was gen erally and well known, and that all that was needed was such directions as should bring existing ob servances into accordance with the Mosaic ritual. Winer, indeed, sees, in the minuteness and par ticularity of the .Mosaic regulations, a proof that the Nazarite vow was of home origin in Mosaism; an argument whose force we cannot discern, for a foreign practice, once introduced, must of neces sity be conformed to its new abode.
(3) Meaning of the Vow. It is not least among the mcrits of Judaism that in general it is eminently of a practical character. Though ad mitting a multitude of observances,some of which, being of a very minute kind, and relating to every day life, must have been troublesome, if not vexa tious, yet the ordinary current of existence was allowed to run on unimpeded; energy was not di rected from its proper chaanel; and life was spent in the active discharge of those offices which human wants require, and by which human hap piness may be best advanced. There was no
Indian self-renuneiation; there was no monkish isolation ; yet the vow of the Nazarite shows that personal privations were not unknown in the Mo saic polity. This vow we regard as an instance and an exemplification of that asceticism which, wherever human nature is left free to develop it self, will always manifest its tendencies arid put forth its effects. No age, no nation, no religion has been without asceticism. Self-mortification is, with some minds, as natural as self-enjoymeht with others. The proneness to ascetic practices is a sort of disorder of temperament. It is in part a question of original constitution. As some in dividuals are inclined to melancholy, to brood over thcir own states of mind, so they tend to be come morbid in their feelings, intensely self-dis satisfied, over-thoughtful, full of personal solici tudes; then gloomy ; then still more dissatisfied with themselves, till at length they are led to think that nothing but severe mortifieations and self-inflicted penalties can atone for their guilt. and placate a justly offended God. This general tendency of a certain physical temperament may be checked or encouraged by religious opinions or social institutions, as well as by the peculiar hue which the fortune of an age or a country may bear. The disease, however, is eminently conta gious; and if, owing to unknown circumstances, there was in the days of Moses a tendency, wheth er borrowed from Egypt or merely strengrthened by Egyptian practices, which threatened, in its ex cess, to become in any degree epidemic, it was wise and patriotic in that lawgiver to take the subject into his own remedial hands, and to re strain and limit to individuals that which might otherwise infcct large classes, if not reach and so wcaken the national nUnd.