NAZIRITE (11th. nit:ir, from mi.:ar, to eon .•,evro le ). Among the Hebrews, one who had de voted himself in a peculiar sense to Yahweh. The train is used of two classes: la I Nazi rites for life, and for a limited period. The law in the post-exilic Priestly Code I Num. vi. i refers to the latter clan- alone. According to this la W. inc. who bail taken the vow of Nazirite-hip was to abstain from wine or any intoxienting (brink, not to suffer a razor to touch his head. hut to let the hicks of his hair grow long, and to avoid all ceremonial defilement. It is evident from these regulations particularly the first tuo—that the Nazirite was to had a life marked by the return to the simpler and rougher fashion: of primitive times. The original purpose of such vows among the Ilebreus, as among the Arabs. where they are also found lef. Wellhousen, 1.'isie frrahischen 11r jilt nthrtms, p. 113. Berlin, 1897: R. Smith. 1'' bgnon of lb, Sentit, s, pp. 482. sqq.. London. 1891). was for \val. or revenge, hut it was natural also to extend the customs involved to sacred seasons of the '.ear W111.11 the deity was to be approached. So among the Arabs to this day. (luring the (1.s spent by the pilgrims in Mecca (see II ‘.r.i I. it is forbidden to tilt the hair, and other restrie ti?ons are imposed. of Which emphasize the return in the holy season to more primitive fashions. As for the Nazirite for life, we have only two instances in the Old Testament, Samson and Samuel. The former. in so far as he I'M popular elements. represents the hero of a rile (o..!-e. It is not said of him that he WaS
to abstain from wine, and, as a matter of fact, lie frequently was involved in acts (such as con the carcass of a lion) which brought in their wake eeremonial defilement. The long hair in his case may have originally been the natural condition, just as the hero Eabani among the Babylonians is described as 'hairy.' In the ease of Samuel. the Naziriteship involves, like wise. merely the obligation to let the hair grow, and this noly have been customary among the guardians of the sanctuaries. who were in a per petual state of 'sanctity.' The application, there fore, of the term Nazirite to Samson and Samuel in the post-exilie sense of the word is due to the projection into the past of a condition'which reached its development centuries after the age of those two personages. Naziriteship in time lost its old significance and beeame a species of Imitate aseeticism. in this sense. John the Bap tist is a 'permanent' Nazirite (Luke i. 15) and Saint Paul possibly (though not certainly) a temporary one (Aets xxi. 17-26). Consult: Dillmann. Die Buck,. Nunicri, Deuteronomium and .Iosaa I Leipzig, Driver. "The Books of Joel and Amos," in the Cambridge Bible for schools and Colleges (Cambridge, 1897) ; No waek. //chraisehe Jrcliiiologie (Freiburg, Benzinger. llebriiiselle rchiiologic (ib.. 18941: Lchrbach. der all testaincollielien Ileligion.sgesclric•/ttc (ib., 1893).