If he was accidentally defiled by death suddenly oc- curring on his premises, he was obliged to obserxe the legal purification of seven days (comp. Numb, xix, 14) ; cut off his hair on the seventh day — which in this case was not burned, but buried (Jlishna, Temura,\\,\; and Maimonides, ad loc.) ; bring on the eighth day two tur- tle-doves or two young pigeons to the priest — one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering; hallow his head, offer a lamb of the first year as a trespass- offering, renew his vow, and begin again his Xazarite- ship, as the days which had passed since the commence- ment of his vow were lost through this interruption (Numb, vi, 1-12). His desecration by a dead body is alone mentioned, because it might happen without his will; whereas the other two conditions of his vow were in his own power, and, it was presumed, would not be violated. According to the later penalties of the Tal- mud, men and women who, after taking the Nazaritish vow, cut their hair or plucked it off with their liands. or defiled themselves by wilfully coming in contact with dead bodies, or partook of wine, received forty stripes (Xazir, iv, 3 ; Slaimonides, Hilchoth Nezir, v, 2, 6, 8, 11). So rigid were the regulations that the Xazarite was not allowed to comb his hair lest some of it m gtit be torn out, but he was permitted to smooth it with his hands {Xazir, vi, 3).
As the Mosaic law saj-s nothing about the formality of the Xazaritish vow, and as all other declarations were binding wherever and whenever made (Deut. xxiii, 24), we may accept the ancient Jewish canons that the vow was made in private, and that it was binding even if a man or woman simply said, " Behold, I am a Xazarite !" ("■^TS ''3^"in), or repeated, "I also become one," Avheu hearing any one else make this declaration (Mishna, Xazir, i, 3 ; iii, 1 ; iv, 1). A father could make a vow for his son before he was thirteen years of age, but not a mother for hers (Numb, xxx, 8; Sota, iii, 8; Xazir, iii, 6). A man had the power to annul his wife's vow {Xazir, iv, 1 ; Maimonides, llilvhoth Xtziruth, ii, 17), but not his slave's, and in case lie did i)rohibit him to perform it, he was bound to fulfil it as soon as he was set at liberty (Xazir, ix, 1).
The vow seems to have been resorted to, like prayer, by pious people, under cxtraordinarA- exigeftcie?;. f^uch as in cases of sickness (Josephus, War, ii, 15), or when starting on a long journey (iJIishna, Xazir, i, 6), or when wishing for children (ib. ii, 7 ; ix, x).
4. Acconipli.ihment of'the .yazarile's Voir. and the Offer- ings connected therewith. — When the time of liis Xaza- riteship was accomplished, the Xazarite had to present himself before the door of the sanctuarj- with three sac-
NAZARITE
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NAZARITE
rifices, corresponding to the three prohibitions of Naza- ritism — («) A he-lamb of the first year for a burnt- offering ; (b) a ewe-lamb also of the first year for a sin- ofiFering; and (c) a ram for a peace-offering. With the latter " he had to bring six tenth-deals and two thirds of a tenth-deal of flour, from which were baked twenty cakes, viz. ten unleavened cakes and ten unleavened wafers. These twenty cakes were anointed with a fourth part of a log of oil, as fixed by a law of Moses from Sinai, and were all brought in one vessel" (^Nlairao- nides, Hilchoth Neziruth, viii, 1). Besides these extraor- diuary cakes and wafers, he had to bring the ordinary meat-offering and drink-offering appointed for all sacri- fices (comp. Numb, xxviii). These three sacrifices were designed both as an atonement for the sins which the Nazarite unconsciously committed during his Nazarite- ship, and as an expression of thanksgiving to Him by whose grace he had happily fulfilled the time of his vow. After tlie priest had offered these sacrifices — sin-offer- ing first, burnt-offering second, and peace-offering third (Maimonides, Hilchoth Neziruth, viii, 3)— the Nazarite cut off his Nazir head CnTS dXI)— i. e. the hair which was his Nazaritish pledge— at the door, threw it into the fire under the peace-offering, or, as the ancient Jewish canons have it, under the caldron in which the peace-offering was boiled (Mishna, Nazir, vi, 8). Thereupon " the priest took the boiled shoulder of the ram, one of the ten unleavened cakes from the basket, and one of the unleavened Avafers, laid them on the Nazarite's hand, put his hands under those of the owner, and waved it all before the Lord" (Mishna, Nazir, vi, 9). " The fat was then salted and burned upon the altar, while the breast and the fore-leg were eaten by the priests after the fat was burned; the cake, too, which was waved, and the boiled shoulder, were eaten by the priests, but the remaining bread and the meat were eaten by the owners" (Maimonides, Hilchoth Maase ha- Corbanoth, ix, 9-11). Besides these sacrifices which were ordained, the Nazarite also brought a free-will offering proportioned to his circumstances (Numb, vi, 13-21). In the time of the Temple there was a Nazarite chamber in the woman's court in the south-east corner, where the Nazarites boiled their peace-offerings, cut off the hair of their heads, and cast it into the fire under the caldron. They Avere, however, also allowed to cut off their hair in the country. " But whether the Naza- rite cut it in the country or in the sanctuary, he was obliged to have the hair cast under the caldron, and was not allowed to do it before the appointed time for opening the door of the court, as it is written, ' the door of the tent' (Numb, vi, 8) ; which does not mean that he is to cut off his hair before or at the door, for that would be treating the sanctuary with contempt" (^lish- na, Middoth, ii, 5; Nazir, vi, 8; Maimonides, Hilchoth Neziruth, viii, 3 ). The assertion, therefore, of Dr. How- son {Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i, 499), and others, that the vow recorded in Acts xviii, 18 cannot be re- garded as a regular Nazaritish vow, because it is said that Paul "shaved his head in Cenchreje," and because it '• was not cut off at the door of the temple where the sacrifices were offered, as was required by the law of the Nazarite," is at variance with the practice of the Jews in the days of our Saviour. One could also take upon himself one of the obligations of a Nazarite, and then send his sacrifices through a Nazarite, as may be seen from the following remark : " He who said, ' Lo, I take upon myself the shaving of a Nazarite,' is bound to bring the offerings of shavings for cleanness, and may offer them through any Nazarite he pleases. Or if he says, 'I take upon myself half the offerings of a Nazarite,' or ' I take upon myself half the shaving of a Nazarite,' he has only to bring half the sacrifices, and can send them through any Nazarite he likes, and that Nazarite pays those offerings from his own" (Maimonides, Hilchoth Neziruth, \\n, 18). This circumstance, which evidently arose from the fact that the offerings required from a