VI.— K K K
full Nazarite were beyond the means of the pious poor, and which made it also an act of piety for a rich man to pay the necessary expenses, and thus enable his poorer brethren to complete their vow (Josephus, Aw^ xix, 6, 1), explains Acts xxi, 23, 24, 26, where we find that St. Paul could only take upon himself a part of the vow, then proceed with the poor Nazarites to the temple, and offer through them, and thus make them partake of his charges about the sacrifices. The Gemara (quoted by Reland, Ant. Sac.) states that Alexander Jannjeus con-- tributed towards supplying nine hmidred victims for three hundred Nazarites. See Paul.
5. Duration of the Nazaritish Vow. — As the Bible says nothing about the duration of the Nazaritish vow, but leaves every one who takes it to fix his own time, the administrators of the Mosaic law were obliged to specify a certain number of days as the lowest period for Naza- riteship, since it not mifrequently happened that some took the vow without mentioning any definite time whatever, while others, if they could take it for a few days, would vow too often, and thereby diminish its sol- emn character. Hence the Jewish canons determined that '-if any one says, I will be a Nazarite, without mentioning expressly how long, he cannot be a Naza- rite less than thirty days; and even if he says, I take upon myself to be a Nazarite with an exceedingly great Nazariteship, it is not to be more than thirty days, be- cause he expressed no time. If he mentions less than thirty days, e.g. if he says I am a Nazarite for one day or ten days or twenty days, he is nevertheless a Naza- rite for thirty days, for there is no Nazariteship for less than thirty days. This is a law transmitted by tradi- tion. But if he mentions a time more than thirty days, e. g. if he says thirty-one days, or forty, or a hundred daj's, or a hundred years, he must be a Nazarite during the said period, neither less nor more" (Maimonides, Hilchoth Neziruth, iii, 1-3 ; Mishna, Nazir, i, 3 ; iii, 1 ; vi, 3; Joseph. War, ii, 15, 1). The ancient expositors connect the fixing of the indefinite vow at thirty days, with the words, " he shall be half (ilirii "Qlp, Numb, vi, 5), by the exegetical rule called Gematria (DHD
i-iin% ST^ni 'Q'-\p "112X3^ D",'! u^-db-a ni-iita
□ loba 5<1TJ03), where r\^T>'^ (10 -1- 5-1- 10 -|- 5 =30) amounts to thirty (comp. Siphri, ad loc). It will be seen from this that there were some who took the Naz-- aritish vow for life. These are called obl^ '^"I'^'iS (Nazarcei nativi), perpetual Nazcuites, in contradistinc- tion from those who took the vow for a limited period ' (Nazarcei votivi), and are therefore called D'^TS'^ i~l'^T3, Nazarites for a certain number of days, or *|7;T "^T^J m^p, Nazarites for a short time. The Bible mentions three Nazctrites for life : Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Fathers, and mothers with the consent of their husbands, could devote their prospective children to perpetual Nazaritism (1 Sam. i, 11; Mishna, N^azir, ix, 5), in which case the mother abstained during her preg- nancy from wine and strong drink and unclean things (Judg. xiii, 4; Luke i, 15). These life-long Nazarites were afterwards divided into two classes, viz. iT^tS ub^V, ordinary perpetual Nazarites, and 'id^'d '^"i''T3, Samson-Nazarites, and the distinction betv.een the two was that the former were allowed to diminish their hair when it became too heavy, if they Avere willing to bring the three appointed sacrifices, and were obliged to bring a sacrifice in case they became defiled : while the latter were not allowed to diminish their hair, however heaA'y, but Avere not required to bring a sacrifice in case they became defiled (Mishna, Nazir, i, 2), because Samson brought no sacrifice after he Avas defiled by contact with the jaAV-bone of a dead ass (Judg. xv, 16). Of course, any one who wished to become a Samson-Nazarite had distinctly to say so (""j^'CJS "iSi"!?!) Avhen he took the vow. One instance is related of Helena, queen of Adia-
NAZAPJTE
882
NAZARITE
bene (of whom some particulars are given by Josephus, I tims should be individuals of one and the same species Ant. XX, 2), who, with the zeal of a new convert, took a ' of animal. The shorn hair was put on the fire of the vow for seven years in order to obtain the divine favor j altar in order that, although the divine law did not per- on a military expedition which her son was about to mit the offering of human blood, something might be undertake. When her period of consecration had ex- j offered up that was actually a portion of his own person, pired she visited Jerusalem, and was there informed by Ewald, following in the same line of thought, has treated
the doctors of the school of Ilillel that a vow taken in another country must be repeated whenever the Naza- rite might visit tlie Holy Land. She accordingly con- tinued a Nazarite ftjr a second seven j-ears, and happen- ing to touch a dead body just as the time was about to expire, she was obliged to renew her vow, according to the law in Numb, vi, 9, etc. She thus continued a Naz- arite for twenty-one years (Nazi); iii, G).