[‘The Priestly Blessing” . . . how many of us have not heard that in song, committed it to memory and recited it to one another at the end of our Sabbath worship. “YHWH bless you and keep you; YHWH make His Face shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His shalom.” This is the chapter from which that blessing is lifted, at the end after a discussion of the law of the Nazirite. Commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftarah, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.–Admin.]
Numbers/Bamidbar 6
THE LAW OF THE NAZIRITE
The previous chapter provided for the exclusion of certain forms of guilt and defilement from the pale of God’s people. The present chapter offers an opening to the life of the devotee who, not content with observing what is obligatory, seeks austere modes of self-dedication. The Nazirite vow includes three things;
- the hair to remain unshorn during the period of the vow;
- abstinence from intoxicants;
- avoidance of contact with a dead body.
The Nazirite vow was often taken by men and women alike purely for personal reasons, such as thanksgiving for recovery from illness, or for the birth of a child. The minimum period of the vow was thirty days, but we have instances of Nazirite vows extending over repeated periods of seven years. Scripture records also life-long Nazirites, who, however, were not bound by all regulations of the temporary Nazirite. Mention is also made of the Rechabites, who abstained from wine (Jer.XXXV), and, in later times, the Essenes, whose life was semi-monastic. The institution disappeared in its entirety with the destruction of the Temple.]
1 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying: 2 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: A man or a woman-when one sets oneself apart, by vowing the vow of a Nazirite/Consecrated-one, to consecrate-oneself for YHVH:
Nazirite. That is, one separated or consecrated. Heb. Nazir.
Fast forward to the book of Shoftim/Judges XXIII,5: This comment is from Artscroll (AS):
The people once more fell into sinfulness and God permitted the Philistines to take control of the country. Israel was not worthy of the complete salvation brought about in earlier times by such great judges as Deborah and Gideon, but God did not wish to let the Philistines go completely unpunished. So He sent Samson, whom He endowed with superhuman strength, to carry out sporadic attacks against the Philistines. Moreover, he was to do as a lone “vigilante,” so to speak, not as the leader of the people. As a symbol of his holiness, and the source of his strength, he was to be a Nazirite from the womb, and even his very birth from a barren, infertile mother would be miraculous.
3 from wine and from intoxicant one is to consecrate-oneself; fermentation of wine and fermentation of intoxicant one is not to drink, any liquid of grapes one is not to drink, and grapes, moist or dried, one is not to eat.wine. The priest had to refrain from wine during service in the Sanctuary (Lev.X,9), and the Nazirite’s whole life was conceived as service of God.
strong drink. A comprehensive term for intoxicating liquors other than wine.
vinegar. Any preparation made from any intoxicant that has gone sour.
liquor of grapes. Made by soaking grapeskins in water.
4 All the days of one’s being-consecrated, anything that is made from the vine of wine, from seeds to skin, one is not to eat.pressed grapes. Pressed grapes from which the wine has already been extracted (Talmud).
5 All the days of one’s vow of being-consecrated a razor is not to go-across one’s head; until the fulfilling of days that one is consecrated for YHVH, holy shall one remain; one is to grow loose the hair on one’s head.no razor come upon his head. The hair was regarded as the symbol of the vital power at its full natural development; and the free growth of the hair on the head of the Nazirite represented the dedication of the man with all his strength and powers to the service of God.
holy. Here signifying separated, detached from ordinary mundane pursuits by leading a life of self-denial and self-dedication to God.
6 All the days that one consecrates-oneself for YHVH, near a dead person one is not to come-7 (even) for one’s father or one’s mother, one’s brother or one’s sister; one is not to make-oneself-tamei by them when they die, for (hair) consecrated for one’s God is upon one’s head.
unclean for his father. In respect to contact with a dead body, the ordinary Nazirite was as stringently bound as the High Priest (Lev. XXI,11). Not so another class of Nazirite, called by the Rabbis the Samson type of Nazirite.
his consecration unto God. lit. ‘the crown of his God’; the sign and symbol of his special consecration unto God; the hair of the Nazirite being to him what the crown was to the king and what the mitre was to the High Priest.
8 All the days of one’s being-consecrated, one is holy to YHVH.9-12. INVOLUNTARY DEFILEMENT
9 Now if a dead-man has died near one suddenly, all-of-a-sudden, so that one makes-tamei the consecrated (hair of one’s) head, one is to shave one’s head on the day of one’s becoming-pure; on the seventh day one is to shave it.beside him. In the tent wherein he is (Rashi).
day of his cleansing. The 8th day after his defilement.
10 Now on the eighth day one is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment.11 The priest is to sacrifice one as a hattat/decontamination-
for that he sinned. Although his defilement was involuntary, he should have avoided even the remotest possibility of defilement. the Talmud explains that he was ordered to make atonement for his vow to abstain from drinking wine, an unnecessary self-denial in regard to one of the permitted pleasures of life.
shall hallow . . . that same day. Renew his vow from the moment he has effected atonement.
12 and is to reconsecrate to YHVH the days of one’s being- consecrated, bringing a lamb in its (first) year as an asham/compensation-offering. The former days are to be (considered) fallen-away, since tamei became one’s state-of-consecration.shall consecrate. Resume his life under the Nazirite rule for the whole period which he had originally intended.
guilt offering. For the sin committed unwittingly through which his defilement overtook him.
shall be void. Not be counted as part of the period during which the vow was valid.
13-21. RITES TO BE PERFORMED AT THE COMPLETION OF THE VOW
13 Now this is the Ritual-instruction for the Consecrated-one: On the day that one’s days of being-consecrated are fulfilled, one is to be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Appointment;he shall bring it. i.e., he shall come with his consecrated head unshaven to the door of the Tent of Meeting.
he shall present his offering. Which included all four ordinary sacrifices:
- burnt-offering
- sin-offering
- peace-offering
- and meal-offering
and shall take the hair. As the Nazirite had during his vow worn his hair unshorn in honour of God, so when the time was complete it was natural that the hair, the symbol of his vow, should be cut off at the Sanctuary. In the times of the Mishnah, a special room was assigned to the Nazirites for that purpose in one of the Temple courts.
19 The priest is to take the shoulder of the ram, boiled, and one loaf of matza from the basket, and one wafer of matza, and is to put (them) upon the palms of the Consecrated-one, after one’s shaving of one’s consecrated (hair).20 The priest is to elevate them as an elevation-offering, before the presence of YHVH- it is a its holy-offering for the priest- on top of the breast of the elevation-offering and on top of the thigh of the contribution, and after (that) the Consecrated-one may drink wine.
the Nazirite may drink wine. Presumably the other restrictions also fell away.
21 This is the Instruction for the Consecrated-one who vows a near-offering to YHVH in addition to one’s (requirement of) consecration, aside from what one’s hand can reach: according to the vow that one has vowed, thus is one to perform, in addition to the instructed-requirements of one’s consecration.beside that for which his means suffice. Apart from whatever else he may be able to afford over and above the offerings laid down in this chapter.
according to his vow . . . so he must do. This warning concerning vows is clearly stated in Deut. III,24. ‘That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according as thou has vowed freely unto the LORD thy God, even that which thou hast promised with thy mouth.’
22-27. THE PRIESTLY BLESSING
The simple and beautiful threefold petition which follows in v. 24-26 is known as ‘The Priestly Blessing.’ It is as it were the crown and seal of the whole sacred order by which Israel was now fully organized as the people of God, for the march to the Holy Land. The Heb. text consists of three short verses, of three, five, and seven words respectively. ‘It mounts by gradual stages from the petition for material blessing and protection to that for Divine favour as a spiritual blessing, and in beautiful climax culminates in the petition for God’s most consummate gift, shalom, peace, the welfare in which all material and spiritual well-being is comprehended’ (Kautsch). The fifteen words that constitute these three verses contain a world of trust in God and faith in God. They are clothed in a rhythmic form of great beauty, and they fall with majestic solemnity upon the ear of the worshipper. The Priestly Blessing was one of the most impressive features of the Service in the Temple at Jerusalem, and holds a prominent place in the worship of the Synagogue. In the Temple it was pronounced from a special tribune (duchan; hence the current name ‘duchaning’) after the sacrifice of the daily offering, morning and evening. In the Synagogue, it was early introduced into the daily Amidah (Authorised Prayer Boo, p. 53). Its pronouncement by the Priests is in Ashkenazi communities limited, as a rule, to Festivals when not falling on Sabbaths. The ancient melody that accompanies its pronouncement by the Priests is in its original form weird and most impressive. Since the Reformation, the Priestly Blessing is a constituent of the service in many Protestant Churches.
22 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:23 Speak to Aharon and to his sons, saying: Thus are you to bless the Children of Israel; say to them:
on this wise ye shall bless. The Rabbis based on these words their specific regulations was to be pronounced. Only a priest, and not ‘a stranger’, was to pronounce it; it was to be done standing, and with outspread hands; the priest must be sober when blessing; and it must be given in the Hebrew tongue. These prescriptions have deep spiritual implications for all time. A stranger cannot bless; blessing requires knowledge and loving understanding of the person or cause to be blessed. Furthermore, to bless others is a difficult task, requiring readiness for sacrifice and prayerfulness. And, unless the blessing is to prove a blight, he that blesses must be quite ‘sober’—the fanatic or he whose judgment is beclouded by hatred or prejudice can never truly bless anyone. The requirement as to the language of the Blessing is as vital as any. As far as the Jew is concerned, every measure on his behalf must be in the Sacred Tongue—i.e. translatable into Hebrew terms, and in line with Jewish history and Jewish ideals.
24. THE GUARDIANSHIP OF GOD
24 May YHVH bless you and keep you!the LORD bless thee. With life, health, prosperity.
thee. Why is the singular used? A current explanation is: as the prerequisite of all blessing for Israel is unity, all Israel is to feel as one organic body.
and keep thee. Or, ‘guard thee’; grant thee His Divine protection against evil, sickness, poverty, calamity. The LORD is the Keeper of Israel. He delivers our souls from death, keeps our eyes from tears, and our feet from stumbling. The Rabbis gave a wide application to these three Heb. words: May God bless thee, with possessions; and keep thee, from these possessions possessing thee. May God guard thee from sin, and shield thee from all destructive influences that so often follow in the wake of earthly prosperity.
25. THE GRACE OF GOD
25 May YHVH shine his face upon you and favor you!His face to shine upon thee. Light in Scripture is the symbol not only of happiness and purity, but also of friendship. To cause the face to shine upon one is the Biblical idiom for to be friendly to him. When God’s ‘face’ is said to be turned towards man and to shine upon him, it implies the outpouring of Divine love and salvation (Ps. LXXX,20). In contrast tot his, we have the prayer, ‘Hide not Thy face from me.’
The Rabbis interpret the words, ‘make His face to shine upon thee,’ in a purely spiritual sense, to imply the gift of knowledge and moral insight. ‘May He give thee enlightenment of the eyes, the light of the Shechinah; may the fire of Prophecy burn in the souls of thy children; may the light of the Torah illumine thy home’ (Sifri).
gracious unto thee. This is more than ‘keep thee’ in the preceding verse. May He be beneficent unto thee, and graciously fulfill thy petition. The Rabbis understand in the sense of ‘May He give thee grace in the eyes of thy fellowmen’; i.e., may He make thee lovable, and beloved in the eyes of others. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said: ‘He in whom his fellow-creatures take delight, in him the All-present takes delight.’
26. THE PEACE OF GOD
26 May YHVH lift up his face toward you and grant you shalom!lift up His countenance upon thee. Or, ‘turn His face unto thee’; turn His attention, His loving care unto thee.
give thee. ‘Peace in thy coming in, peace in thy going out, peace with all men. Great is peace, for it is the seal of all blessings (Talmud). The Heb. shalom means not only freedom from all disaster, but health, welfare, security, and tranquility; ‘the peace which alone reconciles and strengthens, which calms us and clears our vision, which frees us from restlessness and from the bondage of unsatisfied desire, which gives us the consciousness of attainment, the consciousness of permanence even amid the transitoriness of ourselves and of outward things’ (Montefiore).
‘Peace, say the Rabbis, is one of the pillars of the world; without it the social order could not exist. Therefore let the man do his utmost to promote it. Thus it is that the greatest Sages made a point of being the first to salute passersby in the street. Peace is the burthen of the prayer with which every service in the synagogue concludes: ‘May He who maketh peace in His high heavens grant peace unto us!’ And so a twofold duty is indicated. We are not only to be peaceful ourselves, but to help others be peaceful also. Peace is not only a personal, but a national ideal.
There are, doubtless, occasions when war is defensible as a less evil than a disastrous and dishonourable peace. There are worse things, it is true, than war; but the worst of them is the belief that war is indispensable. such a belief is fatal to the ultimate establishment of universal peace. The war-loving Jew is a contradiction in terms. Only the peace-loving Jew is a true follower of his Prophets, who set universal brotherhood in the forefront of their pictures of coming happiness for mankind, predicting the advent of a Golden Age when nation should not live up sword against nation, nor learn war any more’ (Morris Joseph).
Peace is no negative conception and is not the equivalent of inactivity. Whether for the individual or for society, it is that harmonious co-operation of all human forces towards ethical and spiritual ends which men call the Kingdom of God. The Prophets longed for a Messianic peace that should pervade the universe, and include all men, all peoples—that should include also the beasts of the field; Isaiah XI,6-10.
27 So are they to put my name upon the Children of Israel, that I myself may bless them.put My name. Announce to the children of Israel the blessed and beneficent nearness of the living God. In this prayer on behalf of Israel, the priests pronounced over the people the Ineffable Name of God. Outside the Temple, Adonay was invariably substituted for the Tetragrammaton.
and I will bless them. i.e. the children of Israel. The Israelites say, Why didst Thou order the priest to bless us? We want Thy blessing only. And God replies, It is I who stand by the priests and bless you (Talmud). The priest was no Mediator; and no priest would say, I bless the children of Israel. God is the source of, and He alone can give effect to, the blessing pronounced by the priests. They were merely the channel through which the blessing was conveyed to the Israelites.