This week’s Torah portion covers Numbers 4:21–7:89. The title Nasso means carry or elevate. Out of the 54 Torah portions, Nasso has the most verses, making it the longest single portion. The text is made up of seemingly unrelated passages that do not follow a strict chronological timeline. However, they all center around the theme of sanctifying and purifying the camp as Israel prepares to march.
First, God commands Moses to count the remaining families of the tribe of Levi who were responsible for transporting the heavy structural elements of the Tabernacle through the wilderness. The reading begins with a continuation of the census in the camp, where 8,580 Levites are found eligible to transport the Tabernacle. Details are given for exactly which pieces go to which priestly families.
The text then transitions into how to handle accusations of a wife’s unfaithfulness. Right after that, we are presented with the laws of the Nazirite. The text ends with a long, highly repetitious section where each of the leaders of the twelve tribes brings an identical offering to the altar. Most importantly, Numbers 6 introduces the long-enduring institution of the Nazarite and memorializes one of the oldest documented Hebrew prayers.
Nazarite Vow
The Nazarite vow allowed individuals to dedicate themselves fully to God. In the first portion in Numbers, we discussed the hereditary role given to the Levitical priesthood. The Nazarite path, however, was a democratic or merit-based option to consecrate oneself like a priest. It was open to anyone, regardless of tribal affiliation. Nazir means consecrated or separated. To pursue this heightened level of ritual purity, Nazarites took a vow to observe three strict rules that would separate them from the lay people. As long as they held fast to the three rules, all the days of their Nazirite vow they are holy to the Lord (Num. 6:8).
First, Nazarites practiced complete abstinence from the vine. They could not consume wine, fermented liquor, or vinegar. Grape juice, fresh grapes, and dried grapes were also forbidden (Num. 6:3–4). Second, they could not cut their hair. A razor was never to touch their head. Their long hair was like a physical crown of their consecration to God (Num. 6:5). Third, they had to avoid all ritual defilement. Like a high priest, a Nazarite could not approach a dead body. This rule applied even if the deceased was a father, mother, brother, or sister (Num. 6:6–7).
If someone died suddenly in their presence, the vow was broken. The individual then had to shave their head and offer specific sacrifices for atonement. After that, they had to restart the vow from the beginning (Num. 6:9–12).
Famous Nazarites
Samson is the first named Nazarite in the Bible. In the time of the judges, Israel was not walking closely with God and felt abandoned by the divine hand which brought them out of the wilderness period. They were suffering under constant irritations from their Philistine neighbors. An angel appeared to Samson’s mother. The messenger announced she would have a son who would begin rescuing Israel from the Philistines:
For you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth. (Judges 13:5)
Samson was a Nazarite from birth, yet his actions often violated the standard laws. In the biblical stories of Samson, he interacted with death. First, he ate honey from the carcass of a lion. Then, he killed thousands of Philistines. He did all this without undergoing the required ritual purification to restart his vow. According to rabbinic interpretations in the Mishnah, Samson was a different kind of Nazarite since he was consecrated from birth. In his case, he was not defiled by exposure to death or corpses. However, he had to follow the restrictions against cutting his hair and the ban on wine, vinegar, and grapes.
Uncut hair was the most vital part of Samson’s lifelong vow. A razor touching his head was an absolute boundary. This restriction had massive consequences for him compared to an ordinary Israelite. His long hair was the actual source of his supernatural strength. His covenant connection was broken the moment his hair was sheared.
The climax of his story involves Delilah. She repeatedly begged him to reveal the secret of his strength. The Bible says:
So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb.” (Judges 16:17)
Samuel is another Nazarite in the Old Testament. His mother, Hannah, suffered from infertility. She made a solemn vow at the tabernacle in Shiloh that if he blessed her with a child, she would dedicate her son to divine service for life. Hannah vowed:
O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head. (1 Sam. 1:11)
Although the Hebrew scriptures do not name any other specific lifelong Nazarites, the prophets confirm that many ordinary Israelites took temporary vows. There were groups of Nazarites who existed as a recognized community within the nation. The prophet Amos provides the clearest proof that Nazarites were a regular part of society. Amos spoke on behalf of God. He reminded the people about the spiritual leaders provided for them:
I raised up some of your children for prophets and some of your youths for nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the Lord. But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, “Do not prophesy.” (Amos 2:11–12)
The New Testament never explicitly uses the word Nazarite to describe John the Baptist. However, there is still a strong historical and theological consensus that he was a Nazarite. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of his son, the instructions Gabriel gave match the foundational restrictions of the Nazarite lifelong vow:
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:15)
Gabriel’s language closely echoes the commands given to Samson’s mother in Judges 13. The Gospel accounts describe John as an ascetic figure. He lived in the wilderness and wore a rough garment of camel’s hair. He ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). This detachment from ordinary comforts strongly aligns with the expectations of a permanent Nazarite. His complete rejection of wine fits this pattern perfectly.
Priestly Blessing
After the Nazarite rules, Numbers 6 concludes with one of the most enduring blessings in human history. God gave it to Moses to pass on to Aaron and his sons. It was the exact phrasing the priests were to use when blessing the Israelites. This is sometimes called the Aaronic blessing, and it is one of the most recognizable biblical passages to every Jew and Christian.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Verse 27 concludes the section: “So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” The priests were the medium. God was the one actively blessing his people.
In 1979, the oldest copy of this verse was found accidentally at a dig site in Israel. The late Gabriel Barkay was one of the most well-known archaeologists in Israel, famous for foundational role in the Temple Mount sifting project. However, when he was a doctorate student he was conducting an excavation at a necropolis outside the Old City in Jerusalem. The site was in the Valley of Hinnom near the St. Andrew’s Church.
At first, Barkay’s crew found British Mandate period guns and Ottoman period coins. They found the threshold of an intact church from 500 CE. Then they came upon a crematorium for a Roman army. Eventually, they reached the layer of First Temple period tombs. Remember, archaeology is the process of peeling back the layers of history. This is especially true in Jerusalem.
According to Barkay, he hosted a youth archaeology club at the site in 1979. A 12-year-old boy named Nathan was a particular annoyance. He kept asking questions and shadowing Barkay too closely. Barkay gave Nathan an unimportant task to keep him busy. He wanted the boy to clean out a cave and prepare it for a photographer. Instead, Nathan found a hammer and decided to strike the ancient flooring. At least, they thought it was flooring. It turned out to be a ceiling for a concealed chamber underneath.
The chamber dated back to the 6th century BCE. It contained intact pottery, jewelry, and precious stones. They also found two small silver amulets. These were charms worn on a necklace. Inside the amulets were miniature silver scrolls. It took the antiquities authorities 3 years to open the silver scrolls. Once they did, they found tiny ancient Hebrew letters. It was the Priestly Blessing.
The silver scrolls are the earliest occurrence of a biblical text in an extra-biblical document. They predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by 500 years. The discovery challenged biblical critics who argued for a late authorship of the Torah. This find showed that the chronicling of biblical texts happened long before the exile to Babylon. The amulet also contained the oldest biblical text referencing the name of God.
Fast forward to 2020, right at the time that churches were having to close their buildings with the onset of the pandemic, Chris Brown in collaboration with other Christian artists and Elevation Worship released a song adaptation of the Aaronic blessing. The song, The Blessing, quickly became the worship anthem for the global church.
May his favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And their children, and their children
The anthem has ingrained the ancient words of the Aaronic blessing in every Christian head. So next time your congregation sings it, remember that even if the chords and stanzas are new, the lyrics are over 2,600 years old.
That’s it for this week. Join me next week in reading Numbers 8:1–12:16. If you would like to get the study questions that go with the reading, please visit our website at www.thejerusalemconnection.us
This week’s Torah portion covers Numbers 4:21–7:89. The title Nasso means carry or elevate. Out of the 54 Torah portions, Nasso has the most verses, making it the longest single portion. The text is made up of seemingly unrelated passages that do not follow a strict chronological timeline. However, they all center around the theme of sanctifying and purifying the camp as Israel prepares to march.
First, God commands Moses to count the remaining families of the tribe of Levi who were responsible for transporting the heavy structural elements of the Tabernacle through the wilderness. The reading begins with a continuation of the census in the camp, where 8,580 Levites are found eligible to transport the Tabernacle. Details are given for exactly which pieces go to which priestly families.
The text then transitions into how to handle accusations of a wife’s unfaithfulness. Right after that, we are presented with the laws of the Nazirite. The text ends with a long, highly repetitious section where each of the leaders of the twelve tribes brings an identical offering to the altar. Most importantly, Numbers 6 introduces the long-enduring institution of the Nazarite and memorializes one of the oldest documented Hebrew prayers.
Nazarite Vow
The Nazarite vow allowed individuals to dedicate themselves fully to God. In the first portion in Numbers, we discussed the hereditary role given to the Levitical priesthood. The Nazarite path, however, was a democratic or merit-based option to consecrate oneself like a priest. It was open to anyone, regardless of tribal affiliation. Nazir means consecrated or separated. To pursue this heightened level of ritual purity, Nazarites took a vow to observe three strict rules that would separate them from the lay people. As long as they held fast to the three rules, all the days of their Nazirite vow they are holy to the Lord (Num. 6:8).
First, Nazarites practiced complete abstinence from the vine. They could not consume wine, fermented liquor, or vinegar. Grape juice, fresh grapes, and dried grapes were also forbidden (Num. 6:3–4). Second, they could not cut their hair. A razor was never to touch their head. Their long hair was like a physical crown of their consecration to God (Num. 6:5). Third, they had to avoid all ritual defilement. Like a high priest, a Nazarite could not approach a dead body. This rule applied even if the deceased was a father, mother, brother, or sister (Num. 6:6–7).
If someone died suddenly in their presence, the vow was broken. The individual then had to shave their head and offer specific sacrifices for atonement. After that, they had to restart the vow from the beginning (Num. 6:9–12).
Famous Nazarites
Samson is the first named Nazarite in the Bible. In the time of the judges, Israel was not walking closely with God and felt abandoned by the divine hand which brought them out of the wilderness period. They were suffering under constant irritations from their Philistine neighbors. An angel appeared to Samson’s mother. The messenger announced she would have a son who would begin rescuing Israel from the Philistines:
For you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth. (Judges 13:5)
Samson was a Nazarite from birth, yet his actions often violated the standard laws. In the biblical stories of Samson, he interacted with death. First, he ate honey from the carcass of a lion. Then, he killed thousands of Philistines. He did all this without undergoing the required ritual purification to restart his vow. According to rabbinic interpretations in the Mishnah, Samson was a different kind of Nazarite since he was consecrated from birth. In his case, he was not defiled by exposure to death or corpses. However, he had to follow the restrictions against cutting his hair and the ban on wine, vinegar, and grapes.
Uncut hair was the most vital part of Samson’s lifelong vow. A razor touching his head was an absolute boundary. This restriction had massive consequences for him compared to an ordinary Israelite. His long hair was the actual source of his supernatural strength. His covenant connection was broken the moment his hair was sheared.
The climax of his story involves Delilah. She repeatedly begged him to reveal the secret of his strength. The Bible says:
So he told her his whole secret and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother’s womb.” (Judges 16:17)
Samuel is another Nazarite in the Old Testament. His mother, Hannah, suffered from infertility. She made a solemn vow at the tabernacle in Shiloh that if he blessed her with a child, she would dedicate her son to divine service for life. Hannah vowed:
O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head. (1 Sam. 1:11)
Although the Hebrew scriptures do not name any other specific lifelong Nazarites, the prophets confirm that many ordinary Israelites took temporary vows. There were groups of Nazarites who existed as a recognized community within the nation. The prophet Amos provides the clearest proof that Nazarites were a regular part of society. Amos spoke on behalf of God. He reminded the people about the spiritual leaders provided for them:
I raised up some of your children for prophets and some of your youths for nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the Lord. But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, “Do not prophesy.” (Amos 2:11–12)
The New Testament never explicitly uses the word Nazarite to describe John the Baptist. However, there is still a strong historical and theological consensus that he was a Nazarite. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of his son, the instructions Gabriel gave match the foundational restrictions of the Nazarite lifelong vow:
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:15)
Gabriel’s language closely echoes the commands given to Samson’s mother in Judges 13. The Gospel accounts describe John as an ascetic figure. He lived in the wilderness and wore a rough garment of camel’s hair. He ate locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6). This detachment from ordinary comforts strongly aligns with the expectations of a permanent Nazarite. His complete rejection of wine fits this pattern perfectly.
Priestly Blessing
After the Nazarite rules, Numbers 6 concludes with one of the most enduring blessings in human history. God gave it to Moses to pass on to Aaron and his sons. It was the exact phrasing the priests were to use when blessing the Israelites. This is sometimes called the Aaronic blessing, and it is one of the most recognizable biblical passages to every Jew and Christian.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Verse 27 concludes the section: “So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” The priests were the medium. God was the one actively blessing his people.
In 1979, the oldest copy of this verse was found accidentally at a dig site in Israel. The late Gabriel Barkay was one of the most well-known archaeologists in Israel, famous for foundational role in the Temple Mount sifting project. However, when he was a doctorate student he was conducting an excavation at a necropolis outside the Old City in Jerusalem. The site was in the Valley of Hinnom near the St. Andrew’s Church.
At first, Barkay’s crew found British Mandate period guns and Ottoman period coins. They found the threshold of an intact church from 500 CE. Then they came upon a crematorium for a Roman army. Eventually, they reached the layer of First Temple period tombs. Remember, archaeology is the process of peeling back the layers of history. This is especially true in Jerusalem.
According to Barkay, he hosted a youth archaeology club at the site in 1979. A 12-year-old boy named Nathan was a particular annoyance. He kept asking questions and shadowing Barkay too closely. Barkay gave Nathan an unimportant task to keep him busy. He wanted the boy to clean out a cave and prepare it for a photographer. Instead, Nathan found a hammer and decided to strike the ancient flooring. At least, they thought it was flooring. It turned out to be a ceiling for a concealed chamber underneath.
The chamber dated back to the 6th century BCE. It contained intact pottery, jewelry, and precious stones. They also found two small silver amulets. These were charms worn on a necklace. Inside the amulets were miniature silver scrolls. It took the antiquities authorities 3 years to open the silver scrolls. Once they did, they found tiny ancient Hebrew letters. It was the Priestly Blessing.
The silver scrolls are the earliest occurrence of a biblical text in an extra-biblical document. They predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by 500 years. The discovery challenged biblical critics who argued for a late authorship of the Torah. This find showed that the chronicling of biblical texts happened long before the exile to Babylon. The amulet also contained the oldest biblical text referencing the name of God.
Fast forward to 2020, right at the time that churches were having to close their buildings with the onset of the pandemic, Chris Brown in collaboration with other Christian artists and Elevation Worship released a song adaptation of the Aaronic blessing. The song, The Blessing, quickly became the worship anthem for the global church.
May his favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And their children, and their children
The anthem has ingrained the ancient words of the Aaronic blessing in every Christian head. So next time your congregation sings it, remember that even if the chords and stanzas are new, the lyrics are over 2,600 years old.
That’s it for this week. Join me next week in reading Numbers 8:1–12:16. If you would like to get the study questions that go with the reading, please visit our website at www.thejerusalemconnection.us