Numbers 6:3

3 he is to abstain^[a] from wine and beer.^[b] He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.

Numbers 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 6:3

He shall separate [himself] from wine
Old or new, as Ben Gersom; from drinking it, any of it: not only from an immoderate and excessive drinking of it, which every man should abstain from, but from drinking of it at all, that he might be more free and fit for the service of God; for prayer, meditation, reading the Scriptures, and attendance on the worship of God in all its branches, and be less liable to temptations to sin; for, as Aben Ezra observes, many transgressions are occasioned by wine, which, if drank immoderately, intoxicates the mind, and unfits for religious duties, excites lust, and leads on to many vices:

and strong drink;
any other intoxicating and inebriating liquor besides wine, or any other sort of wines besides such that is made of the fruit of the vine, as wines of pomegranates, dates or such as are made of barley, as our ale, or of apples and pears, called cider and perry, respectively:

and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink;
all the three Targums paraphrase it, vinegar of new wine, and vinegar of old wine, these operating in like manner as wine and strong drink themselves:

neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes;
any liquor in which grapes are macerated, as the Targum of Jonathan; or water into which they are squeezed, or which is made of the lees of wine, or is a second sort of wine made of the grapes after they have been pressed, which we call "tiff":

nor eat moist grapes or dried;
which have somewhat of the nature and taste of wine, and produce some of the like effects, and may lead to a desire after drinking it; wherefore this, as other things mentioned, are, as Aben Ezra says, a kind of an hedge, to keep at a distance from drinking wine.

Numbers 6:3 In-Context

1 The Lord instructed Moses:

2 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord,

3 he is to abstain from wine and beer. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from beer. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.

4 He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during his vow.

5 "You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He must be holy until the time is completed during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of his head grow long.

Footnotes

• [a]. The words Nazirite, consecrate, and abstain come from the same Hb word, which involves the idea of separation.
• [b]. Jdg 13:4,7,14