Numbers 6:20

20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD, which shall be a holy thing of the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder; and after that the Nazarite shall drink wine.

Numbers 6:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 6:20

And the priest shall wave them [for] a wave offering before
the Lord
Putting his hands under the Nazarite's, as in other cases where this ceremony was used; and so moving them to and fro, backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, testifying hereby the goodness of God unto him, his sovereign dominion over him, that all he had depended on him, and was received from him; and that all he did, particularly in keeping his vow of Nazariteship, was through his assistance, and for which he made this grateful acknowledgment by delivering the above, together with what follows, to his priest:

this [is] holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder;
besides these which were given him by another law, the wave shoulder of the Nazarite's ram was given him to eat; it was holy, and set apart for his use, and his only, and it belonged not in common to the course of the priests then on duty, but to him only that officiated in this peculiar service; and so it is observed by the Jewish writers F3, that the Nazarite's ram and some other things were not given to every priest, but to him that offered the sacrifice, as it is said, "he shall wave this is holy to the priest"; upon which it is observed, that it follows from hence, that the priest that waves is he that eats the sacrifice:

and after that the Nazarite may drink wine;
and cut his hair, and shave his head, and be defiled for the dead as other persons, the vow of his Nazariteship being fulfilled.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Maimon. in Misn. Challah, c. 4. sect. 9.

Numbers 6:20 In-Context

18 Then the Nazarite shall shave the head of their Nazariteship at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony and shall take the hair of the head of their Nazariteship and put it upon the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace.
19 Then the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after their Nazariteship is shaven;
20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD, which shall be a holy thing of the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder; and after that the Nazarite shall drink wine.
21 This is the law of the Nazarite who made a vow of their offering unto the LORD for their Nazariteship, beside that which their means allows, according to the vow which they vowed, so they must do according to the law of their Nazariteship.
22 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010