Numbers 6:12

12 He will rededicate to Yahweh the days of his separation and bring a ram-lamb {in its first year} as a guilt offering. The former days [of his vow] will fall away because his separation was defiled.

Numbers 6:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 6:12

And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his
separation
He was to begin his account again, from the time of his shaving his head, and devote as many days to the service of the Lord as what he had vowed before:

and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering;
we see how much trouble and expense were brought by a single act of pollution, and that involuntary too; how much more need is there of an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men, even for all of them, and for which only the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient?

but the days that were before shall be lost;
which were before the pollution, how near soever the time of Nazariteship being at an end was, whether his vow was for thirty days, or a hundred, or a whole year; be it what it will, and the pollution happened on the last of those days, all were lost; he was obliged to begin again, and go through the whole time he at first vowed; and this was the case if he drank the least quantity of wine, or shaved ever so little of the hair of his head, or was any ways polluted by the dead; and this severity, as it may seem, was used to make him cautious that he broke not his vow by any means:

because his separation was defiled;
in the case instanced in, by the dead, but it was the same if he broke the law of Nazariteship in any of the other articles of it.

Numbers 6:12 In-Context

10 On the eighth day he will bring two turtledoves or two {young pigeons} to the priest by the doorway of the tent of assembly,
11 and the priest will offer one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering, and he will make atonement for him because he sinned concerning the corpse. He will consecrate his head on that day.
12 He will rededicate to Yahweh the days of his separation and bring a ram-lamb {in its first year} as a guilt offering. The former days [of his vow] will fall away because his separation was defiled.
13 " 'This [is] the regulation of the Nazirite for the day of the fulfilling of the days of his separation: one will bring him to the doorway of the tent of the assembly.
14 He will present his offering to Yahweh, one ram-lamb {in its first year} without defect as a burnt offering, and one ewe-lamb {in its first year} without defect as a sin offering, and one ram without defect as a fellowship offering;

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. That is, "the Nazirite"
  • [b]. Literally "a son of his year"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.