Numbers 6:20

20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah; this is holy for the priest, together with the wave-breast and heave-thigh: and after that the Nazirite may 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 And the Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings.
19 And 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 Nazirite, after he hath shaven [the head of] his separation;
20 and the priest shall wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah; this is holy for the priest, together with the wave-breast and heave-thigh: and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 This is the law of the Nazirite who voweth, [and of] his oblation unto Jehovah for his separation, besides that which he is able to get: according to his vow which he voweth, so he must do after the law of his separation.
22 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.