NAZARITE, or Nazirite p'J}), was the name among the Hebrews for a peculiar kind of devotee. The characteristic marks of a Nazarite were unshorn locks and abstinence from wine (Judg. xiii. 5; 1 Sam. i. 11; Amos ii. 11, 12); full regulations for the legal observance of the Nazarite vow are given in Numb, vi., where every product of the grape-vine is forbidden, and the Nazarite is further enjoined to abstain from approaching a dead body, even if it be that of his nearest relative. The law in question is not pre-exilic, and is plainly directed to the regulation of a known usage. It contemplates the assumption of the vow for a limited period, and gives particular details as to the atoning ceremonies at the sanctuary by which the vow must be recommenced if broken by accidental defilement, and the closing sacrifice, at which the Nazarite, on the expiry of his vow, cuts off his hair and burns it on the altar, thus returning to ordinary life. Among the later Jews the Nazarite vow of course corresponded with 'the legal ordinance, which was further developed by the scribes in their usual manner (Mishna, Näzir -, comp. 1 Mac. iii. 49; Acts i. 23 sq.; Joseph., Ant., xix. 6, 1; Id., A. J., ii. 15, 1). On the other hand, in the earliest historical case, that of Samson, and in the similar case of Samuel (who, however, is not called a Nazarite), the head remains unshorn throughout life, and in these times the ceremonial observances as to uncleanness must have been less precise. Samson’s mother is forbidden to eat unclean things during pregnancy, but Samson him self touches the carcase of a lion and is often in contact with the slain....

those under the ancient law who engaged by a vow to abstain from wine and all intoxicating liquors, to let their hair grow, not to enter any house polluted by having a dead corpse in it, nor to be present at any funeral. If, by accident, any one should have died in their presence, they recommenced the whole of their consecration and Nazariteship. This vow generally lasted eight days, sometimes a month, and sometimes their whole lives. When the time of their Nazariteship was expired, the priest brought the person to the door of the temple, who there offered to the Lord a he-lamb for a burnt-offering, a she-lamb for an expiatory sacrifice, and a ram for a peace-offering. They offered, likewise, loaves and cakes, with wine, for libations. After all was sacrificed and offered, the priest, or some other, shaved the head of the Nazarite at the door of the tabernacle, and burned his hair on the fire of the altar. Then the priest put into the hands of the Nazarite the shoulder of the ram roasted, with a loaf and a cake, which the Nazarite returning into the hands of the priest, he offered them to the Lord, lifting them up in the presence of the Nazarite. And from this time he might again drink wine, his Nazariteship being accomplished. Perpetual Nazarites, as Samson and John the Baptist, were consecrated to their Nazariteship by their parents, and continued all their lives in this state, without drinking wine or cutting their hair. Those who made a vow of Nazariteship out of Palestine, and could not come to the temple when their vow was expired, contented themselves with observing the abstinence required by the law, and cutting off their hair in the place where they were: the offerings and sacrifices prescribed by Moses, to be offered at the temple, by themselves or by others ...