Numbers 6 Summary and Study Guide

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee” is the most quoted blessing in the Old Testament, and God gave it at the end of a chapter about grape skins and uncut hair. This Numbers 6 summary and study guide takes the vow that comes first, and explains why the blessing comes after it.

Setting the Stage

At Sinai God told Moses to build Him a tent so that He could live among Israel: “let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). God meant that as an invitation, and He set the terms Himself. Only Aaron and his sons were allowed to serve inside the tent (Exodus 28:1).

The chapters before this one counted the people and set every tribe in place around that tent, and Numbers 5 sent out of the camp whatever made it unclean. So the camp was clean and the tent was staffed, and an ordinary Israelite still had no way in. Numbers 6 answers the person who wanted more than a place in the ranks.

Comprehensive Numbers 6 Summary

The LORD tells Moses that any Israelite, man or woman, may take the vow of a Nazarite and be set apart to Him for a time. Three rules follow. The Nazarite eats and drinks nothing that comes from a grapevine, down to the seeds and the skins.

The hair grows uncut for the whole term, because no razor may come near the head, and that made the vow visible from across a field. And the Nazarite stays away from every dead body, including a father’s, a mother’s, a brother’s or a sister’s.

If a man drops dead beside the Nazarite, the hair is defiled. He shaves his head on the seventh day, brings two birds and a lamb on the eighth, and starts the count over. Every day already served is cancelled.

When the term is finished he comes to the door of the tabernacle with a male lamb, a ewe lamb and a ram, all without blemish, plus a basket of unleavened bread, a grain offering and a drink offering. He shaves his head there, the hair goes into the fire under the peace offerings, the priest waves a portion back to him, and the Nazarite may drink wine again. Anyone who could afford more was expected to bring more.

Then the chapter turns. God gives Moses the exact words Aaron and his sons are to speak over Israel, and closes by saying that the priests put His name on the people and He does the blessing.

One Word Summary

• Separation: the chapter’s own repeated word, from verse 2 through verse 21.
• Cost: three animals, a shaved head, and every defiled day lost.
• Blessing: the last five verses hand it to everybody, vowed or not.

In One Sentence

God tells Moses that any Israelite may take the Nazarite vow of separation, sets out what it forbids and what it costs to finish, and then gives Aaron the words to bless the whole nation.

Theme of Numbers 6

Numbers 6 is about a nearness to God that anybody could choose. He opened it to people the priesthood had shut out by birth, and He made it costly enough that nobody would take it lightly. Three ideas run alongside that one.

Holiness belongs to the LORD before it belongs to any rule, since every prohibition in the vow carries His name. Devotion that finishes well still needs a sacrifice. And the chapter closes by speaking the same blessing over the man who vowed and the man who did not, so that nobody mistakes the vow for the price of being blessed.

Numbers 6 Outline

• Numbers 6:1-2: The LORD tells Moses that any man or woman may take the vow of a Nazarite and be set apart to Him.
• Numbers 6:3-4: The Nazarite is cut off from wine, strong drink, vinegar, grape juice, fresh grapes, raisins, and anything else that comes from a grapevine.
• Numbers 6:5: No razor comes near the head until the term is finished, and the hair grows long.
• Numbers 6:6-8: The Nazarite keeps away from every dead body, including a parent’s or a sibling’s, and is called holy to the LORD for the whole term.
• Numbers 6:9-12: A sudden death nearby defiles the hair, so the Nazarite shaves, brings offerings on the eighth day, rededicates himself, and loses every day already served.
• Numbers 6:13-17: At the end of the term the Nazarite brings a male lamb, a ewe lamb, a ram, unleavened bread, a grain offering and a drink offering to the door of the tabernacle for the priest to offer.
• Numbers 6:18-20: The Nazarite shaves his head at the door, the hair goes into the fire under the peace offerings, the priest waves a portion, and the Nazarite may drink wine again.
• Numbers 6:21: The law binds every Nazarite to what he vowed, and to anything further he can afford.
• Numbers 6:22-23: The LORD tells Moses to give Aaron and his sons the words for blessing Israel.
• Numbers 6:24-26: The blessing is given in three lines, each one beginning with the name of the LORD.
• Numbers 6:27: God says the priests put His name on Israel, and He will bless them.

The Priestly Blessing

“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26

May the LORD give you good and guard you. May He turn a pleased face toward you and treat you better than you deserve. To lift up a face toward someone is to look straight at them with nothing held back, so the last line asks God to give you His full attention and to settle you in peace.

The three lines move outward as they go. The first asks for provision and protection, the second for favour, the third for God’s attention and for peace. The Hebrew word behind that last one is shalom, which means far more than the absence of trouble. It means wholeness, with nothing broken and nothing missing.

In Hebrew the first line runs three words, the second five, the third seven, so the sentence widens line by line, which many readers hear as the grace widening with it. Six verbs carry the whole blessing: bless, keep, shine, be gracious, lift up, give peace. And every “thee” in it is singular, so a priest facing thousands of people was speaking to one person at a time.

This is also the oldest piece of the Bible anybody has ever dug up. In 1979 archaeologists working at Ketef Hinnom, on the western slope of the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem, opened a burial complex from the days of the First Temple and found two tiny silver scrolls rolled up like cigarettes. Both carry these words. The larger one reads almost exactly as the Hebrew Bible does today.

Observations from Numbers 6

Every Restriction Points Back to the Same Person (Numbers 6:2, 5, 6, 8)

The chapter never lets a rule stand on its own. The Nazarite separates himself “unto the LORD” in verse 2, is holy “unto the LORD” in verse 5, separates himself “unto the LORD” in verse 6, and is holy “unto the LORD” again in verse 8. Giving up grapes was not the point of the vow, and neither was the hair. God attaches His own name to every restriction so that the giving up has somewhere to go.

God Provides for the Accident and Says Nothing About Walking Away (Numbers 6:9-12)

Verses 9 to 12 spell out exactly what to do when a man dies suddenly beside a Nazarite who did nothing wrong. There are days to count, a head to shave, birds to bring, a lamb to bring, and a fresh start.

For the person who simply gives up on the vow and picks up a cup of wine, the chapter prescribes nothing at all. God provides for the man who could not help it. What He does about the man who could is left to other parts of Scripture, and this chapter does not settle it.

God Calls an Ordinary Israelite Holy (Numbers 6:5, 8)

Twice the chapter says the Nazarite “shall be holy” and “is holy unto the LORD”. That word is used elsewhere of God Himself, of the priests, and of the tabernacle. Here God spends it on a farmer or a shepherd who has done nothing more than make a promise and keep it, which is how far this chapter opens the door.

The Vow Ended at the Altar with Three Animals (Numbers 6:13-17)

Finishing well was expensive. Three unblemished animals went to the altar, with bread, flour and wine alongside them. A defiled term added two birds and another lamb on top of that, and wiped out the days besides. When Paul was asked in Jerusalem to pay the expenses of four men finishing this vow, that was the bill he was picking up (Acts 21:23-24). The chapter never pretends the vow was cheap.

Difficult Verses Explained

If the Vow Was Kept, Why Was a Sin Offering Still Required?

Verse 14 puts a ewe lamb for a sin offering into the hands of a person who has just completed the whole term without a single failure. Most Christian teachers read that as the plainest possible statement that no human devotion is clean enough to stand on its own.

Jewish tradition has read it two opposite ways for two thousand years: Rabbi Eleazar ha-Kappar held that the Nazarite sinned by denying himself what God had given, while Rabbi Elazar held that the Nazarite was holy and the offering marked the end of that holier state. Numbers 6 gives no reason, so anyone who tells you it is settled has gone past the verse.

Where Was the Nazarite’s Hair Burned?

Verse 18 says the hair went “in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings”, and that wording can point in two directions. Some read it as the fire on the altar, which would make the hair itself an offering.

Jewish tradition reads it as the cooking fire under the pot where the ram was being boiled, which makes it a reverent way of disposing of something that had been set apart to God. The Mishnah records a chamber in the Court of the Women set aside for exactly this. Either way the meaning of the act is the same: when the hair burned, the vow was over.

Common Misunderstandings

• That the vow lasted thirty days. Numbers 6 sets no term at all. The person taking it chose the length, and the chapter simply says “all the days” of it. Thirty days comes from later Jewish tradition, not from this chapter.
• That Jesus was a Nazirite. Jesus was a Nazarene, which means He came from Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). The two words look alike in English and are unrelated. He was known for eating and drinking where John the Baptist abstained (Matthew 11:18-19), He touched the frame the widow’s son was being carried on (Luke 7:14), and He called into Lazarus’ grave (John 11:43). Numbers 6:3 and 6:6 forbid all three.
• That the vow was about hating wine. Scripture treats wine as a gift from God elsewhere (Psalm 104:15). Verse 20 ends the vow by releasing the Nazarite to drink wine again. The abstinence was a fence for a season, not a verdict on the vine.
• That this was a rule for priests. The priesthood was already covered by its own laws. Numbers 6:2 opens this vow to any Israelite, “either man or woman”. It was written for everybody the priesthood left out.

Christ Connection

Numbers 6 is not a portrait of how Jesus lived. He was a Nazarene and never a Nazarite, and the Gospels put Him doing things this chapter forbids. What the chapter does give is a picture of consecration held for a set term, and a blessing that had to come from outside the person receiving it. Both land on Christ.

• He is the consecrated one the vow was reaching toward. Jesus said, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:19), and Hebrews 7:26 calls Him “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners”. The Nazarite kept a term. Christ kept a life.
• His last supper echoes the point where the Nazarite’s vow ended. Verse 20 released the Nazarite to drink wine. At the last supper Jesus said, “I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25). His fast begins where the Nazarite’s ended, and it runs to the kingdom.
• He reversed the defilement the Nazarite had to run from. A corpse cost a Nazarite everything he had served. Jesus touched the dead and they got up (Mark 5:41-42; Luke 7:14-15; John 11:43-44).
• He is where the blessing lands. “The LORD make his face shine upon thee” is answered in “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “Give thee peace” is answered in “he is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
• He blessed His people in the priest’s posture. Luke 24:50-51 says Jesus “lifted up his hands, and blessed them” before He was carried into heaven, which is what Aaron’s sons had been doing over Israel for centuries.

The name God promised to put on Israel in verse 27 has a final resting place too. John saw God’s servants at the end of Revelation, and “his name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4). The threefold repetition of “the LORD” in the blessing does not prove the doctrine of the Trinity, but Christians from the earliest centuries have read it as a fitting picture of Him.

When, Where, and Why

• When: In the second month of the second year after Israel came out of Egypt (Numbers 1:1), before the nation ever broke camp to leave Sinai (Numbers 10:11). Scholars disagree over the absolute date, so treat any figure you see as approximate.
• Where: At the tent of meeting in the wilderness of Sinai. Every part of the vow that needed a priest, the offerings, the shaving and the blessing, happened at the door of that tent rather than at home.
• Why: Moses has spent five chapters organising Israel around God’s presence and clearing the camp of what defiles it. All that organising raises a question. What does an ordinary Israelite do who wants God more than the arrangement allows? Numbers 6 answers it, and then ends with a blessing nobody had to qualify for.

Key Verses

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD”

Numbers 6:2

Tell Israel that any man or any woman may make a special promise setting themselves apart to the LORD. This is the verse that makes the chapter remarkable. Aaron’s line held the priesthood by birth, and nobody owned this vow, so anybody could take it. Numbers 30:3-8 does qualify the opening, since a father could cancel his daughter’s vow and a husband his wife’s.

“All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.”

Numbers 6:8

For the whole time he is set apart, he belongs to the LORD. The chapter gives its own summary of the vow here, and it is a summary about a person rather than about a list of rules.

“But the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.”

Numbers 6:12

The days he had already served no longer counted, because his set-apart state had been spoiled. The vow was measured in days, so the real cost of defilement was time, and time is the one thing the offerings could not buy back.

“And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”

Numbers 6:27

The priests are to place God’s name on Israel, and God Himself will do the blessing. To be blessed here is to be named, and the naming is what makes the words more than a wish.

Key Lessons from Numbers 6

• The vow was open to any Israelite, man or woman, at a time when the priesthood was closed by family and by gender (Numbers 6:2).
• Giving things up means little unless there is somebody to give them up to, and this chapter names Him at every restriction (Numbers 6:2, 8).
• Devotion that runs its full course still ends at an altar with a sin offering in hand (Numbers 6:14).
• God spoke His blessing over the whole camp and not only over the people who had taken the vow (Numbers 6:23-27).
• For more lessons, read lessons from Numbers 6.

For the whole book in one place, chapter by chapter, read our full study: The Book of Numbers Summary by Chapter (1-36).

Bible Study Questions

1. Numbers 6:2 opens the vow to “either man or woman”. Why does that detail matter in a book that has just spent four chapters counting men by tribe?
2. Verse 5 tells the Nazarite not to cut his hair and never says why. What difference does it make that this was the one part of the vow other people could see?
3. Verse 7 says the consecration of the Nazarite’s God was on his head. What changes if you read that uncut hair as a crown rather than as neglect?
4. Verses 9 to 12 give a careful way back for the person defiled by accident, and the chapter says nothing about the person who quits on purpose. What do you make of that silence?
5. If the Nazarite kept every day of the vow, why do you think God still required a sin offering at the end (Numbers 6:14)?
6. Numbers 6:27 says the priests put God’s name on the people and God does the blessing. How should that change the way you hear a blessing spoken in God’s name?

Frequently Asked Questions

Numbers 6, The Full Text (KJV)

Read the full chapter below for reference.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:

3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

6 All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.

7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

8 All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.

9 And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

10 And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.

12 And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

13 And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

14 And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings,

15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.

16 And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:

17 And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.

18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

19 And the priest shall take the sodden 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 the hair of his separation is shaven:

20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the LORD for his separation, beside that that his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.

22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.