Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
When either man or woman shall separate, etc. - The word nazir , from nazar , to separate, signifies merely a separated person, i. e., one peculiarly devoted to the service of God by being separated from all servile employments. From the Nazarites sprang the Rechabites, from the Rechabites the Essenes, from the Essenes the Anchorites or Hermits, and in imitation of those, the different monastic orders. Some contend strongly that the Nazarite was a type of our Lord; but neither analogy nor proof can be produced. Our blessed Lord both drank wine and touched the dead, which no Nazarite would do: as to his either shaving his hair or letting it grow, we know nothing. His being called a Nazarene, Matthew 2:23, is nothing to the purpose, as it can mean no more than either that he was an inhabitant of Nazareth, which was a place of no credit, and therefore used as a term of reproach; or that he was in a general sense consecrated to the service of God - so were Samson, Samuel, Jeremiah, and John Baptist; or rather, that he was the netser or Branch, Isaiah 11:1, and tsemach , Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12, which is quite a different word; but this title is expressly applied to our blessed Lord by the above prophets; but in no place do they or any other prophets call him a Nazarite, in the sense in which nazir is used. Indeed it could not in truth be applied to him, as the distinguishing marks of a Nazarite never belonged to him. He was, it is true, the netser or branch out of the root of Jesse, the genuine heir to the throne of David, whose dominion should extend over the universe, who should be King of kings, and Lord of Lords; but the word , Matthew 2:23, signifies merely a Nazoraean, or inhabitant of Nazareth.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Numbers 6:2:
Judges 13:4
Jeremiah 7:29
Amos 2:12
Acts 21:24
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