Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 225
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if the dead person is their own father, mother, brother, or sister, they must
not defile themselves, for the hair on their head is the symbol of their
separation to God. This requirement applies as long as they are set apart
to the Lord.
“If someone falls dead beside them, the hair they have dedicated will be
defiled. They must wait for seven days and then shave their heads. Then
they will be cleansed from their defilement. On the eighth day they must
bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance
of the Tabernacle. The priest will offer one of the birds for a sin offering
and the other for a burnt offering. In this way, he will purify them from the
guilt they incurred through contact with the dead body. Then they must
reaffirm their commitment and let their hair begin to grow again. The
days of their vow that were completed before their defilement no longer
count. They must rededicate themselves to the Lord as a Nazirite for the
full term of their vow, and each must bring a o ne-year-old male lamb for
a guilt offering.
“This is the ritual law for Nazirites. At the conclusion of their time of
separation as Nazirites, they must each go to the entrance of the Tabernacle and offer their sacrifices to the Lord: a one-year-old male lamb
without defect for a burnt offering, a one-year-old female lamb without
defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a peace offering, a basket
of bread made without yeast—cakes of choice flour mixed with olive oil
and wafers spread with olive o il—along with their prescribed grain offerings and liquid offerings. The priest will present these offerings before
the Lord: first the sin offering and the burnt offering; then the ram for
a peace offering, along with the basket of bread made without yeast. The
priest must also present the prescribed grain offering and liquid offering
to the Lord.
“Then the Nazirites will shave their heads at the entrance of the Tabernacle. They will take the hair that had been dedicated and place it on
the fire beneath the peace-offering sacrifice. After the Nazirite’s head has
been shaved, the priest will take for each of them the boiled shoulder of
the ram, and he will take from the basket a cake and a wafer made without
yeast. He will put them all into the Nazirite’s hands. Then the priest will
lift them up as a special offering before the Lord. These are holy portions
for the priest, along with the breast of the special offering and the thigh of
the sacred offering that are lifted up before the Lord. After this ceremony
the Nazirites may again drink wine.
“This is the ritual law of the Nazirites, who vow to bring these offerings
to the Lord. They may also bring additional offerings if they can afford
it. And they must be careful to do whatever they vowed when they set
themselves apart as Nazirites.”
