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[[Image:John_the_Baptist.jpg|right|thumb|250px|John the Baptist with the unshorn hair of the nazirite]]

 

[[Image:john_the_Baptist.jpg|right|thumb|250px|John the Baptist with the unshorn hair of the nazirite]]

A '''nazirite''' or '''nazarite''' ([[Hebrew]]: '''נזיר''', ''nazir'' "separated") was a [[Judaism|Jew]] set apart for, and especially consecrated to, God through vows of abstinence. Both men and women could take the nazirite vow; married women could take the vow with the consent of their husbands. The duration of naziriteship was voluntary, and ranged from thirty days to a lifetime.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=N ''Nazarite''] 1906 [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] Accessed June 25, 2007</ref> Despite the name "separated", nazirites did not lead a monastic existence apart from the community but were active participants in all familiar and communal affairs. What set them apart was their meticulous observance of the vow, which gave them a holy status similar to that of the High Priest.<ref>'''Milgrom, Jacob''' ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers'' Jewish Publication Society of America (1990) ISBN 0-8276-0329-0</ref>  

A '''nazirite''' or '''nazarite''' ([[Hebrew]]: '''נזיר''', ''nazir'' "separated") was a [[Judaism|Jew]] set apart for, and especially consecrated to, God through vows of abstinence. Both men and women could take the nazirite vow; married women could take the vow with the consent of their husbands. The duration of naziriteship was voluntary, and ranged from thirty days to a lifetime.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=N ''Nazarite''] 1906 [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] Accessed June 25, 2007</ref> Despite the name "separated", nazirites did not lead a monastic existence apart from the community but were active participants in all familiar and communal affairs. What set them apart was their meticulous observance of the vow, which gave them a holy status similar to that of the High Priest.<ref>'''Milgrom, Jacob''' ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers'' Jewish Publication Society of America (1990) ISBN 0-8276-0329-0</ref>  

*preordained nazirites  

*preordained nazirites  

The first type seem to be under the greatest prohibitions, for lifelong nazirites were permitted to have their hair cut once a year. The preordained, lifelong nazirites appeared also to be free of the restriction on being near the dead - Samson, for example, slew scores of [[Philistines]] without being considered to have broken the nazirite vow. Also, these preordained nazirites were rewarded by God - again Samson is a good example, being granted superhuman strength so long as he kept his head unshorn as an outward mark of his vow.

The first type seem to be under the greatest prohibitions, for lifelong nazirites were permitted to have their hair cut once a year. The preordained, lifelong nazirites appeared also to be free of the restriction on being near the dead - Samson, for example, slew scores of [[Philistines]] without being considered to have broken the nazirite vow. Also, these preordained nazirites were rewarded by God - again Samson is a good example, being granted superhuman strength so long as he kept his head unshorn as an outward mark of his vow.  

==Notable nazirites==

==Notable nazirites==

==Rastafarians==

==Rastafarians==

==References==

==References==

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[[Category:Bible]][[Category:Judaism]][[Category:Biblical persons]]

[[Category:Bible]][[Category:Judaism]][[Category:Biblical persons]]