When the Days Are Fulfilled: The Nazirite Shaves His Head
Numbers 6 ends the Nazirite vow as deliberately as it began it. When 'the days of his separation are fulfilled,' the Nazirite is brought 'unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation' (Numbers 6:13), where the hair grown throughout the vow is shaved and burned together with the peace offering (Numbers 6:18). Judges 16:17 shows what happens when this ending is forced rather than chosen — Samson's hair is cut not in fulfillment of his vow but in betrayal by Delilah. And centuries later, Acts 21:23-24 shows the same ceremony still being observed: Paul joins four men completing their Nazirite vows in Jerusalem.
The Door of the Tabernacle
Numbers 6:13 opens with a formula that signals deliberateness: '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.' The vow does not simply lapse or fade. It ends at a specific place, through a specific ceremony. Where it began as a private decision — 'when either man or woman shall separate themselves' (Num 6:2) — it ends as a public act, performed at the entrance to Israel's sanctuary.
Numbers 6:18 specifies what happens to the vow's defining sign: 'the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle... and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.' The hair that grew throughout the vow is not simply discarded — it is placed in the same fire as the offering itself, completing the dedication that began when the person first separated themselves 'unto the LORD.'
If I Be Shaven
Samson's Nazirite status, unlike the vow described in Numbers 6:2, was never his own choice (#148) — but he knew exactly what it meant. Pressed by Delilah to reveal the secret of his strength, he finally tells her: 'There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man' (Judg 16:17).
Samson's hair is indeed cut — but not 'at the door of the tabernacle,' not because 'the days of his separation' were fulfilled, not as part of a peace offering. It happens while he sleeps, at the hands of an enemy, as betrayal rather than completion. The same physical act — cutting a Nazirite's hair — means something entirely opposite depending on whether it is the deliberate ending Numbers 6:13-18 describes or a violation forced by someone else. Centuries later, the proper ending was still being observed: in Jerusalem, Paul joined four men completing their Nazirite vows, paying their expenses 'that they may shave their heads' (Acts 21:23-24) — the ceremony of Numbers 6, still a living practice in the first century, carried out exactly as the days had fulfilled it.
Key Figures
Study Questions
Read the full ceremony for completing a Nazirite vow in the Torah reader.
Open Numbers 6 in the Torah Reader