The name has nothing to do with Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth. Rather, they were a specially dedicated group of people who took vows not to touch wine or any grape products, not to cut their hair (either head or beard), and not to touch a dead body.
Numbers 6 describes the Nazirite rules in detail. One could choose to be a Nazirite for a period of a month or a lifetime.
Whatever the time frame, the vows were taken with great seriousness. Although the Nazirites took vows that made them “separate . . . to the LORD,” they did not live apart from other Israelites.
Three Nazirites are significant: Samson, the strongman judge of Israel; Samuel, the judge who crowned Israel’s first two kings; and John the Baptist, the only Nazirite in the New Testament.
Samson’s long hair played a key role in the story of his capture by the Philistines.
See 499 (Samson).
