What Does Numbers 6:20 Mean in the King James?
And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The rite that marks the offering as holy also marks the Nazarite’s return to wine.
THE MEANING
A period of consecration has an appointed finish: the offering is presented, the priest receives his portion, and wine is permitted again. The sacred boundary has an end, and ordinary enjoyment returns with it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a sacred vow must mean permanent denial is undone here: wine is permitted again when the vow reaches its completion.
THE ROOT
נָזִיר
nāzîr
GROWS FROM
נזר
nāzar
To dedicate or set apart.
Nāzîr names one set apart by a vow, while its related nezer can mean a crown or consecrated mark. The word carries a marked, appointed state, and this verse names its close: the Nazarite may drink wine again.
ALSO GROWS
nezer: Crown, diadem; a sign of consecration.
נֵזֶר
The shared root links being set apart with a visible mark of dedication.
nāzar: To dedicate or separate oneself.
נָזַר
This verb names the act that gives the Nazarite vow its character.
תְּרוּמָה
terumah
GROWS FROM
רום
rûm
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“heave offering” in this verse is terumah. Terumah names the shoulder’s share through the act of lifting: the offering is a raised portion assigned to the priest. The root keeps that movement inside the gift itself.
ALSO GROWS
rām: High or elevated.
רָם
It shares the root’s sense of being raised.
mārôm: Height or a high place.
מָרוֹם
It extends the root’s upward motion into the idea of a height.
THE PATTERN
What is set apart before God can become a gift received in shared life.
For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:THE THREAD
And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:Exodus uses the same wave-offering and heave-offering terms, making the two movements explicit: the breast is waved, and the shoulder is lifted. Numbers uses that same rite as the Nazarite’s vow reaches its close and wine is permitted again.
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