The sixth chapter of the book of Numbers has caught my eye several times because of its theme of self-dedication to God. The Nazirite dedicated himself to God for a prescribed period, during which he abstained from strong drink, and let his hair grow, this last being a sign of dedication. He or she also kept away from dead bodies, which polluted the worshipper of God, according to the old Law. After the period of consecration was completed, the dedicated person presented victims for a burnt offering, together with a bloodless offering (token offering), and a final victim for a welcome-offering, then shaved his hair off and threw this into the fire along with the third victim. All this is in Numbers 6. After making the final offering, the Nazirite was able to drink wine again. Why does all this interest me so much? Well, Our Lord Jesus Christ was dedicated to God for a specific purpose - the redemption of His people - and this was solemnised soon after his birth at the Presentation in the Temple (fourth mystery of the Holy Rosary). There is no sign in the Gospels of any of the other conditions of the vow mentioned above, but interestingly the figure of the Crucified Man in the so-called Turin Shroud has a very long braid of hair visible in the image left behind:
Therefore, despite any pictures we may have seen of Christ with shoulder length hair, He may never have had his hair cut, He may have worn it in a braid down his back. We do know, however, from Gospels accounts, that (at least for that period of his ministry) Christ was no stranger to drink, nor did He keep away from the dead. In fact, He seems to have been very good at bring life back to them. So, Christ was not keeping the Nazirite vow strictly. Nevertheless, we also know that he didn't keep strictly other items of the Law, such as the Sabbath observance, when it came to helping people and drawing them towards salvation. He scolded the orthodox Jews of his time for the superficiality of their observance of the Law (Gospel of Saint Mark, 7). Nowadays, it is fashionable for the Fathers to talk about pastoral exigency - of breaking the rules in order to help people. It's not a new principle, if its precedent is apostolic, based on something the Apostles saw themselves. Maybe, just maybe, Christ could be a Nazirite - dedicated to God - while occasionally permitting Himself drink, when seeking the salvation of souls. Also, He seems to have thought that the dead He was about to revive were not dead, but sleeping (Gospel of Saint Mark, 5: 39-40). And it need not be said that, among all men, He alone could release people from a vow that He had given to Moses and Aaron for the people, centuries ago.
There is another famous Nazirite from the Old Testament that many school-children know all about, because his dedication to God produced an extraordinary blessing in his mortal body (Judges, 13-16). Samson, great among the Judges of ancient Israel, was super-humanly strong, according to the record. But his strength left him when one of the conditions of the Nazirite vow was broken - his hair had been treacherously cut away. That story never ever mentions drink (perhaps taking it for granted?), or contact with the dead (although Samson was a great warrior and slew crowds of Philistines). But the moment his hair was shorn, his strength left him.
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