Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

All the days of his separation to the LORD he shall not go near to a dead person. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

The Nazarite (more accurately Nazirite, one separated) was a person of either sex separated wholly unto the LORD. Abstention from wine, the symbol of mere natural joy, was an expression of devotedness which found all its joy in the LORD. The long hair, naturally a reproach to man, was at once the visible sign of the Nazarite's separation, and of his willingness to bear reproach for Jehovah's sake.

Schofield