Numbers 6:18

Num 6:18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put [it] in the fire which [is] under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

Ver. 18. And put it in the fire.] To teach us, that the Lord so loveth his children, that he esteemeth the least hair of their head as a precious gift.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 6:18. At the door of the tabernacle — Publicly, that it might be known that his vow was ended; and therefore he was at liberty as to those things from which he had restrained himself for a season, otherwise some might have taken offence at his use of his liberty. The fire — Upon which the flesh of the peace-offerings was boiled.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In token that his vow is ended.

For the hair which was consecrated to the Lord, might not be cast into any profane place.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 18. Shall take the hair - and put it in the fire] The hair was permitted to grow for this purpose; and as the Nazarite was a kind of sacrifice, offered to God through the whole term of his nazarate or separation, and no human flesh or blood could be offered on the altar of the Lord, he offered his hair at the conclusion of his separation, as a sacrifice - that hair which was the token of his complete subjection to the Lord, and which was now considered as the Lord's property.

The Hindoos, after a vow, do not cut their hair during the term of their vow; but at the expiration of it they shave it off at the place where the vow was made.

That the hair of the head was superstitiously used among different nations, we have already had occasion to remark; (See Clarke on Le 19:27;) and that the Gentiles might have learned this from the Jews is possible, though some learned men think that this consecration of the hair to a deity was in use among the heathens before the time of Moses, and in nations who had no intercourse or connection with the Jews.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) And the Nazarita shall shave . . . —The consignment of his hair to the sacrificial fire formed a solemn and suitable termination of the days of his separation to the Lord during the continuance of his Nazirite vow.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. The burning of the hair is of the nature of an offering, and also prevents its desecration. The custom is not confined to the Hebrews, but finds many parallels in antiquity and in primitive races to-day. The hair is considered to be the special seat of the life and strength of the man, and thus represents the man himself when it is offered to the deity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram,.... The left shoulder, for the right shoulder, which is the heave shoulder of every peace offering, belonged to the priest by another law; and by this law of the Nazarite, he had also the other shoulder, and so had both, which was peculiar to this case; the vow of the Nazarite being a very sacred thing and he being enabled to perform it, a greater expression of gratitude for it was expected and required of him: this shoulder was taken out of the pot in which it was boiled:

and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer; one of the ten cakes, and one of the ten wafers, both are mentioned; and which appear by this to be together in the basket of unleavened bread, from whence they were now to be taken, the rest having been offered with the other sacrifices:

and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite; the boiled shoulder, and the cake and wafer upon it:

after the hair of his separation is shaven; and cast into the fire; for the waving of these seems to be the last and finishing part of this whole affair.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Fire, on the altar, where the ram has been sacrificed. (Abulensis.) Lyranus thinks it was burnt on the fire, with which the meat was boiled. (Menochius) (Chaldean) (Tirinus) --- The Septuagint, Philo, &c., understand it in the former sense; and Theodoret says the consecrated hair was placed upon the victim on the fire. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Of his separation; or, of his Nazariteship, i.e. in which the chief of his Nazariteship or separation to God consisted.

At the door of the tabernacle; publicly, that it might be known that his vow was ended; and therefore he was at liberty as to those things from which he had restrained himself for a season, otherwise some might have been scandalized at his use of his liberty. See Act 21:26.

In the fire; either,

1. The fire of the altar. But why then is this restrained to the peaceofferings, seeing it was common to the burnt-offerings and to the sinofferings? Or rather,

2. To the fire of the kitchen, upon which the flesh of the peace-offerings was boiled.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Put it in the fire — Traces of the hair sacrifice are found among the Greeks in the case of Achilles, at the funeral of Patroclus, who cut off his golden locks and threw them into the flood as a sacrifice to the river-god. Nero cut off his first beard, and, putting it into a box studded with jewels, consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. Virgil says that the topmost lock was dedicated to the infernal gods. These practices may have been derived from the Jewish Nazarites.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and shall put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. It is not said, nor intended, that the hair was offered to God as a sacrifice. If so, it would have been burnt with the burnt offering which represented the self-dedication of the worshipper. It had been holy to the Lord, growing uncut all the days of the vow. The vow was now at an end; the last solemn act of sacrifice, the peace offering, which completed all, and typified that fearless and thankful communion with God which is the end of all religion, was now going on; it was fitting that the hair which must now be shorn, but could not be disposed of in any ordinary way, should be burnt upon the altar of God. In the fire, i.e., on the brazen altar. In later days it seems to have been done in a room assigned to the Nazirites in the court of the women: another deviation from the ordinal law.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At the door - Publickly, that it might be known that his vow was ended, and therefore he was at liberty as to those things from which he had restrained himself for a season, otherwise some might have been scandalized at his use of his liberty. The fire - Upon which the flesh of the peace-offerings was boiled.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

indicating his separation

Here "separation" means "dedication." Also, this abstract noun may be written as a verb. AT: "indicating his dedication" or "indicating how he has separated himself" (See: Idiom and Abstract Nouns)

translationWords

God

tent of meeting

fire

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

וגלח הנזיר פתח אהל מועד AND THE NAZARITE SHALL CLIP [THE HAIR OF THE HEAD OF HIS NAZARITEHOOD] AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE APPOINTED TENT — One might think that he must cut his hair in the forecourt (for it states at the entrance of the appointed tent)! Surely, this would be treating the forecourt in a contemptuous manner! But the meaning is: the Nazarite shall cut his hair after the feast-offerings had been slaughtered of which Scripture writes, (Leviticus 3:2) “and he shall slaughter it פתח אהל מועד” (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 35; Nazir 45a).

אשר תחת זבח השלמים [AND HE SHALL TAKE THE HAIR … AND PUT IT IN THE FIRE] WHICH IS UNDER THE SACRIFICE OF THE FEAST-OFFERINGS — i.e., under the pot in which he boils it (the שלמים); because the feast offerings of the Nazarite were boiled in the forecourt since the priest had to take “the shoulder” after it had been boiled (cf. vv. 19 and 20) and to wave it before the Lord (cf. Nazir 45b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.