Numbers 6:4

Num 6:4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

Ver. 4. From the kernels even to the tusk.] Nothing that might occasion, or tempt him to break his vow. All shadows and shows of evil must be shunned: Quicquid fuerit male coloratum, as Bernard hath it; whatsoever looks but ill-favoured. {1Th 5:22 Jdg 1:23} He that would not eat the meat, must not meddle with the broth. He that would not toll the bell, must not tuggle with the rope. He that would shun the blow, must keep aloof from the train.

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 6:4. All the days of his separation — Some were perpetual Nazarites, being peculiarly devoted to God from the womb, as Samson and John the Baptist. But Moses here speaks of such as made themselves Nazarites only for a time, which might be longer or shorter, as they thought fit to appoint.

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

(4) From the kernels even to the husk.—The word which is rendered kenels is supposed by some to denote sour grapes, and by others the kernels of berries. The word zag denotes the shell or husk.

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

4. nothing that is produced by the grape-vine] R.V. ‘made of the grape-vine,’ though a literal rendering of the Hebrew, is misleading. The meaning is evidently that of Jdg_13:14 ‘nothing that cometh forth (יצא) from the grape-vine.’ This meaning of עשה ‘to make,’ or ‘produce,’ in the course of nature is found with some frequency; e.g. Gen_1:11 f., Gen_41:47, Isa_5:2; Isa_5:4; Isa_5:10.

from the kernels even to the husk] The Heb. idiom ‘from … to …’ frequently represents the English ‘either … or …’ or ‘neither … nor …’ Cf. Gen_14:23, lit. ‘from a thread to a shoe-latchet’; Gen_31:24; Gen_31:29 ‘from good to bad.’

The words rendered ‘kernels’ (ḥarẓannîm) and ‘husk’ (zâg) are not found elsewhere in the O.T. and their meaning is uncertain.

It is not very natural to speak of the kernels (i.e. the stones or pips) and the husk (i.e. the skin) of the grape as produced by the vine. But no better rendering of the words has been proposed. The general sense, however, is clear. The eating of any sort of grape product is prohibited, even the most trifling or unpalatable parts of the produce of the vine.

The custom of abstaining from wine and intoxicants may have arisen in a remote past from a primitive belief that the spirit or numen of the vine entered into a man when he drank (see Frazer, Golden Bough, i. 359 f.); or, as Jer_35:6 f. suggests in the case of the Rechabites, it arose from a desire to conform closely to ancient nomadic habits after the nation as a whole had become an agricultural community (W. R. Smith, Prophets of Israel, 84 f.). Whatever the origin may have been, the Naziriteship had, in prophetic times, a valuable moral significance as a protest against luxury and sensuality. See Driver on Amo_2:11.

Again, the prohibition of wine is distinct from that of all intoxicants1 [Note: On intoxicants other than wine see Hastings’ DB. ii. 33b.] . The former is probably the more primitive. And the form of the regulations found here may very possibly have been the result of the fusion of ancient practices which were at one time unconnected, and not all observed by earlier Nazirites.

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.

All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree,.... Of its leaves, branches, and fruit, especially the latter, put into any sort of food, or infused into any liquor, or mixed with any sauce for food: the days or time of separation were according as the vow was made, for a shorter or longer time; though the Jews (t) say, where the vow is, absolutely expressed, it is always to be understood of thirty days, during which time the Nazarite was not to eat or drink of any composition that had anything the vine in it:

from the kernels even to the husk; the Jews (u) are divided about the two words here used, which of them signifies the outermost part of the grape, and which the innermost; Ben Gersom agrees with us, but it matters not much who are in the right, since both are forbidden: by this part of the law, the people of God, who are spiritual Nazarites, are taught to live temperately and soberly, and to abstain from all appearance of sin: it is pretty remarkable what the Jews (w) say, that when the son of David comes, it will be free for a Nazarite to drink wine on sabbath days and festivals, though not on week days; from whence it appears, they seem to be conscious of a change of the ceremonial law in his days.

(t) Misn. Nazir, c. 1. sect. 3. & c. 6. sect. 3. (u) Misn. Nazir, c. 6. sect. 2. Aben Ezra in loc. (w) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 43. 1.

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

Kernel, or stone. Neither the inside nor the outside must be eaten.

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).

The days were sometimes more, sometimes fewer, as he thought fit to appoint.

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

4. Kernels — Grape-stones.

Husk — The cuticle or skin.

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

From the kernels oven to the husk, or skin. Of grape-skins it is said that cakes were made which were considered a delicacy, (Hos_3:1, mistranslated "flagons of wine but this is doubtful. The Septuagint has oinon amo stemfolwn ewv gigartou , "wine of grape-skins (the liquor of grapes mentioned before) even to the kernel." The expression is best understood as including anything and everything, however unlikely to be used, connected with the grape. It is clear that the abstinence of the Nazirite extended beyond what might possibly intoxicate to what was simply pleasant to the taste, like raisins, or refreshing, like charnels. The vine represented, by an easy parable, the tree of carnal delights, which yields to the appetite of men such a variety of satisfactions. So among the Romans the Flamen Dialis might not even touch a vine.

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

All the days of his separation - Which were sometimes more, sometimes fewer, as he thought fit to appoint.

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

חרצנים are THE KERNELS....

זג are THE HUSKS (skins) outside. They are called זג (a term also used for a bell) because the kernels are inside them as the clapper is in the bell (cf. Siphre; Nazir 34b; 39a).

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.