He,  therefore,  who  thus  abstained,  was  accounted  holy,  and
placed  in  equal  dignity  with  the  high-priest  as  to  sanctity,
not  being  allowed  to  pollute  himself  for  his  deceased  father
or  mother.  Another  commentator*  says:  ''The  direc-
tions which  God  here  gives  about  it  (the  hair),  are  mani-
festly opposite  to  the  ways  of  the  Gentiles.  For  the  Na-
zarites  are  here  directed  to  cut  their  hair  at  the  door  of  the
tabernacle,  where  it  was  also  to  be  burnt;  whereas  the
Gentiles  hung  their  hair,  when  they  had  cut  it,  upon  trees
or  consecrated  it  to  rivers,  or  laid  it  up  in  their  temples,
there  to  be  preserved.  The  Hebrew  Nazarites  also  are  re-
quired to  offer  various  sorts  of  sacrifices  when  they  cut  their
hair,  of  which  we  rarely  read  ?nything  among  the  Gentiles,
and  all  the  time  of  their  separation  were  to  drink  no  wine,

*  Spencer,  De  Leg.  Heb.
198

nor  eat  grapes,  etc.,  which  was  not  known  among  the  hea-
then. From  whence  it  is,  one  may  think,  that  they  are  so
often  put  in  mind  of  the  Lord,  in  this  law  of  the  Nazarites,
...  to  put  them  in  mind,  that,  though  they  used  which  was
common  to  other  nations,  yet  it  was  in  honor  of  the  Lord
only,  whom  they  acknowledged  to  be  the  author  of  health,
and  strength,  and  growth."  It  is  thus  evident  from  this
institution,  as  it  is  from  various  others,  that  they  were
retained  in  accommodation  to  the  long  acquired  habits  of
the  people ;  that  the  Israelites  adhered  to  some  of  the
practices  of  other  nations,  but  were  at  the  same  time  re-
quired in  all  their  doings  to  acknowledge  the  Almighty  as
their  God  and  Ruler.
