How did Numbers 6:9 apply to Samson?

Question

Numbers 6:9

"'If someone dies suddenly in the Nazirite's presence, thus defiling the hair that symbolizes their dedication, they must shave their head on the seventh day--the day of their cleansing.

Judges 15:16

Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men."

On this occasion, did Samson cleanse himself by shaving?

But Samson confessed to Delilah in Judges 16:17

So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

Did Numbers 6:9 not apply to Samson the Nazirite?

Answer 1

Why did Samson | שִׁמְשׁוֹן Shimshon not observe the Vow of Naziriteship?

Nazir 4b [3]

A nazirite like Samson is permitted to become impure from a corpse ab initio, as we find with Samson that he became impure. Rabbi Shimon says: One who says he will be a nazirite like Samson has not said anything, since we do not find with Samson that an utterance of a vow of naziriteship left his mouth. Samson never took a vow to be a nazirite. He received his status from the angel’s instructions to his mother (see Judges 13:5). Consequently, Rabbi Shimon holds that one who vows to be a nazirite like Samson is not considered to have taken a nazirite vow.

Nazir 4b [17] states

וְשִׁמְשׁוֹן לָאו נָזִיר הֲוָה וְהָכְתִיב כִּי נְזִיר אֱלֹהִים יִהְיֶה הַנַּעַר מִן הַבֶּטֶן הָתָם מַלְאָךְ הוּא דְּקָאָמַר " The Gemara challenges the assumption that Samson’s naziriteship was not accepted through a vow: And was Samson not a nazirite whose naziriteship was accepted by a vow? Isn’t it written: “For the child shall be a nazirite of God from the womb” (Judges 13:5)? The Gemara answers: There it was the angel who spoke. Samson’s nazirite status did not stem from a vow uttered by a human being. "

Did Samon | שִׁמְשׁוֹן Shimshon become impure from battle at לֶ֔חִי Lechi?

"The Gemara asks: And from where do we derive that Samson became impure from corpses? If we say it is from the fact that it is written: “And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, I smote a thousand men” (Judges 15:16), perhaps he thrust the jawbone at them but did not touch them, and he remained pure." - Nazir 4b [18] : https://www.sefaria.org/Nazir.4b.18?with=Commentary&lang=bi

In Shoftim (Judges) 13:3-7, we learn the Angel of YHVH (מַלְאַ֨ךְ יְהֹוַ֜ה) and the Wife (הָאִשָּׁ֗ה) of Manoah (מָנ֑וֹחַ) make the Nazirite vow for Manoah's son Samson (Shimshon , שִׁמְשׁוֹן) to hopefully become a Nazir. * Samson never makes a Nazir (נָּזִ֗יר) vow. Samson prays and makes a request after he is humbled, losing his hair and sight.

Shimshon's Prayer in [Shoftim (Judges) 16:28]: "And Samson called to the Lord and said, "God YHVH, remember me and strengthen me now, only this once my Lord YHVH, that I may be avenged the vengeance for one of my two eyes from the Philistines." ( וַיִּקְרָ֥א שִׁמְשׁ֛וֹן אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִֹ֡ה זָכְרֵ֣נִי נָא֩ וְחַזְּקֵ֨נִי נָ֜א אַ֣ךְ הַפַּ֚עַם הַזֶּה֙ הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְאִנָּקְמָ֧ה נְקַם־אַחַ֛ת מִשְּׁתֵ֥י עֵינַ֖י מִפְּלִשְׁתִּֽים)

Samson never vows to abstain from wine (Yayin, יַ֣יִן), but His mother is told to abstain from Yayin during her pregnancy. * Children do not always become what their parents want them to become. Regarding the Nazirite vow in Bamidbar (Numbers) 6:2-3, a mother cannot make a Nazirite vow for her son. The vow must be made by a Yisraelite man or woman who sets themself apart to become holy for God.

Answer 2

Samson's adherence to the Nazirite vow has always been a source of contention. Firstly, let's establish what the rules of the Nazirite vow are according to Numbers 6.

1. No eating food made from grapes, dried or fresh.

he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

2. He cannot shave his hair.

all the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

3. He cannot have any contact with a corpse, not even family.

All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head

There's an example of Samson breaking almost all of these vows.

He drinks wine (Judges 14:10), he touches a corpse (Judges 14:8-9) and he has his hair cut off (Judges 16, not willfully, of course). There's not really a reasonable excuse for any of these clear violations of the Nazirite vow. I think it's safe to make the assumption that Samson is a bit of a rebel.

What is interesting is that in Judges 13, when Samson's mother is visited by an angel, the command for Samson not touching corpses is conspicuously left out.

but he said unto me: Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death.'

JPS 1917

It's possible that because the angel predicts Samson will "begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines" (Judges 13:5) that he was somehow exempt from this provision of the Nazirite vow.

Answer 3

The regulations in Number 6 did not apply to Samson. It applied to a man or a woman who voluntary to become a Nazirite, and they could quit to be a Nazirite when the period of their dedication was over.

Samson as a Nazirite was mandatory (Judge 13:7). The Bible did not tell if Samson had to follow the same.

So when a voluntary Nazirite was defiled, the previous days did not count (Number 6:12), which meant their duty as a Nazirite was void. However, this would be difficult to apply on Samson, for he was picked by the Lord as a Nazirite until his death. If he followed the same rule, then the prophesy of the angel was broken.