21 "'This is the law of the Nazirite who vows, and of his offering to Yahweh for his separation, besides that which he is able to get. According to his vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation.'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Beside that that his hand shall get - The Nazarite, in addition to the offerings prescribed above, was to present free-will offerings according to his possessions or means.
This is the law of the Nazarite - We learn from Maimonides, in his Treatise of the Nazarite, that a man might become a Nazarite in behalf of another; that is, might assist him in bearing the expenses of the sacrifices, etc. "A son may fulfill the vow his deceased father hath made, but did not live to accomplish: - He that saith, upon me be the shaving of a Nazarite, he is bound to bring the offerings of shaving for cleanness, and may offer them by the hand of what Nazarite he will. If he say, Upon me be half the oblations of a Nazarite, then he bringeth half the offerings by what Nazarite he will, and that Nazarite payeth his offerings out of that which is his."
"By this," says Mr. Ainsworth, "we may see the reason of that which James said to Paul, though he had no Nazarite's vow upon him: 'We have four men who have a vow on them; them take and sanctify thyself with them, and Be At Charges With Them, that they may shave their heads, etc. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, sanctifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of sanctification, (or Nazariteship), until that an offering should be offered for every one of them;' see Acts 21:23-26. For though Paul had not vowed or fulfilled a Nazariteship himself, yet might he contribute with them, and partake of their charges about the sacrifices."
This [is] the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed, [and of] his offering unto the LORD for his separation, (k) beside [that] that his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.
(k) At the least he shall do this, if he is not able to offer more.
This is the law of the Nazarite, who hath vowed,.... The vow of a Nazarite; what he is obliged to do when his Nazariteship is up:
and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation; of the several offerings required of him, to offer to the Lord, for and upon his going through his Nazariteship, his burnt offering, sin offering, sacrifice of peace offerings, his meat offering and drink offering; together with the basket of unleavened bread, cakes and wafers:
besides that that his hands shall get; the above offerings were what he was obliged unto by the law of God, even though a poor man; but, besides these, it was expected of a man of substance, that he would voluntarily of himself offer more, according to his ability and the length of the time of his Nazariteship:
according to the vow which he hath vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation; there were some things he was obliged to do by his vow, and as he had vowed, there was a necessity upon him to fulfil it; as to abstain from the things he vowed so to do, and that as long a time as he fixed by his vow, and when finished to offer the sacrifices required of him.
"This is the law of the Nazarite, who vowed his sacrificial gifts to the Lord on the ground of his consecration," i.e., who offered his sacrifice in accordance with the state of a Nazarite into which he had entered. For the sacrifices mentioned in Numbers 6:14. were not the object of a special vow, but contained in the vow of the Nazarite, and therefore already vowed (Knobel). "Beside what his hand grasps," i.e., what he is otherwise able to perform (Leviticus 5:11), "according to the measure of his vow, which he vowed, so must he do according to the law of his consecration," i.e., he had to offer the sacrifices previously mentioned on the ground of his consecration vow. Beyond that he was free to vow anything else according to his ability, to present other sacrificial gifts to the Lord for His sanctuary and His servants, which did not necessarily belong to the vow of the Nazarite, but were frequently added. From this the custom afterwards grew up, that when poor persons took the Nazarite's vow upon them, those who were better off defrayed the expenses of the sacrifices (Acts 21:24; Josephus, Ant. xix. 6, 1; Mishnah Nasir, ii. 5ff.).
That his hand shall get - Besides what he shall voluntarily give according to his ability.
*More commentary available at chapter level.