Commentaria in Numeros
The hair of the Nazarite is burned in honour of God, as of what was already before sacred and consecrated to him; for by the hair, which is the covering of the head, it was signified that the head itself of the Nazarite was consecrated to God; and since the head itself could not be offered to God and burned without the killing of the man, therefore in place of the head the hair was given to God and burned, that by this symbol they might “consecrate to the Lord the perfection of their devotion,” says Isidore. In like manner, that the Gentiles dedicated their hair to the gods, that is, to demons, when they offered themselves to them, is attested by Theodoret on Leviticus 19, Question 28, and Cyril, book 16 On Adoration. St. Gregory, Morals, book II, chap. vi, and Rupert take this otherwise and mystically, as I said above, namely that the hair signifies superfluous and presumptuous thoughts, and therefore they are commanded to be burned and consumed to the honour of God. Moreover, that the use of the tonsure in the Church began from the Nazarites, Isidore teaches, On the Divine Offices: “The use of this example (of the Nazarites),” he says, “was introduced by the Apostles, that those who, given over to divine worship, are consecrated to the Lord, as Nazarites, that is, saints of God, should be renewed with the hair cut off; that by this sign and religion vices may be cut away, and we may be stripped of the sins of our flesh as of hair, putting off the old man with his deeds: which renewal ought to take place in the mind, but is shown in the head, where the mind itself is known to dwell; but because, the head being shorn, a circular crown is left above and below, I think the priesthood and kingdom of the Church are figured in them. Hence also among the ancients a tiara was placed on the head of priests, because you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood.”
Of which another reason also is given, namely for the perpetual memory of Christ’s crown of thorns: and that this was practised by the Apostles and handed down to the Church Bede teaches with sure assertion, book 5 of the History of the English, chapter 22: “Nor are we shorn into a crown,” he says, “only because Peter was so shorn, but because Peter was so shorn in memory of the Lord’s passion: therefore we also, who desire to be saved by the same passion, bear with him on the crown of the head the sign of that passion. As, then, the faithful bear the sign of the cross on their forehead against malignant spirits, and that they may be taught that they ought to crucify the flesh with its vices: so clerics and monks bear the form of the crown which Christ in his passion wore on his head, of thorns, that he might bear, that is carry away and take from us, the thorns and thistles of our sins: that they may teach, even by the very front of the head, that they willingly and readily bear mockeries and reproaches for Christ; that they may show that they ever look for the crown of life which God has promised to them that love him, and for the sake of obtaining it despise the adversities and prosperities of the world.” This and more Bede, and Albinus Flaccus, On the Divine Offices.
But among monks, already from the time of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, as he himself testifies, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, part 2, chapter 3, the shaving of the head has been the custom: for the shaving of the head is a warning and symbol, first, of a man mourning and grieving; secondly, of a chaste man and “unadorned with the ornament of modesty,” as St. Paulinus says, epistle 7; thirdly, of one who despises earthly things and meditates on heavenly. See more in Baronius, year of Christ 58.
Verse 20. BEING SANCTIFIED (that is, elevated and offered to God) THEY SHALL BE THE PRIEST’S, AS THE BREAST AND THE SHOULDER—the right shoulder, as the Hebrew has; for this shoulder, like the breast, in peace-offerings fell to the priest, and was separated for him from the victim, as is plain from Leviticus 7:31 and 32.
Verse 21. THIS IS THE LAW OF THE NAZARITE, WHEN HE HATH VOWED HIS OBLATION TO THE LORD IN THE TIME OF HIS CONSECRATION—when, namely, he has vowed the Nazariteship, or to be a Nazarite, and consequently when he has vowed the oblation to be made at the end of the vow, which I have here prescribed to Nazarites: he has vowed it, I say, on the day of consecration, that is on the day on which he consecrated himself to God and began to be a Nazarite.
BESIDES THOSE THINGS WHICH HIS HAND SHALL FIND (as if to say: He shall offer the victims already prescribed in verse 14, besides those which he shall be willing of his own accord to offer, according to his means and ability; and that) FOR THE PERFECTION OF HIS SANCTIFICATION.—In Hebrew, “according to the law of his Nazariteship,” which regards, that is, his perfection in the holiness of the state of that time, namely of the Old Testament.
Verse 23. THUS SHALL YOU BLESS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: THE LORD BLESS THEE—that is, the Lord give thee abundance of all goods, temporal and spiritual; for this is what blessing signifies among the Hebrews (1).
Verse 25. THE LORD SHOW HIS FACE TO THEE.—The Hebrew is: the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, that is, may God show himself kind, cheerful, propitious, liberal to thee. For this is what light and illumination signify in Scripture, as Psalm 96:11: “Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart”; and Psalm 43:4: “For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou wast pleased with them.”
Secondly, a better and more genuine sense is, as if to say: May the Lord be to thee like a light and a lamp, to direct all thy acts. That this is so is plain from Psalm 66:1, where these benedictions are repeated, when the Psalmist had said: “May God cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us,” he presently explains it by adding: “That we may know thy way upon earth.”
“The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us,” as if to say: The lamp of reason and faith in us is kindled by thy divine light, O Lord. In a similar sense it is said in Psalm 30: “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy justifications”; and Luke 1:79: “To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace”; and Psalm 89, last verse: “And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct thou the works of our hands over us.”
Verse 26. THE LORD TURN HIS COUNTENANCE TO THEE—as if to say: May the Lord comfort, help and protect thee.
Metaphorically the turning of the countenance is attributed to God, as also the turning away, signifying his present help, as turning away signifies his abandonment. In this blessing of the priests, says Rabanus, framed in three parts, the name of the Lord is placed and repeated a third time, that the Most Holy Trinity, from whom, through whom, and in whom are all good things, may be signified: hence also among Christians the ecclesiastical blessing is conferred by the names of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity, saying: May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; or, May God be in thy heart and in thy mouth, that thou mayest rightly announce his Gospel, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 27. AND THEY SHALL INVOKE MY NAME UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL—in Hebrew, “and they shall put my name upon the children of Israel,” namely by invoking it upon them; hence Vatablus and the Hebrews so expound it, as if to say: When the priests bless the children of Israel, they shall add to the blessing my name of four letters.
AND I WILL BLESS THEM.—Note here the efficacy and effect of the priestly blessing, even in the old law. For God here promises that he will hear this blessing, and in fact fulfil it, and bless, that is do good to, the people so blessed by the priest. So the blessing of parents, especially of the dying, given to their children, was formerly efficacious, and was therefore eagerly sought by sons, as is plain in the blessing of Isaac, Genesis 27, and of Jacob, Genesis 49, and of Moses, Deuteronomy 33. And this is what the Wise Man says, Ecclesiasticus 3:11: “The father’s blessing establisheth the houses of the children; but the mother’s curse rooteth up the foundation.” What wonder, then, if the blessing of the priests of the new Testament is efficacious? especially if it be asked and received with the faith and devotion that is fitting. Hence true Catholics are wont to ask it and receive it religiously. So most English people, even nobles, when a priest enters the house, prostrate themselves with the whole family on the ground, and beg a blessing from him as suppliants. So of old Christians, even princes, asked a blessing from the holy Fathers and Anchorites, and experienced great fruit from it. So finally Christ, the high priest, ascending into heaven, blessed his own, Luke last chapter, verse 51. More on this blessing of Pontiffs I said on Ecclesiasticus 36:19.