Verse 9
"And if any man die very suddenly beside him, and he defile the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting: and the priest shall offer one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. And he shall separate unto Jehovah the days of his separation, and shall bring a he-lamb a year old for a trespass-offering: but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled."
Inherent in this is the Divine law that "accidental" sins are none the less wicked and sinful. There is no suggestion here that the occasion mentioned involved any purpose whatever on the part of the Nazirite. This concerns a violation that "just happened," involving an UNINTENTIONAL touching of a dead body.
Note that the full gamut of the Levitical sacrifices were required:
(a) the sin offering,
(b) the burnt-offering, and
(c) the trespass-offering.
The terms of reinstatement of the vow were severe. "An oath to Yahweh overrides all other considerations; it carries a completely categorical imperative."[9] If an ordinary person became defiled through touching a dead body, his cleansing was effected (Numbers 19:11-22), but, for the Nazirite, he shaved his head on the seventh day, and the next day brought the triple sacrifices, hallowed his head again, and began all over again the full term of his vow, losing all of the time prior to the violation.
What was done with the hair that was shaved off after such a violation? The text here carries no explanation; but Jewish tradition has this: "They buried it, because it was then considered defiled. The hair shaved off after the completion of the vow was burnt as a sacrifice (Numbers 6:18)."[10]
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