To browse Academia. Skip to main content. Log In Sign Up. All Departments 96 Papers 1 Researchers. To be a nazir: from the yahwistic warrior to the worship vow of the Ancient Judaism. There was not one rite of nazir but two! The one well-known is the vow pronounced in order to have a divine profit. It was elaborated with ancient elements the prohibitions by a priestly elite at the persian period.
The other nazir is more problematic. The biblical texts, referring to it, have been mostly changed as time goes on, losing somewhat its meaning. Before becoming a survival in the states progressively established in the northern kingdom then in the southern, it was probably a rite for the young men under the aegis of a god warrior Yahweh.
If we bring attention to certain difficulties presented in 1 Samuel rather than circumvent them through synchronic approaches, we identify indices which can allow us to go back to a legend of Saul.
The beginning of this legend is not The beginning of this legend is not 1 Samuel but 1 Samuel 1 where the name of the child could be Saul. The proto-cycle of the king doesn't differ from the Ark narrative because this famous tale is in fact an aspect of the legend. H, Ps et le bouc pour Azazel. Lv 17 H argues against demonic rituals with violence while Lv 16 Ps has a ritual of this kind in its legislation : the goat for Azazel.
The festival calendar of Lv 23 H does not mention this special rite unlike Nb Ps. How can we understand otherwise the existence of such an apotropaic sacrifice in the cult of Yhwh? The fact that H is unaware of the goat for Azazel — as well as its sacrificial system, nearer to D than P — goes against the new thesis of a redactor H subsequent to Ps.
