Had Elijah, Elisha and John the Baptist taken Nazarite vows?

[gilgal]

The description 'hairy' is also significant. I believe the issue this reveals is the Nazarite commitment Elijah had. He was completely dedicated to God. Hence, like the long hair we find on Samson, it was a symbol of that separation apart to God. Later we will see Elisha mocked as a 'bald head'. Why is this significant? Again it is my expectation that this shows that Nazarite commitment. Elisha had just taken the position of Elijah’s replacement, and having done so, it would have been logical for the taking on of that office to begin with a Nazarite vow of commitment. That is seen outwardly in the shaving off of the hair at the beginning of the service. Hence, Elisha started out as 'a bald head' and Elijah, after an extended service was 'hairy'.
http://www.basedintheword.org/sermons/elijah.asp

John the Baptist is assumed to be a Nazarite from birth:

Luke the Evangelist clearly was aware that wine was forbidden in this practice, for the angel (Luke 1:13-15) that announces the birth of John the Baptist foretells that "he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb", in other words, a nazirite from birth, the implication being that John had taken a lifelong nazirite vow.[30]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite

[Bob May]

]http://www.basedintheword.org/sermons/elijah.asp

John the Baptist is assumed to be a Nazarite from birth:

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite[/url




Didn't Paul also do the separation/Nazarite thing at one point. Yes here it is:

Ac 18:12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,
Ac 18:13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.
Ac 18:14 And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:
Ac 18:15 But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.
Ac 18:16 And he drave them from the judgment seat.
Ac 18:17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.
Ac 18:18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.


If I remember correctly they let their hair grow long for a period and then shaved their entire bodies and burned the hair on the altar.

It is interesting to note that both Paul and John had their heads "shaved" from their bodies at the end of their lives.

Re 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Re 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Re 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

An outward, physical sign of an inner reality, maybe.

Bob