He was under an obligation to abstain from wine and all other products of the vine, and to let his hair grow
long. From the time of the nomadic ancestors, the vine was the symbol of the settled life and a culture
removed from the ancient simplicity of manners, though quite right in themselves. The free growth of hair
represented the Nazarite‘s consecration to YHWH in the visible form. The hair was the glory (nezer) of the
head. If the period of the vow was not specified, Rabbinic law fixed it at thirty days. During the period of the
vow, he was forbidden to touch a dead body.
At the end of the period of the vow the Nazarite appeared at the Temple before a priest, made certain
prescribed offerings, shaved off his hair and burned it. Following this, he was again permitted to use the
products of the vine and to return to ordinary life.
That brings us to the end of the two theories—as said, the reader must self-decide if Y‘shua was a literal
nazir or not.
Let‘s now continue with Y‘shua‘s upbringing and education. Other Gospels have been made use off because
very little is said about this in the Book of Matthew. Please read the section ―Was Y‘shua a carpenter?‖ under
―Mat 3:55-58 Is not this the carpenter's son?‖ before reading the section below.
Y‟shua‟s childhood and upbringingAnd Yoseph, Miriam and Y‘shua arrived in Nazareth...
―And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him‖.
(Luke 2:40)
With this one statement, the development of Y‘shua until the age of twelve is summarised by stating that
physically He waxed strong; mentally He was filled with wisdom; and spiritually the grace of YHWH was upon
Him. The question is: what kind of an upbringing did Y‘shua have?
Although the Bible does not give that much information concerning Y‘shua‘s early years, the Mishnah gives
the breaking down of the ages of development of a Jewish child. ―At five years of age, a child is put to the
text of the Scripture; at age ten, to the Mishnah or traditions; at age thirteen, to the commandments (Bar
Mitzvah); at age fifteen, for the study of Talmud; at age eighteen, for marriage; at age twenty, for pursuing a
vocation; at the age of thirty, for entering into one‘s full vigor‖.
Here we have in a nutshell the early life of any Jewish boy growing to manhood, including Y‘shua. Textbooks
were simply not available during this period of time. So all learning was done by memorisation. This will
come into evidence later on in the way Y‘shua taught His disciples, using what is called in the Hebrew
―remez‖, which means, ―an alluding to‖.
However, there are some other indications that we can go by that tell us something about the nature of His
education. One thing that we can refer to is the fact that He had a Jewish upbringing in a home with parents
who were members of the believing Jewish remnant of that day. He lived in a spiritual home, a home where
mother and father both were very much committed to YHWH. He received a Jewish upbringing, learning
much about the Tanach (Old Covenant) and the Jewish religion of that time.
While in His deity, Y‘shua had a mission and knew everything. But in His humanity, He had to undergo a
learning process just like every other human being. Some scholars believe that for this kind of learning, He
probably underwent a special training by YHWH the Father. So that when the period of training was over
with, and when His mission finally began to be opened up in the course of His public ministry, He was not
rebellious. When a time of suffering came, because of the nature of this training He had and that He
understood that He was trained for that very suffering, He was not rebellious and willingly gave His cheeks to
them that plucked out the hair.
It is no accident that Luke will tell us later when Y‘shua begins to move towards Jerusalem for the final time
when He knows He will be crucified, we are told that He will set His face like a flint in order to go to
Jerusalem for the purpose of fulfilling is mission.
Y‟shua in the Temple―Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover‖. (Luke 41)
A term in Hebrew used for festival or feast is ―mo‘ed‖, and it means a ―set time‖ or an ―appointed time‖.
YHWH has appointed seasons during the year that He would require the men of Israel to be present in