I’m pleased to publish this Platinum Guest Post by Doug Wadeson, long time platinum members, retired physician, and, ergo, expert on, well, drugs. Now *here’s* a topic we haven’t addressed on the blog before! What do you think?
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Moses is clearly one of the most significant figures in the Bible. Most people know that he is the one who received the Ten Commandments directly from God while up on Mount Sinai, even if they only know it from watching Cecil B. DeMille’s movie, The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses.[1] I am going to assume you know the Moses story and that his first encounter with God (Yahweh) was while living as a shepherd among the Midianites. While tending his sheep on Mt. Sinai (aka Horeb[2]) he sees a burning bush and God speaks to him from the bush and gives him his mission to free the Hebrew people from Egypt. To the faithful this is a literal description of a historical event. However, it is possible this story is legendary and incorporates the kind of “religious” experiences known in the ancient world that were facilitated by psychoactive drugs.
Let’s look at the story as told in Exodus 3. On the mountain Moses sees “the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed.” Moses hears God’s voice from the bush, giving him a great mission to perform. Moses is cautious, or scared, so God gives him some demonstrations of what he can do. First, Moses’ shepherd staff turns into a snake, and then back into a staff. Next Moses puts his hand inside his robe and when he takes it out it is white with leprosy. He puts it back into the robe and it comes out normal again. Eventually Moses is convinced to proceed with God’s plan.
What most people totally overlook when reading this story (or seeing it on film) is that it contains the classic attributes of a drug trip. When Moses was high on Mt. Sinai, was he literally “high?” Consider the elements of the story:
- There is a perception of bright light, in the form of the burning bush, which might represent the heightening of senses common with drug use, or dilation of the pupils.
- There is a distortion of time perception, as the bush keeps burning without being consumed.
- His staff appears to turn into a snake. Hallucinations involving wavy or wriggling images (worms, snakes) are common during drug trips (or delirium). If accompanied by the sensation of crawling on the skin it is called formication.
- His hand turns white. Altered perception of body parts (and other things) is another common effect seen during drug use.
- Profound religious or spiritual feelings. In this case Moses feels like he is talking with God Himself, and is given a special purpose, a grandiose one. Some drugs (e.g., MDMA or “ecstasy”) are particularly noted for this effect, whether it be communing with God, or the world, or the universe.
Am I suggesting that Moses was simply experiencing a drug trip on Mt. Sinai? Not really. Historians question if there even was a Moses, or if he was a legendary creation developed later to serve as the authoritative lawgiver for the Israelite people. Rather I am suggesting that the details of the story may have originated with the experiences ancient people had with various drugs. This is not my original idea. Many scholars have looked into this. One of them is psychology professor Benny Shanon of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who has written extensively on this and other aspects of drug use in religious experience. A more recent effort to explore drug use in ancient religion is the book The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku. I mention such scholars to suggest this is not an outlying crazy idea, but it is given serious consideration.
Most Christians are probably offended by the idea that Bible stories could be inspired by drug use, but drug use was very common in ancient religions. It is possible that drug use was in fact the origin of many religious experiences and rituals that led to the religions we know today. Native Americans have used peyote and mushrooms in religious ceremonies for over two millennia. In the Olmec civilization in Central America priests were buried with toads known to contain psychoactive secretions. There are cave paintings at Tassili n’Ajjer in Algeria thought to be over 6,000 years old that appear to be showing shamans (medicine men) holding potentially hallucinogenic mushrooms during their rituals. Some ancient Greeks used alcohol in their religious rites, particularly the cult of Dionysus, the god of both wine and religious ecstasy. The Oracle at Delphi may have entered her trances with the aid of petrochemical fumes.[3] Hindu mystics continue to use cannabis (marijuana) as a spiritual aid, and the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, speak of a drug called soma which was used in religious rituals.[4] In the Middle East cannabis and its derivative hashish were used. Eight-thousand year-old hardened Sumerian clay-tablets contain the earliest prescriptions of opium. The Pazyryk burials are Scythian Iron Age tombs in Siberia in which the dead were buried with cannabis (marijuana) seeds. Pacific islanders used kava in their ceremonies. So, essentially every area of the world used psychoactive substances in their ancient religious rites.[5] That should not be surprising, given that drugs create sensations and perceptions that might lead one to think they have entered a spiritual dimension or are communing with heavenly beings and are having mystical experiences. But not in the Bible, right?! Not in the Judeo-Christian tradition!
There is more in the Bible than the burning bush episode. Acacia wood is mentioned numerous times in the Bible and the shrub is known to have psychoactive properties. Perhaps the burning bush was in fact acacia wood putting off psychedelic fumes? Perhaps it is no coincidence that the altar used for burning incense in the tabernacle, and later the temple, was supposed to be made specifically out of acacia wood (Exodus 30:1). When you combine drugs you get a greater effect, and what kind of incense was to be burned on this altar of acacia wood? There is a recipe given for incense to be burned in the tabernacle.
Take also for yourself the finest of spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty… Exodus 30:23
“Fragrant cane” in the Hebrew is “qaneh besem,” and it is perhaps not a coincidence that the phrase sounds like the word, “cannabis.”[6] No wonder the priests thought they were communing with God in the temple! They were as high as kites! And of course, there was a strict law that only priests could burn this incense. Talk about keeping a good thing to yourself.
Here is a passage from one of the most poetic and romantic books in the Bible:
I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, friends; Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.” Song of Solomon 5:1
The word translated “honeycomb” is usually translated as timber or forest when otherwise used in the Bible, but the Hebrew word (“ya’ar”) is thought to mean to thicken with vegetation, per the standard Bible reference Strong’s. Some think that this is a reference to combining another plant with honey, possibly cannabis. Even today it is popular to combine cannabis and honey: just do an online search and you can find recipes (only advisable where it is legal!). I doubt Bible translators are thinking of this association when they translate the word “ya’ar.” Cannabis resin can be scraped off the plants and then used by ingestion or smoking or combined with other substances, like honey. Cannabis was known and used in the Middle East and North Africa, so the Hebrew people would have been familiar with it. There is no general prohibition in the Law of Moses against the use of such mind-altering substances[7], except, as mentioned above, the special oil with “qaneh besem” was strictly for use by the priests (Exodus 30:33).
King Saul may not have been a stranger to drug use. Saul was said to be subject to mood swings, as described in 1 Samuel 16:14-23. He also developed extreme paranoia, at one point hurling a spear at his protégé David (1 Samuel 18:10, 11) and later hunting him (1 Samuel 18:6-9). Mood swings and paranoia are classic symptoms of drug abuse. Just sayin’…
Furthermore there is an incident described with Saul which sounds very much like a drug party. To set the stage, in 1 Samuel 10 the prophet Samuel tells Saul to seek out a group of prophets:
“…you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre before them, and they will be prophesying. “
I Samuel 10:5
I think in this passage it means high as in elevation, but coming down from a high makes for an interesting play on words in our current context. Prophets were those associated with inspired oration, poetry and song, not necessarily fortune-telling, which is what many people think of with that term. It seems like they were the artistic community within Israel. And they wouldn’t be the first or the last artists to use drugs for inspiration![8] So, “when they came there to the hill, behold, a group of prophets met him (Saul); and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he prophesied among them.” But a later similar passage gives us more detail of what happened when Saul hung out with the prophets: It’s kind of humorous, actually.
First Saul sends some messengers to a group of prophets, but the messengers end up hanging out and “prophesying” themselves (again, think of singing and telling stories). He does this twice more with the same result. So finally:
[Saul] proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” I Samuel 19:23, 24
Tell me that doesn’t sound like a drug party to you! Lying around naked all day, while singing and reciting poems and telling stories.
Have you ever read the book of Ezekiel? Now, if some of that doesn’t sound drug-inspired I don’t know what does! I mean, he describes flying wheels within wheels with eyes all around, and beings with four faces and four wings, three of the faces being animals (Ezekiel 1)[9]. He had a vision of a valley full of dead bones that all came back to life (chapter 37). Ezekiel also performed some outrageous stunts (performance art?) during his preaching ministry. At one time he lied down on his left side for 390 days, then his right side for another 40 days. He publicly baked his food over cow dung. He shaved off his hair and beard and burned it in front of the people (chapters 4 & 5).[10] The dude was a little extreme.
In Ezekiel 27:17 he refers to “cakes [pannag], honey, oil.” Some word scholars believe that the Hebrew word “pannag” used in the book of Ezekiel is connected to the origin of the word “cannabis,” and the Sanskrit word “pannaga” refers to an aromatic plant, which fits. And we even see the association with honey and oil again. I realize that this is all very circumstantial, but given the widespread use of psychoactive drugs in ancient religions it is something that needs to be considered.
This sounds like a lot of speculation, but there is some hard evidence accumulating about drug use in ancient Israel. Paleochemistry is a new field that analyzes substances found in ancient relics, and archaeobotany investigates evidence of how the ancient used various plants.. Consider this find: ‘In the Negev desert known as Tel Arad, archaeologists excavating an ancient Jewish shrine have found traces of burnt cannabis and frankincense on a pair of limestone altars… “This is the first time that cannabis has been identified in the Ancient Near East; its use in the shrine must have played a central role in the cultic rituals performed there,” says Eran Arie, an archaeologist with the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and lead author of the new research, in the statement.’[11] Brian Muraresku’s book goes into additional detail about such research, which has the potential to connect drug use with early Christianity, too.[12]
What about drug use in early Christianity? I will discuss that in Part 2 of this post.
[1] My father went to school with Heston at Northwestern University and one of our family heirlooms is a photo of my dad on stage with Heston during a play. (Heston was the main character, of course.)
[2] Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb are generally thought to be the same place, but that is not universally accepted.
[3] Via natural gas vents in the area.
[4] Is “soma” mentioned in the New Testament? You’ll have to wait for Part 2!
[5] As well as for medicinal and recreational purposes.
[6] Wikipedia has a good section on the word origins if you will look up ”Etymology of cannabis.”
[7] You’d think a god that forbade eating catfish might also remember to outlaw drugs, if He really thought they were a bad thing.
[8] Where would jazz and rock and roll be without the influence of drugs?!
[9] Ancient alien theorists love to use this passage as a description of a visitation by spaceship piloted by strange beings, but I think drug effects are more likely.
[10] Technically, he burned a third of it, cut a third with his sword, and scattered a third to the wind.
[11] “Archaeologists Identify Traces of Burnt Cannabis in Ancient Jewish Shrine” by Alex Fox at www.smithsonianmag.com, June 4, 2020.
[12] Was it just wine used in the Lord’s Supper, or wine spiked with other substances? Muraresku thinks that is likely – see part 2 of this post.
Fantastic article!Look forward to Part 2.
King David dancing ecstatically in public, almost naked (2 Samuel 6:14),is thought of as likely prompted by psychoactive influence. Would you agree? He got in trouble with his wife.
Moses speaks with God so many times, that if he had been high during each of them,he would not have been able to make decisions,wage war or judge the people.
One interesting case is when Moses comes down Sinai/Horeb looking like a madman, inspiring fear in the people. (Exodus 34:29-34),his face “shining”. Though a skin ailment or extreme sunburn can be considered,there seems to have been more than just that.The Israelites were extremely frightened.From then on, Moses speaks to God only inside the Tabernacle, where the good stuff was.
But how did they acquire all those spices, lost there in the Sinai desert?
My fondest Ezekiel childhood memory is when he eats the scroll. The bones were second best.
Lastly,regarding the note below:some food prohibitions derived very likely from health concerns. The drugs apparently did not pose such dangers,and as you expertly explain, the drugs were severely regulated, for ritual use only.
7] You’d think a god that forbade eating catfish might also remember to outlaw drugs, if He really thought they were a bad thing
Some excellent examples that I should include in a longer version! As for the food laws, I was taught in the church, tongue-in-cheek, that the reason the Jews couldn’t eat pork, catfish or shrimp was because God was saving them for the Christians. At least, I think it was meant as a joke…
A psychopharmacologist friend of mine, Sharon Packer, has suggested that ergot poisoning from bad rye, most likely accidental, can account for some of the Biblical visions as well as the medieval “St. Elmo’s fire.”
(Side note: I think it too much of a stretch to associate “qaneh besem” with “cannabis.” You need more than a coincidental similarity of sounds, unless you can trace the origins of the word “cannabis” to Hebrew.)
Great post!
Muraresku goes into ergot in his book that I mentioned. Yes, tying the Hebrew words to the derivation of “cannabis” requires more than the sounds, which could be coincidental. Still, in the incense-filled Holy of Holies the priests think they are having visions and communing with God – sounds like they might be high. And they specified that only priests could use their recipe, so others would not have such visions. That would blow their cover, so to speak! And there is at least one archeological find to back up cannabis use in ancient worship in that area. So, my speculation is not too wild.
Thanks for this great post, and even though I consider the exodus story mainly spiritual and symbolic, it still contain a spiritual teaching. Using different types of drugs would just fall into a practice, as you point out, practiced in religions ALL over the world in the ancient world to get in touch with the transcendental world and to elevate one’s state of mind. If you add all the other different practices, like deep prayers, deep meditation with or without vocalization and sound of various kinds. The late biblical scholar John D Turner elaborated on this within the Gnostic practice, a baptismal ritual as an act of coming into or getting contact with the transcendental world. This Gnostic Christian branch also appeared to use vocalization with reference to the Gospel of Egypt and the IEOU books.
In my eyes, it is not only an interesting topic, but it also seems to be a natural element in a human being, where it is shown that our body produces what they call the god gene, the VMAT2 gene is believed to be involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter production in the pineal gland.
Interestingly, the pineal gland (the sixth sense,,,,(for me similar to the 6th church)) seems to have been fascinated by many, and even Descartes considered this gland to be the seat of the soul. Some even associate the VMAT2 gene with spiritual and religious experiences and transcendental visions.
Thanks, I look forward to your next post!
Thanks for your comments. Sounds like you might have an interesting Platinum post to write!
,,,,correction above,,,should of course be ,”Gospel of Egyptians”
You’re like the guy at the 55 minute mark of an hour long office meeting who points out the obvious that completely resolves the purpose of the meeting.
To maybe summarize your post, “why did ancient religious figures postulate crazy ideas and why do religious people continue to believe those crazy ideas.” Well it’s obvious they’re on drugs.
What I find interesting is that people can believe crazy things without drugs! (I’m thinking of a future post about the fallibility of belief.) But I do think the use of drugs may have gotten the ancients started down the road to modern religions.
I am tempted to share my perspective. Do not dismiss the ancient and also genuine biblical visions, revelations as fairy tales. Change the perception of man as a being that acts in a reality with relativization of time and space ,,,,,(not next to, not above, not below,, but ) THROUGH the psyche,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,or call it if you like, your own Self or Soul
It adds dimensional elements to our being within our 3+1 dimensional reality, which suggests that various phenomena are natural, and not at all what we in our rationalist world dismiss as supernatural and fantasy. Using terms from C.G. Jung, no one knows how deep our psyche extends into our conscious reality, and he suggests that religious observations, experiences, symbols and visions that are aided by various techniques (such as drugs, deep prayer, deep meditation and more) come from without our 3 +1 dimensional reality is as real as what we imagine in our consciousness. He even suggests that visionary (with often bizarre symbols) comes from a deeper level (like our unconscious or especially our collective unconscious) part of our nature.
Within this understanding you can accept religious symbols and religious visions as real, without rejecting our own 3+1 dimensional reality. It only expands our reality, especially expands our own being and potentials. Within this perspective, a potential oneness with God (found in many ancient religions) is almost inherent in our very nature.
As a doctor I have seen examples of people who believed strange things that were verifiably not true, so I am very skeptical of claims of the supernatural that cannot be verified and are very subjective. I am particularly skeptical of the “revelations” in ancient religions that led to banning catfish and shrimp but endorsed slavery and subjugation of women, and that’s not just the Judeo-Christian tradition I’m referring to. It seems to be a common thread in religion that they mix nonsense with the good stuff. So, while I am okay with using various techniques to expand our thinking ultimately we must use our reason to sift out the nonsense and retain the good.
,,agree with you!
Again, thank you for your interesteing posts.
Great post Doug. Thanks for this.
Your post is the second time I have seen or heard this discussed. The first time was listening to Rupert Sheldrake on a Youtube discussion / interview, and he mentioned several of things in this post.
Thanks again.
The use of drugs in ancient religions is well-established, and I think their use in the ancient Jewish and Christian religions is being more seriously considered now. Why should those ancient religions be different than the others? Of course, people can take this idea and run in various directions with it. I should listen to Sheldrake and see what he does with it, given some of his unorthodox ideas (in this case unorthodox in science, not religion).
Hi Doug. Thanks for that. He has a chapter devoted to this topic in his book “Ways To Go Beyond”. You can also get a very brief overview in this YT video – watch from about the 36 minute mark :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKk3BFTAtI4
Do scholars consider Moses legendary or historical?
Depends on who you ask! My impression is that most current scholars see the story as legendary, since evidence for the Exodus that occurred under Moses is missing. When I read carefully through the Old Testament a few years back it struck me that in the history books the people don’t seem to know the Law, which is consistent with it being developed later in Israel’s history, and then Moses was used to serve as the God-chosen lawgiver to give the Law the weight and authority it needed. So I vote legendary, but I don’t really count!
Correction: Ez 4:12 specifies that he is to cook over human dung; that is a bit extreme. Cooking over cow dung would not have been unusual at all. Dried cow dung has always been used in India and the Middle East.
A correction to my correction: It’s Ezekiel 4:12. I forgot that Ezra starts with the same two letters.
Thanks for access to this platinum post.
Entertaining.
Not to be a buzz kill (pardon the pun) but there is a substantial body of scholarly work about Jewish mysticism and ecstatic practice in the ancient world. These folks achieved alternate states of consciousness through chants and liturgical hymns and guided meditations. It’s always possible there was drug use but no real reason to think so. If anyone is interested search after Merkabah mysticism and its associated Hekhalot literature. (See the work of Vita Arbel, April D. Deconick, Christopher Rowland, Rachel Elior, James Davilla.)
The imagery in Ezekiel seems weird and trippy because people don’t recognize what is being described. Ezekiel is having a vision of Yahweh in his divine chariot (Merkabah). (Sorry no spaceships.) What’s really interesting is how much of this imagery is derived from similar motives from the Ancient Near East. (See the work of Tryggve Mettinger and Mark S Smith on iconism/aniconism in the Hebrew Bible.)
I take no position on the merit of so-called “entheogens”. Certainly drugs should be a medical issue and not a law enforcement issue!
Ancient mystics certainly used (and continue to use) methods other than drugs. But we know drug use was common in ancient religions and I don’t see why those living in Palestine would be any different than the rest of the world. Of course, the faithful will argue that they didn’t need drugs because they had real communion with God. But I suspect we may uncover more hard evidence of their drug use, like the finding at Tel Arad. Time will tell.
The use of drugs in Judism and Christianity is a perfectly rational consideration, I have no quarrel with any of your view and documentation. Very well written and documented.
However… Being all true does not really change the messaging of the writings or religion. Just the condition of the people practicing the religion. Maybe that is what is wrong with Christianity and how it got way off track past the 4th century. The Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s was seeded by a group of individual who found God while tripping on LSD before it was illegal. The first Christian commune of the movement regulary took LSD. It was only later (over a year) that the early hippy Jesus people gradually stopped using the drugs. Then only because of the negitive perception of the drug sheding a bad light on the messaging about God.
My point being that such drugs may actually get rid of obsticals between mans consciousness and the creator? Since all religions stemmed from such practices I would go with the crowd in what may be the correct answer.
I highly recommend the book/audible “God’s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America
By: Larry Eskridge ISBN: 9780195326451 Oxford Press. In his work Larry Eskridge documents this movement sometimes referrenced as the The Fourth Great Awakening from its origin out of an LSD trip in the desert and phycho drug use early on in its expansion now the backbone of todays evangelicals. It shows the further from its explosive beginning, and the abstinence of the drugs in its continuance, resulted in the gradual decline of the number of people identifying themselves as Christians from its apex. Good evidence supporting the use of such drugs in a communion with God. Wine was served at the last supper.
Thanks for sharing that reference. Checking it on Amazon it’s well-rated and looks quite interesting. There’s more research going on with beneficial uses of psychotropic drugs – I wonder if drugs in religion will make a comeback.
A while back I read a book by an atheist who tried MDMA/Ecstasy (I think that’s what it was) and had a sort of “religious” experience. So it may not be just religious people that gain new perspective from such drugs. Of course, there is also real danger in misusing drugs, so I await better research on such drugs and how they can be used safely and beneficially.
Certainly makes sense to me. Afterall, we humans tend to superimpose our own experiences on the object of our interest…how many times do the scriptures describe God as “Most High”? Makes for a good theological apology for suffering in the world as well. “Why is there suffering in the world if God is all powerful and all good?” Simple: He is also very high when he does stuff.
Well, I think the Marcionites might have agreed that something was wrong with God when He created this flawed world!
Thanks for the significant essay. As a student of anthropology, I can say that in many cultures, visions and a sense of contact with the divine are intimately associated with psychotropic drugs and their ritual use. Then there is my own experience of being led to accept Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Movement as the new messiah when I was 18 in 1973. I often relate my experiences as a “disciple” of the “second coming of Christ” to what I read about the earliest disciples and the followers of Jesus. It took me a decade to accept my disillusion and pursue a life of reason without religious beliefs. Those early experiences were profound, and for years afterward, even though I never again experimented with psychotropics, I had no doubt that God had spoken to me. I have written about my experience, in a somewhat fictionalized version, in my novel, Simple Simon (poebooks.net).
Thanks for sharing your experience, most interesting!
I’d love to see that post. I am not a platinum member so I don’t know if I would see it.
As far as belief I have this interesting thought experiment.
Ask someone not whether what they believe is true but why they believe it. And here’s the kicker. Tell them that the reason cannot be that is true. In fact, for the purposes of the thought experiment they have to assume their belief is false.
Excellent experiment, but it seems hard for most people to back off and look at their own beliefs objectively. My other response is that you should bump up to the Platinum level – it all goes to charity! But if I have your permission I can email the article to you.
I will probably eventually bump up to the Platinum level because I see a number of articles that seem to be pretty thought-provoking. Please email the article if it’s not against rules.
Check your email (but don’t tell Bart!). So, what was it like to look down the throat of that huge great white shark?!
Interesting post. I have wondered about this very question for some time, especially when it comes to Paul. I attended a lecture several years ago where another medical doctor made a very strong case for Joseph Smith using psychedelics to induce spiritual experiences in the early days of Mormonism. Since that lecture I have wondered about biblical characters as well. Thank you for the article.
As for Paul, see today’s post of Part 2. Religion incorporates so many bizarre ideas I don’t doubt drugs play a role!
Will the peasants have access to part II (drugs and the NT)? As I type, no.
These Platinum posts are usually only for Platinum members. Was Part 1 available to all? Part 2 was posted today. And I encourage everyone to upgrade to Platinum level – it all goes to charity!
Remember a nazarite was forbidden to take wine or honey.
And they were no fun! Why honey? Perhaps because of its use with drugs? Hmm…
Interesting and I’m going to question Bart about this…
Bart..
Is it true that Nazerites were forbidden to partake of Wine and Honey? If so…. does this upend the last supper of all 4 Gospels? Or does it raise question as to Jesus being a Nazerite again upending the 4 Gospels? This might be an interesting blog subject.. as I’ve found references to this elsewhere..
Nazirites were not allowed to partake of any grape products. They could eat honey. Samson got in trouble for it because he took it out of a dead beast, and Nazarites were not allowed to touch corpses. But in the NT Jesus is never said to be a Nazirite — that is, one who had taken a Nazirite vow. He is called a Nazarene because he came from Nazareth, and even though Nazrene and Nazirite look very similar in English they actaually are not related to each other.