Numbers 30
HAWEISNumbers 30:1-2
In this chapter we have a new concerning vows, 1. A general rule laid down, that all vows may be carefully performed, ver. 1, 2. 2. Some particular exceptions to this rule. 1. That the vows of daughters should not be binding, unless allowed by the father, ver. 3—3. Nor. 2. The vows of wives, unless allowed by the husband, ver. 6—16.
- AND Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes, concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. 2. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
The vow must in itself be lawful for the honour of God, and in a matter where the person was not before obliged, such as a free-will-offering, or the like, and when once made, must be conscientiously fulfilled. Better not vow, than not pay. To mock God, is to ruin our souls.
- If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house, in her youth: 4. And her father bear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand. 5. But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds, wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand, and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. 6. And if she had at all an husband when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, where with she bound her soul; 7. And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul, shall stand. 8. But if her husband disallow her on the day that he heard it, then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect, and the LORD shall forgive her. 9. But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. 10. And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; 11. And if her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 12. But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips, concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void, and the LORD shall forgive her. 13. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may obsobless it, or her husband may make it void. 14. But if her husband al-
together hold his peace at her, from day to day, then he established all her vows, or all her bonds which are upon her: he confirmed them, because he held his peace at her, in the day that he heard them. 15. But if he shall any ways make them void, after that he hath heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity. 16. These are the flaunts which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.
Numbers 30:3-16
Two exceptions are put in against the general rule. Persons in the power of others, whether daughters or wives, may have their vows disannulled by their fathers or their husbands. If they hold their tongue, their silence is interpreted content; if they disallow their vow, it is void, and the Lord will not require it of them. But if a woman divorced, or a widow, vow, she is bound, as being at her liberty; if the vow however were made during her husband’s life, and disallowed by him, she was not bound by it after his death. Thus God shews his regard for family government, the entire submission due from children to their parents, and wives to their husbands; even God’s own service is not to dear to him a humble subjection: to obey in this case, is better than sacrifice. How careful then should children be, not to enter into engagements without their parents confers, had they be reduced to the sad dilemma of being disobedient to their parents, or false to their vows.