Numbers 30

1 Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Yisra'el, saying, This is the thing which the LORD has commanded.

2 When a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

3 Also when a woman vows a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by a bond, being in her father's house, in her youth,

4 and her father hears her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father holds his shalom at her; then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears, none of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD will forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

6 If she be [married] to a husband, while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul,

7 and her husband hear it, and hold his shalom at her in the day that he hears it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

8 But if her husband disallow her in the day that he hears it, then he shall make void her vow which is on her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul: and the LORD will forgive her.

9 But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, [even] everything with which she has bound her soul, shall stand against her.

10 If she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath,

11 and her husband heard it, and held his shalom at her, and didn't disallow her; then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she bound her soul shall stand.

12 But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband has made them void; and the LORD will forgive her.

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

14 But if her husband altogether hold his shalom at her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows, or all her bonds, which are on her: he has established them, because he held his shalom at her in the day that he heard them.

15 But if he shall make them null and void after that he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.

16 These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moshe, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father's house.

Numbers 30 Commentary

Chapter 30

Vows to be kept. (1,2) The cases wherein vows might be released. (3-16)

Verses 1-2 No man can be bound by his own promise to do what he is already, by the Divine precept, forbidden to do. In other matters the command is, that he shall not break his words, through he may change his mind.

Verses 3-16 Two cases of vows are determined. The case of a daughter in her father's house. When her vow comes to his knowledge, it is in his power either to confirm it or do it away. The law is plain in the case of a wife. If her husband allows her vow, though only by silence, it stands. If he disallows it, her obligation to her husband takes place of it; for to him she ought to be in subjection, as unto the Lord. The Divine law consults the good order of families. It is fit that every man should bear rule in his own house, and have his wife and children in subjection; rather than that this great rule should be broken, or any encouragement be given to inferior relations to break those bonds asunder, God releases the obligation even of a solemn vow. So much does religion secure the welfare of all societies; and in it the families of the earth have a blessing.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 30

Mention being made, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, of vows to be performed to the Lord, besides the sacrifices directed to; here some account is given of them, and men are charged to fulfil, and not break them, Nu 30:1,2 but as to women, if a maid, being in her father's house, made a vow in his hearing, and he silent at it, her vow stood; but if he disapproved of it, it was null and void, Nu 30:3-5 and so a wife, when she vowed a vow in the hearing of her husband, and he said not ought against it, it was valid; but if he objected to it, it stood for nothing, Nu 30:6-8, likewise a widow, or one divorced, that made a vow in her husband's house, before he died, or she was put away from him, and he did not contradict it, it remained in force and to be fulfilled; but if he made it void, it stood not, and she was forgiven, Nu 30:9-12 it being in an husband's power to confirm or make null a vow or oath, made by his wife to afflict her soul; but if he made any void after he heard them, and had been silent, he himself was to bear her iniquity, Nu 30:13-16.