Numbers 30:1-16
1 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 breaka his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
3 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 hear 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,b or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith 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 disallowed 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 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 establish it, or her husband may make it void.
14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth 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 statutes, 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 30:15. He shall bear her iniquity. The Samaritan pentateuch, and the Septuagint read, Then “he shall bear his iniquity,” which conveys the just idea that by disannulling the vow, he took the blame upon himself.
REFLECTIONS.
This revelation respecting vows is addressed to the heads of the tribes, that it might be thence conveyed to the heads of houses: and it is an essential branch of the ministry to acquaint masters and parents with the several branches of their duty. Full of cares and labours they have less time to study, and consequently are not in a situation adequately to comprehend and discharge the several religious duties of their station. Hence they often need the aid of divine instruction.
The vows here are understood to be on an inferior scale to those mentioned in Leviticus 27.; and merely to respect small oblations, abstinence from certain meats, or the performance of some particular devotion; all good in their kind, or at least well intended.
A daughter or a wife before she vows in this way, should consider her relative situation. The devotion she proposes to pay to God, must not interfere too much with the deference and duties she owes to her father or her husband. One covenant must not supersede another. Consequently, God will accept from a child an extra duty in religion, but with the consent and approbation of the parent; and surely this is a considerable argument in favour of filial obedience, and equally so in favour of deference in the wife towards her husband.
When once a vow is made it is an oath of the soul, by which it is bound to perform those purposes which have been uttered before the Lord. And from the faithful and sacred manner in which the Lord performs his promises to man, we learn in how sacred a manner he expects we should pay our vows to him. He who swears falsely to his God must bear his iniquity. But though a daughter cannot perform any extra devotions of this kind without her father's consent, nor a wife without the approbation of her husband; yet the law does not relate to the duties of prayer, praise, and ordinary devotion. Every child, on coming to the knowledge of good and evil, is bound to be religious, whether the parents will consent or not: so it is with the wife in regard to a carnal husband. No man has a right to supersede the word of God, and force either wife or child into compliance with the sinful vanities of the age. A woman is bound to perform all the duties of conjugal life to her husband; but she is bound by superior and more durable ties to be a faithful follower of God; and those who are most faithful to the Lord, are found in the issue to have performed their relative duties from the most pure and noble principles.