a woman · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
vow
תִדֹּ֥רti.Dor
H5087
to promise (pos. · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
vow
נֶ֖דֶרNe.der
H5088
a promise (to God) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
לַיהוָ֑הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
bind
וְאָסְרָ֥הve.'a.se.Rah
H631
to yoke or hitch · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
bond
אִסָּ֛ר'i.Sar
H632
an obligation or vow (of abstinence) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
father’s
אָבִ֖יהָ'a.Vi.ha
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
house
בְּבֵ֥יתbe.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
youth
בִּנְעֻרֶֽיהָbin.'u.Rei.ha
H5271
(only in plural collectively or emphatic form) youth · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 30:3–end
It is here taken for granted that all such persons as are sui juris - at their own disposal, and are likewise of sound understanding and memory, are bound to perform whatever they vow that is lawful and possible; but, if the person vowing be under the dominion and at the disposal of another, the case is different. Two cases much alike are here put and determined: -
I. The case of a daughter in her father's house: and some think, probably enough, that it extends to a son likewise, while he is at home with his father, and under tutors and governors. Whether the exception may thus be stretched I cannot say. Non est distinguendum, ubi lex non distinguit - We are not allowed to make distinctions…
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--Girls only are specified; but minors of the other sex, who resided under the parental roof, were included, according to Jewish writers, who also consider the name "father" as comprehending all guardians of youth. We are also told that the age at which young people were deemed capable of vowing was thirteen for boys and twelve for girls. The judgment of a father or guardian on the vow of any under his charge might be given either by an expressed approval or by silence, which was to be construed as approval. But in the case of a husband who, after silence from day to day, should ultim…
If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord,.... Who has not passed thirteen years, as the Targum of Jonathan:
and bind herself by a bond; lay herself under obligation to perform her vow by an oath: being in her father's house; unto the twelfth year, as the same Targum; that is, that is under his care, tuition, and jurisdiction, whether she literally, or properly speaking, is in the house or no at the time she vows; so Jarchi interprets it of her being in the power of her father, though not in his house, she being not at age to be at her own disposal, but at his: wherefore it is added:
in her youth; which, as the same writer explains it, signifies that she is"neither a little one, nor at age;…
The Church Fathers
But meanwhile the present reading contains certain distinctions among vows. For if it be a man who vows, he is said to be free in his vows and subject to no one. But if a woman vows, then, if indeed she be in her father's house, her vow hangs upon her father's judgment; and if he refuses it, she is released; but if he does not refuse it, both he and the daughter are held liable. But if, after the father has not refused, she does not fulfill the vow, the daughter's sin remains upon him. And in like manner it is decreed also concerning the husband, that, if a wife has vowed something in her husband's house and the husband on hearing it does not refuse, he is guilty of the vow equally with his wife; but if he refuses, then the wife is as free as the husband; but if he keeps silent, both, as we have said, are held guilty. These indeed are the things that are written; but we must pray to God that he may deign to give an understanding worthy of himself, whereby we may be able to perceive these things as it is fitting they be understood concerning the words of God. All of us who live under the law of God and are counted in his Church, some pass our life under fathers, some under husbands. And if the soul is a little one and has its beginnings in the divine instructions, this soul is to be believed to conduct itself under a father. But if it has already become more grown up, so that it is capable of a husband for conceiving the seed of the word of God and of receiving the secrets of spiritual teaching, this soul is said to be placed under a husband. For thus also Paul said concerning the Corinthians: "I wish to present you all as a chaste virgin to one husband, to Christ." But those who are more perfect and more eminent than these, of them it is not said that they are under a husband, but hear how Paul pronounces concerning himself and those like him: "until we all," he says, "come together into the perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ." Over this soul, then, which comes together into the perfect man, no one is master in vows, but it has power over its own things and freedom of its vows. But if the soul be still of the feminine kind, over which either a husband or a father is master in vows, the fault is not always in the soul itself, but sometimes it returns upon the husbands or the parents. Concerning these, although it be difficult…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Vows — Voluntary promises which, when once made, were to be kept if the thing vowed was right. They were made under a great variety of circumstances (Gen. 28: 18-22; Lev. 7:16; Num. 30:2-13; Deut. 23:18;…
Vows · Of children void without the consent of parents — Of children void without the consent of parents
Women · Vows of — Vows of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
If a woman also vow. He now proceeds to the point of which he proposed to treat, i.e., that vows made by persons who are not their own masters do not hold good; and he mentions two cases. For, in the first place, he teaches that if a daughter, whilst living with her father, has vowed anything without his knowledge, it is of no force. He lays down the same rule, if the father, hearing the vow, has disallowed it; but if he has held his peace, it is declared that his silence is equivalent to consent. Hence we gather that all those who are possessed of power do not do their duty unless they frankly and discreetly express their opposition whenever anything displeases them; since their connivance…
Num 30:3-15 contain the rules relating to positive and negative vows made by a woman, and four different examples are given. The first case (Num 30:3-5) is that of a woman in her youth, while still unmarried, and living in her father's house. If she made a vow of performance or abstinence, and her father heard of it and remained silent, it was to stand, i.e., to remain in force. But if her father held her back when he heard of it, i.e., forbade her fulfilling it, it was not to stand or remain in force, and Jehovah would forgive her because of her father's refusal. Obedience to a father stood higher than a self-imposed religious service. - The second case (Num 30:6-8) was that of a vow of per…
A young woman was under the authority of her father, who was responsible for her actions and her financial obligations.
Rashi on Numbers 30:3
נדר A VOW — This is when one says, Behold, I take upon myself an obligation which is as sacred to me as an offering, that I will not eat, or that I will not do such-and-such a thing. — One might think that if he swears that he will eat the flesh of an animal which has not been slaughtered properly according to the rite that I may apply to him the text, “He shall do according to all that goeth forth from his mouth”! It, however, says, “[If he takes an oath] to forbid something to himself”, i.e., to forbid for himself something which is permissible to him — and not to make permissible that which is forbidden to him (Sifrei Bamidbar 153:4).
לא יחל דברו This is the same as לא יחלל דברו (the roo…
