There are four different cases of female vow-making presented to us in Numbers Chapter 30.
Let’s examine each of them one by one.
CASE ONE: AN UNMARRIED WOMAN MAKES A VOW WHILE STILL LIVING AT HOME
The first case deals with a “virgin” or unmarried woman who makes a vow while still living in her father’s house.
If the father hears of the vow and he doesn’t respond to it, the vow stands and the virgin still living in her father’s house is obligated to make good on the vow.
However, if the father hears of the vow and is like “hell no!“, God will respect the girl’s father’s wishes in that case and the vow will be rendered null and void.
This is interesting because we’re presented with two opposing wrongs here.
One is that the young virgin made a rash vow and the other is that of the young woman not completing the vow (when her father disapproves).
The principle being established in the Torah here is that obedience to the authority of the father is more important than the vow the daughter made.
And regardless, the young girl would have known (or should have known) that she shouldn’t have gone around making vows without her father’s approval in the first place.
CASE TWO: THE OWNERSHIP TRANSFER OF A VOW FROM FATHER TO HUSBAND WHEN THE VIRGIN MARRIES
This second case is connected to the first case.
What happens here is that a virgin made a vow while she was still living in her father’s house that the father did NOT disapprove of.
Hence, the unmarried girl was under obligation to fulfill the terms of the vow she made.
But then she got married resulting in the ownership of the vow being transferred from the father to the husband.
When this happens, the husband has the opportunity to either accept or annul his new wife’s vow she had made when she was still living under the authority of her father.
Why does the husband have the right to do this?
Again, because the authority over the female in question was transferred from her father to her husband.
CASE THREE: THE VOW OF A WOMAN WHO IS DIVORCED OR WIDOWED
In the case of a widowed or divorced woman, we’re dealing with a situation in which the adult female in question is not owned or under the authority of anybody.
Hence, the rules that apply to her are pretty much the same as they would apply to any Israelite male who has reached the age of accountability.
In other words, any vow she makes to HASHEM stands.
CASE FOUR: A MARRIED WOMAN MAKES A VOW THAT THE HUSBAND HEARS ABOUT BUT THE HUSBAND REMAINS SILENT ABOUT IT
Okay, so the above title sentence of this case pretty much expresses it quite clearly I think.
A married woman makes a vow, the husband is in full awareness of it but doesn’t respond, in other words, he remains silent.
The result is that the married woman is fully obligated to make good on her vow no matter how impulsive or ridiculous the vow was.
And here’s the kicker, if the vow the woman made was a really bad one that adversely affects the whole family, then we’re told the husband will also “bear the consequent guilt“.
In other words, the husband will also have to bear some responsibility for allowing the rash vow of his wife to stand.
In the next post, we’ll look a totally different vow a woman could make that dealt with her denying herself in return for the Lord doing something for her.
See you next time.
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