Numbers 30

Numbers 30:1

30:1-5 Chapter 30 contains special instructions about vows. A man making a vow to the LORD must carry it out without fail. If a young woman, still under her father’s care, made a vow, and her father heard her, he could speak out against the vowi.e., forbid iton the first day, and it would be canceled. If he waited until after the first day or if he did not say anything, the vow was effective and had to be carried out. 30:6-16 Verses 6-8 seem to describe a vow made by a woman before her marriage. Although her husband would not, of course, have heard it on the day it was made, he could overrule it on the day when he first heard about it. Vows made by a widow or a divorced woman were binding (v. 9). Vows made by a married woman could be canceled by the husband . . . on the first day (vv. 10-15). This maintained the headship of the husband. If a husband canceled her vow after the first day, he had to bear her guiltthat is, bring the required sacrifice or be punished by the Lord (v. 15).