Numbers 30:1-16 NKJV
30 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
3 “Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will release her, because her father overruled her.
6 “If indeed she takes a husband, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, 7 and her husband hears it, and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. 8 But if her husband overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she bound herself, and the Lord will release her.
9 “Also any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.
10 “If she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by an agreement with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it, and made no response to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement by which she bound herself shall stand. 12 But if her husband truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall not stand; her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her. 13 Every vow and every binding oath to afflict her soul, her husband may confirm it, or her husband may make it void. 14 Now if her husband makes no response whatever to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all the agreements that bind her; he confirms them, because he made no response to her on the day that he heard them. 15 But if he does make them void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her guilt.”
16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter in her youth in her father’s house.
Moses has already given the Israelites instructions concerning vows. They usually involved the solemn pledge to give up something in return for the Lord’s help. The Lord took such promises very seriously, in part, because the Israelites were to imitate Him. Just as the Lord’s promises and agreements were entirely dependable, so were the promises of His people to be.
But in today’s reading, Moses speaks of an exception. Women, young or old, could make vows. But a woman’s vow could be overruled by her father (while living in her father’s house) or by her husband, as long as the father or husband did so right away, as soon as he heard about the vow. Otherwise, if he said nothing at first, then God viewed his silence as a confirmation of the vow, and He would hold the woman to it.
This is one of many examples in the Law of Moses of what St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that the women in the churches “are to be submissive, as the law also says” (1 Cor. 14:34). There is no single commandment that says this in the Law. Rather, it is something that the Law teaches through sayings like the one in today’s reading. From the beginning, God’s design for His creation was for the man to serve as the head of his family—of his wife, but also of his sons and daughters while they lived with him. Nevertheless, as we learn in today’s reading, the father’s authority over his daughters was more extensive than his authority over his sons. And with that authority came also the loving responsibility to keep his daughter (or his wife) from fulfilling a rash vow that could be detrimental to her or to the rest of the family, whereas the sons were on their own and required to keep whatever vows they made.
The world has always abused the distinct roles God gave to men and to women, but at least it used to recognize God’s basic design. Now it has all but abandoned it. Christians do well to study the word of God, including the Law of Moses, so that, instead of being conformed to this world, we may be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that, in this area also, we may “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2, ESV). Let us pray: O Father in heaven, help Your children, both men and women, to submit to all Your teachings. Amen.