Numbers
Chapter 30
Law on Vows
Moses told the people of Israel exactly what the Lord commanded.
Moses spoke to the leaders of the Israelite tribes. He said:
“This is what the Lord has commanded:
If a man makes a vow to give something to the Lord or a solemn promise to abstain from something, he must not break his promise: whatever he promises by word of mouth, he must do.
If a woman makes a vow to give something to the Lord or a solemn promise to abstain from something while she is still young and lives in her father’s house,
and if he hears about this vow or promise made by her and says nothing to her about it, she must do whatever she has promised.
But if the father expresses his disapproval on the day he learns of it, then she is not required to keep her promise. The Lord will not hold her to her promise since her father disapproves.
If a woman makes a vow before marriage or makes a solemn promise to abstain from something deliberately or without giving it much thought, she must do everything she vowed even after she marries if her husband learns of it and says nothing about it.
But if he expresses his disapproval to her on the day he learns of it, she is not required to keep her promise. The Lord will not hold her to it.
Any vow of a widow, divorced woman, or any pledge to which she binds herself is valid.
If she has made a vow or a solemn promise to abstain from something while in her husband’s house,
and if when the husband learns of it, he says nothing to her and does not express disapproval to her, then she must do whatever she has vowed or solemnly promised to abstain from.
But if the husband forbids it on the day he learns of it, she is not required to do whatever she has vowed or solemnly promised. The Lord will not hold her to it.
Any vow or solemn promise to abstain from something the wife makes must be allowed or forbidden by the husband.
If the husband has said nothing to her by the following day, it means that he approves or allows her vow, whatever it may be, or her solemn promise, whatever it may be. He confirms his wife’s vows by saying nothing on the day he learns of them.
But if he forbids them a long time after learning of them, he must suffer what results from the wife’s failure to fulfill the vow or solemn promise.”
These are the laws the Lord gave to Moses concerning the relationship between man and wife and between a father and his daughter while she is still young and living in her father’s home.
Commentaries
Offerings to Be Presented to the Lord.
These two chapters cover nearly everything previously outlined in Leviticus 23 regarding various offerings to the Lord during major festivals. However, we notice a few new features: 28:9f mentions, for the first time in the “legislative corpus of worship,” an offering that must be made on the Sabbath. This practice has no parallel in the Pentateuch but is found in Ezekiel (Ez 46:4f). This suggests that this law originated during the exile and possibly continued until the New Testament period. The second new feature concerns laws about sacrifices on the first day of each month, specifically on the day of the new moon. The feast associated with this day is referenced without detailed instructions in Numbers 10:10; 1 Samuel 20:5; Isaiah 1:13; Psalm 81:4.
Note that, generally, an animal offering is accompanied by a vegetable offering. The purpose of these regulations, from a theological and pastoral perspective, is to ensure that people continually recognize the Lord’s full sovereignty through the act of offering a portion of what the Lord has given them. The Israelites needed to remember that it was not they who provided something to the Lord; rather, it was the Lord who had given to them. In response, they returned a part of what they received. Unfortunately, this understanding was not always clear. Some believed that the Lord needed these offerings or that the Israelites could gain divine favor through them. At least, that can be inferred from Psalm 50.
Law on Vows.
This law probably addresses a relaxation of the vows and promises made to the Lord. Men were required to keep their word immediately; their word alone was enough to show the seriousness of the commitment and was accompanied by a moral duty to fulfill it. This was not true for women, which shows the level of subordination they experienced: their word was only valid if their father, in the case of an unmarried young woman, or their husband, if she was married, approved it. Only the vows and commitments of widows or divorced women were valid without a man’s involvement, as these women had no male representative. This biblical testimony, which still surprises us today, remains unchallenged in many areas. There is still a lack of human and spiritual maturity among both men and women to embrace and accept the equality of rights and responsibilities that God has desired since creation (cf. Gn 1:26).