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N U M B E R S
CHAP. XXX.
In this chapter we have a law concerning vows, which had been mentioned
in the close of the foregoing chapter.
I. Here is a general rule laid down that all vows must be carefully
performed,
II. Some particular exceptions to this rule.
1. That the vows of daughters should not be binding unless allowed by
the father,
Nor,
2. The vows of wives unless allowed by the husband,
&c.
| Concerning Vows. | B. C. 1452. |
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1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the
children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD
hath commanded.
2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind
his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do
according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
This law was delivered to the heads of the tribes that they might
instruct those who were under their charge, explain the law to them,
give then necessary cautions, and call them to account, if there were
occasion, for the breach of their vows. Perhaps the heads of the
tribes had, upon some emergency of this kind, consulted Moses, and
desired by him to know the mind of God, and here they are told it:
This is the thing which the Lord has commanded concerning vows,
and it is a command still in force.
1. The case supposed is that a person vows a vow unto the Lord, making
God a party to the promise, and designing his honour and glory in it.
The matter of the vow is supposed to be something lawful: no man can be
by his own promise bound to do that which he is already by the divine
precept prohibited from doing. Yet it is supposed to be something
which, in such and such measures and degrees, was not a necessary duty
antecedent to the vow. A person might vow to bring such and such
sacrifices at certain times, to give such and such a sum or such a
proportion in alms, to forbear such meats and drinks which the law
allowed, to fast and afflict the soul (which is specified
at other times besides the day of atonement. And many similar vows
might be made in an extraordinary heat of holy zeal, in humiliation for
some sin committed or for the prevention of sin, in the pursuit of some
mercy desired or in gratitude for some mercy received. It is of great
use to make such vows as these, provided they be made in sincerity with
due caution. Vows (say the Jewish doctors) are the hedge of
separation, that is, a fence to religion. He that vows is here said
to bind his soul with a bond. It is a vow to God, who is a
spirit, and to him the soul, with all its powers, must be bound. A
promise to man is a bond upon the estate, but a promise to God is a
bond upon the soul. Our sacramental vows, by which we are bound to no
more than what was before our duty, and which neither father nor
husband can disannul, are bonds upon the soul, and by them we must feel
ourselves bound out from all sin and bound up to the whole will of God.
Our occasional vows concerning that which before was in our own
power
(Acts v. 4),
when they are made, are bonds upon the soul likewise.
2. The command given is that these vows be conscientiously performed:
He shall not break his word, though afterwards he may change his
mind, but he shall do according to what he has said. Margin, He
shall not profane his word. Vowing is an ordinance of God; if we
vow in hypocrisy we profane that ordinance: it is plainly determined,
Better not vow than vow and not pay,
Eccl. v. 5.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked. His promises to us are
yea and amen, let not ours to him be yea and nay.
3 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;
4 And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath
bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then
all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound
her soul shall stand.
5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth;
not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her
soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her
father disallowed her.
6 And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered
ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;
7 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the
day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds
wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.
8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard
it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which
she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none
effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.
9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced,
wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.
10 And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul
by a bond with an oath;
11 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and
disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond
wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.
12 But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he
heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips
concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall
not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall
forgive her.
13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her
husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day
to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds,
which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his
peace at her in the day that he heard them.
15 But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath
heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.
16 These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses,
between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter,
being yet in her youth in her father’s house.
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 which the law
does not. The rule is general, If a man vow, he must pay. But for a
daughter it is express: her vow is nugatory or in suspense till her
father knows it, and (it is supposed) knows it from her; for, when it
comes to his knowledge, it is in his power either to ratify or nullify
it. But in favour of the vow,
1. Even his silence shall suffice to ratify it: If he hold his
peace, her vows shall stand,
v. 4.
Qui tacet, consentire videtur–Silence gives consent. Hereby he
allows his daughter the liberty she has assumed, and, as long as he
says nothing against her vow, she shall be bound by it. But,
2. His protestation against it shall perfectly disannul it, because it
is possible that such vow may by prejudicial to the affairs of the
family, break the father’s measures, perplex the provision made for his
table if the vow related to meats, or lessen the provision made for his
children if the vow would be more expensive than his estate would bear;
however, it was certain that it was an infringement of his authority
over his child, and therefore, if he disallow it, she is discharged,
and the Lord shall forgive her, that is, she shall not be
charged with the guilt of violating her vow; she showed her good-will
in making the vow, and, if her intentions therein were sincere, she
shall be accounted better than sacrifice. This shows how great a
deference children owe to their parents, and how much they ought to
honour them and be obedient to them. It is for the interest of the
public that the paternal authority be supported; for, when children are
countenanced in their disobedience to their parents (as they were by
the tradition of the elders,
they soon become in other things children of Belial. If this law
be not to be extended to children’s marrying without their parents’
consent so far as to put it in parents’ power to annul the marriage and
dissolve the obligation (as some have thought it does), yet certainly
it proves the sinfulness of it, and obliges the children that have thus
done foolishly to repent and humble themselves before God and their
parents.
II. The case of a wife is much the same. As for a woman that is a widow
or divorced, she has neither father nor husband to control her, so
that, whatever vows she binds her soul with, they shall stand
against her
(v. 9),
it is at her peril if she run back; but a wife, who has nothing that
she can strictly call her own, but with her husband’s allowance,
cannot, without that, make any such vow.
1. The law is plain in case of a wife that continues so long after the
vow. If her husband allow her vow, though only by silence, it must
stand,
If he disallow it, since her obligation to that which she had vowed
arose purely from her own act, and not from any prior command of God,
her obligation to her husband shall take place of it, for to him she
ought to be in subjection as unto the Lord; and now it is so far
from being her duty to fulfil her vow that it would be her sin to
disobey her husband, whose consent perhaps she ought to have asked
before she made the vow; therefore she needs forgiveness,
v. 8.
2. The law is the same in case of a wife that soon after becomes a
widow, or is put away. Though, if she return to her father’s house, she
does not therefore so come again under his authority as that he has
power to disannul hew vows
(v. 9),
yet if the vow was made while she was in the house of her husband, and
her husband disallowed it, it was made void and of no effect for ever,
and she does not return under the law of her vow when she is loosed
from the law of her husband. This seems to be the distinct meaning of
which otherwise would be but a repetition of
But it is added
(v. 15)
that, if the husband make void the vows of his wife, he shall bear
her iniquity; that is, if the thing she had vowed was really good,
for the honour of God and the prosperity of her own soul, and the
husband disallowed it out of covetousness, or humour, or to show his
authority, though she be discharged from the obligation of her vow, yet
he will have a great deal to answer for. Now here it is very
observable how carefully the divine law consults the good order of
families, and preserves the power of superior relations, and the duty
and reverence of inferiors. It is fit that every man should bear
rule in his own house, and have his wife and children in subjection
with all gravity; and rather than this great rule should be broken, or
any encouragement given to inferior relations to break those bonds
asunder, God himself would quit his right, and release the obligations
even of a solemn vow; so much does religion strengthen the ties of all
relations, and secure the welfare of all societiesd, that in it the
families of the earth are blessed.
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