Numbers 30

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 30

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, Num. 30:1; 2. II. Some particular exceptions to this rule. 1. That the vows of daughters should not be binding unless allowed by the father, Num. 30:3-5. Nor, 2. The vows of wives unless allowed by the husband, Num. 30:6-16 read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 30:1-2

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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 30:3-16

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 30 Mention being made, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, of vows to be performed to the Lord, besides the sacrifices directed to; here some account is given of them, and men are charged to fulfil, and not break them, Numbers 30:1 but as to women, if a maid, being in her father's house, made a vow in his hearing, and he silent at it, her vow stood; but if he disapproved of it, it was null and void, Numbers 30:3 and so a wife, when she vowed a vow in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:1

And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes ,.... Or the princes of them, who could more easily be convened, and who used to meet on certain occasions, and on whom it lay to see various laws put in execution: concerning the children of Israel ; how they ought to conduct and behave in the following case, it being an affair which concerned them all: saying, this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded ; relating to vows. Aben Ezra is of opinion that this was delivered after the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:2

If a man vow a vow unto the Lord ,.... Which must be in a thing that is lawful to be done, which is not contrary to the revealed will and mind of God, and which may tend to the glory of God, the honour of religion, the service of the sanctuary, the good of a man's self or of his neighbour; or in things purely indifferent, which may, or may not be done, without offence to God or man; as that he will not eat such a thing for such a time, or he will do this or the other thing, as Jarchi... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:3

If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord ,.... Who has not passed thirteen years, as the Targum of Jonathan: and bind herself by a bond ; lay herself under obligation to perform her vow by an oath: being in her father's house; unto the twelfth year, as the same Targum; that is, that is under his care, tuition, and jurisdiction, whether she literally, or properly speaking, is in the house or no at the time she vows; so Jarchi interprets it of her being in the power of her father,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:4

And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul ,.... Her vow, which is binding upon her, or her vow and an oath annexed to it; which makes it still more strongly binding; and this he hears himself, or it is reported to him by others: and her father shall hold his peace at her; shall not reprove her for it, nor contradict her in it: then all her vows shall stand; be they what, or as many as they may: and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:5

But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth ,.... Disapproves of her vow, and expresses his dislike of it, and declares it null and void; which, if done at all, is to be done on the same day he hears it, and not on another day, as Aben Ezra observes; not the day following, and much less on a third or fourth day, &c.; and it might be done on a sabbath day F21 Misn. Sabbat, c. 24. sect. 5. : not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she bound her soul , ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:6

And if she had at all an husband with whom she vowed ,.... Or "when her vows were upon her" F23 ונדריה עליה , was either betrothed or married to a man: or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul ; uttered anything, either with or without premeditation, either with thought and deliberation, or rashly and imprudently, as the word signifies, yet in such a manner that it was binding upon her. read more

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