John Gill Commentary Numbers 30

And Moses spoke 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 has commanded ;
relating to vows. Aben Ezra is of opinion that this was delivered after the battle with Midian, of which there is an account in the following chapter, and is occasioned by what was said, to the tribes of Gad and Reuben, (Numbers 32:24Numbers 32:25)

do that which has proceeded out of your mouth ;
to which they replied,

your servants will do as my lord commandeth ;
upon which the nature of a vow, and the manner of keeping it, are observed; but the occasion of it rather seems to be what is said towards the close of the foregoing chapter, (Numbers 29:39) , that the various sacrifices there directed were to be offered in their season, besides the vows and freewill offerings; and when these were ratified and confirmed, and when null and void, and to be fulfilled or neglected, is the principal business of this chapter.

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 observes; who moreover says, that he may forbid himself what is forbidden, and forbid what is free and lawful; but he may not make free or lawful what is forbidden, that is, he may not vow to do a thing which is contrary to the law of God, such a vow will not stand:

And he was to be of such an age before he could make a vow that would be valid; according to the Targum of Jonathan, he must be thirteen years of age; it is said in the Misnah ^F16 ,

``a son of twelve years and one day, his vows are examined; a son of thirteen years and one day, his vows are firm, and they examine the whole thirteenth year before that time; although they say we know to whose name (or on whose account) we vow or consecrate, their vow is no vow, nor their consecration no consecration; but after that time, though they say we know not to whose name (or, on whose account) we vow or consecrate, their vow is a vow, and their consecration a consecration:''

or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond ;
to his vow adds an oath for the greater confirmation of it, and to lay himself under the greater obligation to perform it:

he shall not break his word; or profane it
^F17 but punctually perform it; men should be careful how they vow, and not rashly do it; but when they have vowed, they ought to perform; see (Ecclesiastes 5:4Ecclesiastes 5:5) (Deuteronomy 23:21–23) :

he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth ;
it is not in his power to revoke his vow or make it null: the Misnic doctors

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Niddah, c. 5. sect. 6.
• F17: (lxy al)
• F18: say, a man can loose all vows, excepting his own. R. Judah says, not the vows of his wife, nor those which are between her and others; that is, as one of the commentators ^F19 explains it, such vows which are not made to afflict, or respect not fasting; but according to the Targum of Jonathan, though a man cannot loose his vows, or free himself from them, yet the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, can, or a wise man that is authenticated thereby, as Jarchi says, or three private persons; but these are such traditions; which make void the commandment of God, as our Lord complains, (Matthew 15:1–9)
• F19: Bartenora in Misn. Negaim, c. 5. sect. 5.

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, though not in his house, she being not at age to be at her own disposal, but at his: wherefore it is added,

in her youth ;
which, as the same writer explains it, signifies that she is neither a little one, nor at age; for a little one's vow is no vow, and one at age is not in the power of her father to make void her vow: who is a little one? our Rabbins say, one of eleven years of age and one day, her vows are examined, whether she knows on whose account she vows and consecrates, or devotes anything; one vows a vow that is twelve years and one day old, there is no need to examine them.''

He seems to refer to a passage in the Misnah ^F20 , ``a daughter of eleven years and one day, her vows are examined; a daughter of twelve years and one day, her vows are firm, but they are to be examined through the whole twelfth year.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Niddah, c. 5. sect. 6.

And her father hear her vow, and her bond with which she has
bound her soul
Her vow, which is binding upon her, or her vow and an oath annexed to it; which makes it still more stronglybinding; and this he hears himself, or it is reported to him by others: and her father shall hold his peaceat 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 with which she has bound her soul shall stand ;
his silence being to be interpreted as approving of them, and consenting to them.

But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears
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 and it might be done on a sabbath day ^F21 :

not any of her vows, or of her bonds with which she bound her soul ,
shall stand ;
but become null and void, she being at the control of her father, and having nothing in her own power, and at her own disposal, to vow or consecrate, but wholly in the power and at the disposal of her father:

and the Lord shall forgive her ;
the breach of her vow, it shall not be imputed to her as a sin:

because her father disallowed her ;
so that it was no fault of hers that it was not fulfilled; though she might be blameworthy to make one, without previously obtaining his consent, and making it rashly without his previous knowledge, she not being at her own hands; and in this respect may be said to be forgiven by the Lord, which supposes some fault committed.

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Misn. Sabbat, c. 24. sect. 5.