Numbers 30:3

3 "A young girl, who still lives in her father's house, might make a vow to the LORD that she will do something or swear an oath that she won't do something.

Numbers 30:3 Meaning and 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, 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.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Niddah, c. 5. sect. 6.

Numbers 30:3 In-Context

1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel, "This is what the LORD has commanded [about vows]:

2 If a man makes a vow to the LORD that he will do something or swears an oath that he won't do something, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said he would do.

3 "A young girl, who still lives in her father's house, might make a vow to the LORD that she will do something or swear an oath that she won't do something.

4 If her father says nothing to her when he hears about it, her vow or oath must be kept.

5 But if her father objects when he hears about it, her vow or oath doesn't have to be kept. The LORD will free her [from this vow or oath] because her father objected.