Numbers 30:5

5 Forsooth if her father against-said (it), anon as he heard (as soon as he heard it), both (her) vows, and her oaths shall be (made) void, and she shall not be holden bound to the promise, for her father against-said it.

Numbers 30:5 Meaning and 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 and it might be done on a sabbath day F21:

not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith 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.

Numbers 30:5 In-Context

3 If a woman that is in the house of her father, and is yet in the age of a young damsel, avoweth anything, either bindeth herself by an oath (or bindeth herself with an oath),
4 (and) her father knoweth the avow, that she promised, and the oath, by which she bound her soul, and he is still, she shall be guilty of that oath, if she break it; whatever thing she promised, and swore, she shall fulfill in work. (and her father knoweth of the vow, which she promised to do, or the oath, with which she hath bound her soul, and he is silent, she shall be bound by that oath, if she break it, and whatever thing that she hath promised, or hath sworn, to do, she shall fulfill it, or shall do it.)
5 Forsooth if her father against-said (it), anon as he heard (as soon as he heard it), both (her) vows, and her oaths shall be (made) void, and she shall not be holden bound to the promise, for her father against-said it.
6 If she hath an husband, and she avoweth anything, and a word going out of her mouth (or with a word going out of her mouth), (at) once bindeth her soul with an oath,
7 in what day her husband heareth this, and against-saith it not, she shall be guilty, or bound, to that vow; she shall yield, whatever thing she promised. (from the day that her husband heareth of it, and saith nothing against it, she shall be bound by that vow; she shall yield whatever thing that she hath promised.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.