Numbers 30:3

3 But the woman, when she shall vow a vow unto the LORD and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth,

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.''


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Niddah, c. 5. sect. 6.

Numbers 30:3 In-Context

1 And Moses spoke unto the princes of the tribes concerning the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD has commanded.
2 When a man vows a vow unto the LORD or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not defile his word: he shall do according to all that proceeded out of his mouth.
3 But the woman, when she shall 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 hears her vow and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father shall remain silent regarding it, then all her promises shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand.
5 But if her father disallows her in the day that he hears all of her vows and of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, they shall not stand, and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010