SEV Biblia, Chapter 30:2
Cuando alguno hiciere voto al SEÑOR, o hiciere juramento ligando su alma con obligación, no contaminará su palabra; hará conforme a todo lo que salió de su boca.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 30:2
Verse 2. If a man vow a vow] A vow is a religious promise made to God. Vows were of several kinds:- 1. Of abstinence or humiliation, see ver. 13; 2. Of the Nazarite, see chap. vi.; 3. Of giving certain things or sacrifices to the Lord, Lev. vii. 16; 4. Of alms given to the poor, see Deut. xxiii. 21. The law in this chapter must have been very useful, as it both prevented and annulled rash vows, and provided a proper sanction for the support and performance of those that were rationally and piously made. Besides, this law must have acted as a great preventive of lying and hypocrisy. If a vow was properly made, a man or woman was bound, under penalty of the displeasure of God, to fulfill it.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord , etc.] 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 f443 , “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 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 5:4,5 Deuteronomy 23:21-23): he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth ; it is not in his power to revoke his vow or make it null: the Misnic doctors 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 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) Ver. 3 . If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord , etc.] 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 f447 , “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.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1, 2 - No man can be bound by his own promise to do what he is already, by the Divine precept, forbidden to do. In other matters the command is, tha he shall not break his words, through he may change his mind.
Original Hebrew
אישׁ 376 כי 3588 ידר 5087 נדר 5088 ליהוה 3069 או 176 השׁבע 7650 שׁבעה 7621 לאסר 631 אסר 632 על 5921 נפשׁו 5315 לא 3808 יחל 2490 דברו 1697 ככל 3605 היצא 3318 מפיו 6310 יעשׂה׃ 6213
