Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter the Thirtieth. Synopsis of the Chapter
God ordains that a father may annul the vow of his daughter, a husband that of his wife, if he contradicts it at once, that is on the first day on which he learned of it, but not if he contradicts it on the second day.
1. And Moses told the children of Israel all that the Lord had commanded him; 2. and he spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel: This is what the Lord hath commanded. 3. If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath, he shall not make his word void, but shall fulfil all that he promised. 4. If a woman vow any thing, and bind herself by an oath, being in her father’s house, and yet but a girl in age: if her father know the vow that she hath promised, and the oath wherewith she hath bound her soul, and hold his peace, she shall be bound by the vow: 5. whatsoever she promised and swore, she shall fulfil in deed; 6. but if, as soon as he heareth, the father gainsay it, both her vows and her oaths shall be void, and she shall not be bound by the promise, because her father hath gainsaid it. 7. If she have a husband, and vow any thing, and the word once going out of her mouth hath bound her soul by an oath; 8. on what day soever her husband heareth it, and gainsayeth it not, she shall be bound by the vow, and shall pay whatsoever she promised; 9. but if hearing it he presently gainsay it, and make her promises and the words wherewith she had bound her soul of no effect, the Lord will be merciful to her. 10. A widow and a divorced woman shall pay whatsoever they vowed. 11. A wife in her husband’s house, when she hath bound herself by vow and oath, 12. if the husband hear it and hold his peace, and gainsay not the promise, she shall perform whatsoever she had promised; 13. but if he forthwith gainsay it, she shall not be bound by her promise, because her husband hath gainsaid it, and the Lord will be merciful to her. 14. If she vow, and bind herself by an oath, that by fasting or abstinence from other things she will afflict her soul, it shall be in the husband’s judgment whether she do it or do it not; 15. but if hearing it he hold his peace, and put off the sentence till another day, whatsoever she had vowed and promised, she shall perform, because as soon as he heard it, he held his peace; 16. but if he gainsay it after he knew it, he himself shall bear her iniquity. 17. These are the laws which the Lord appointed to Moses between the husband and the wife, between the father and the daughter, who is yet in her girlhood, or who abideth in her father’s house.
Verse 2. TO THE PRINCES,—and to the whole people, of whom the princes were the chief part; or “to the princes,” that they might each report the same to their own people, that is, to their own tribe.
THIS IS WHAT THE LORD HATH COMMANDED,—Concerning vows, as follows. This is a Hebrew aposiopesis; for Moses does not here relate his colloquy with God about vows, but wraps it up in this his narration to the people, in which he carried out the divine command. On the contrary, in chapters xxviii and xxix he related the commands of the Lord, but was silent that he had reported the same to the people; and such aposiopeses are familiar to Holy Scripture and to the Hebrews.
3. IF ANY MAN MAKE A VOW TO THE LORD, OR BIND HIMSELF BY AN OATH,—if, namely, he confirm his promise and vow by an oath.
HE SHALL NOT MAKE HIS WORD VOID,—he shall not violate the vow or the oath.
4. IF A WOMAN VOW ANY THING, YET BUT A GIRL IN AGE.—Under girl understand also a boy of boyish age; for the reason of both is the same. So Abulensis.
SHE SHALL BE BOUND BY THE VOW,—she shall be obliged by the vow. Note “if he know it,” because before the father knew the vow and annulled it, the daughter was bound to fulfil it, if she had made it deliberately. Under father understand also tutors; for these, the father being dead, succeed as it were to the paternal right and rule. Note first: If the father held his peace, by that very fact the vow was confirmed, because he who is silent in a matter wherein something of his right and power is prejudiced or withdrawn seems to consent, as this girl did, who by this vow withdrew herself in part from paternal power and liberty; yet this silence of the father confirmed the daughter’s vow, not so much by the law of nature as by the positive law of God, as I shall say more fully on the last verse.
Note secondly: A vow to which the father had once tacitly consented became absolutely ratified, so that it was not lawful for the father afterwards to annul it: if, however, the girl who had vowed afterwards married, it was lawful for the husband, immediately after the contracting of the marriage, to annul her vow, just as if the vow had been made in marriage; for otherwise grave burdens, by these previous vows, might have been laid upon the husband, even unwilling and ignorant, which he was not bound to embrace and undergo. So Abulensis, Question XXXV.
6. BUT IF, AS SOON AS HE HEARETH, THE FATHER GAINSAY IT.—In Hebrew, if, as soon as he heareth, he make it void, dissolve or break the vow; as soon as, understand not in the same instant, but morally, namely on the same day; for on the following day he could not gainsay, as is said in verse 13.
7. IF SHE HAVE A HUSBAND, AND VOW ANY THING.—The Jews by “husband” understand the betrothed to whom the girl has been betrothed, that this case may be distinguished from the case of verse 11; for there he treats of the husband to whom the girl has been delivered, here of him to whom she is only betrothed and promised. But that husband is to be taken here, as in verse 11, and not the betrothed, is plain from the Hebrew, the Chaldee and the Septuagint, which have, if she be to a man. For this phrase among the Hebrews signifies a wife given to a husband: wherefore, if there be any distinction between the case of this verse and verse 14, I should rather say that here is treated of a married woman who deals with her husband in her father’s house, to teach that the annulling of this vow belongs to the husband, not to the father (even if she dwell in his house); but in verse 11, of a married woman who dwells outside her father’s house, in her husband’s house, as is there expressed. So St. Augustine, Question LIX.
9. THE LORD WILL BE MERCIFUL TO HER.—The Lord will not be indignant with the wife if she keep not a vow annulled by her husband.
11. WHEN SHE HATH BOUND HERSELF BY VOW AND OATH.—“And” is here taken for “or”; for in the Hebrew it is or.
THAT BY FASTING OR ABSTINENCE FROM OTHER THINGS SHE WILL AFFLICT HER SOUL.—Here God descends from the thesis to the hypothesis, that is, to a most usual example, from which He leaves a like judgment to be drawn concerning all the other vows of pilgrimage, of prayer, of alms, of penances, etc. For that it treats here of any vows whatever, not only of vows of abstinence, is plain from verse holds that it treats here only of vows of abstinence from food, not of intercourse. But what I have said seems truer; for the words of Scripture in the verses already cited are general: whence they seem to comprehend any vows whatever.
16. BUT IF HE GAINSAY IT AFTER HE KNEW IT, HE HIMSELF SHALL BEAR HER INIQUITY.—The Septuagint, for after he knew it, have, after the day on which he heard it; so that the sense is, as if to say: The husband ought on the first day on which he learns the vow of his wife to gainsay it, if he wish to annul it: if, however, on the first day he be silent and defer, and so tacitly consent, but on the following day revoke his consent and gainsay, the wife is excused from the vow, because the husband annuls it; yet the husband sins against this law by revoking his consent; whence the guilt and punishment of this vow not fulfilled he himself shall bear, not the wife. So St. Augustine, Question LVI, Abulensis, Rabanus, Lyranus, Oleaster, Cajetan, and they prove it from this, that if the husband had gainsaid on the first day, and so annulled the wife’s vow, no iniquity would have had to be borne by him or by the wife; for he would have used rightly his own right. Therefore, since it is here said that by gainsaying he shall bear her iniquity, so that he sins and not the wife, who does not keep the vow which he gainsays: it follows that his contradiction is indeed valid, and annuls the wife’s vow, but yet that it is wrongly done by him, because it is done against the law on the second day, when it ought to have been done on the first; and therefore he is said to be about to bear her iniquity. But “after the day” is not in the Hebrew, the Chaldee, or our version, and seems here impertinent, nay, to intrude and enervate the equal and direct antithesis. For this verse says and ordains plainly the same (for this verse gives an example of what has been said, as I said in the preceding verse), namely that the wife is free from the vow of abstinence if the husband gainsay it at once, on the same day on which he learned it; but if he be silent, the vow is at once confirmed, so that on the following day he cannot gainsay it and annul the vow. For the antithesis of this verse with the preceding plainly proves this, and the verses cited plainly signify that this was of the old law in that law. It is otherwise in the new law; for in it it is probable that a parent and a husband can revoke the consent formerly given, and so annul the vow of the daughter or wife to which he once consented, though by annulling he sins if he does it rashly, as our Lessius learnedly teaches, in the treatise On the Vow, doubt 13. You will say: If the husband annuls the vow of his wife at once, on the same day on which he learned it, he does rightly, for he uses his own right: what iniquity, then, is he to bear, as is here said? I answer: Although the husband uses his own right, yet he can sin in the very annulling of the vow, if, namely, without cause in a pious matter he refuse consent and annul the vow; especially if from jealousy, covetousness, avarice or some other vice he will not have his wife keep a vow of some light and brief kind, for example of abstinence, prayer, alms, etc. And then he will bear the guilt of this annulling, as great as it is.
Others deny it, and more truly.
HE HIMSELF SHALL BEAR HER INIQUITY.—“Her,” namely the wife’s, is plain from the Hebrew, because he has transferred to himself the guilt of this vow of his wife not fulfilled, if there be any, which otherwise would have fallen on the wife, in that he annulled it without cause and unjustly. For of this vow of the wife rashly annulled, the guilt and the punishment will be borne, not by the wife, but by the husband who annulled it.
God says this for the consolation of the wife, and to remove scruples from her. For women are wont to be prone to vows, and anxious and solicitous about fulfilling them; nor do they satisfy themselves, though they are hindered by evil ones. He commands them, therefore, to be secure here, and teaches that the guilt, if there be any in this matter, is the husband’s, not the wife’s.
17. OR WHO ABIDETH IN HER FATHER’S HOUSE,—who is not yet emancipated, nor delivered to a husband, but is an unmarried girl, even if well advanced in years. For the vows of all these any husband could annul, and that lawfully if he gainsaid at once on the same day.
Hence it is plain that these laws concerning vows, and their annulling, are not in every respect of the law and right of nature, as some have thought; but are in part positive, namely ceremonial or judicial laws of the old law, which is now abolished. For the law of nature does not dictate that a father can annul all the vows of daughters grown up and of marriageable age, especially those which do not prejudice the paternal power: otherwise this would have place in the new law also. But this is false. Secondly, the law of nature does not dictate that by the silence alone of a parent or husband the vow of a daughter or wife is plainly confirmed. Thirdly, the law of nature does not command that a parent or husband gainsay the vow at once, if he think of annulling it; for he may require time to deliberate. God, therefore, ordained these things so in the old law, lest that gross people should too easily, for any cause, hinder or retract the pious vows of their own.