I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

At first glance, the rules concerning vows seem to suggest that women have less right to bond themselves to a vow to God.  While there is some truth to that one should look a little closer at what it says.  The fact was that a woman in that society was generally economically dependent on either her father or her husband.  The result of that being that a woman could suffer significant economic harm if she was forced to keep a vow to which her father or husband objected.  Here is where it gets interesting.  If the father or husband failed to immediately object to the vow the vow would be binding, and if they later decided to object and then prevented her from fulfilling the vow, THEY would be responsible for breaking the vow as if they had made it themselves.  In that day, the father or husband of a woman had the ability to force the woman to break the vow.  Whether that was right or wrong is irrelevant.  This codifies their responsibility to decide immediately whether or not they would do so.  Without this, women would have trouble entering into business agreements.  I have always read this to mean that we today should not enter into binding agreements without the knowledge and consent of our spouse.