vows Summary and Overview

voluntary promises which, when once made, were to be kept if the thing vowed was right. They were made under a great variety of circumstances (Gen. 28: 18-22; Lev. 7:16; Num. 30:2-13; Deut. 23:18; Judg. 11:30, 39; 1 Sam. 1:11; Jonah 1:16; Acts 18:18; 21:23).

A vow is a solemn promise made to God to perform or to abstain from performing a certain thing. The earliest mention of a vow is that of Jacob. #Ge 28:18-22; 31:13| Vows in general are also mentioned in the book of Job, #Job 22:27| The law therefore did not introduce, but regulated the practice of, vows. Three sorts are mentioned: 1, vows of devotion; 2, vows of abstinence; 3, vows of destruction. 1. As to vows of devotion, the following rules are laid down: A man might devote to sacred uses possessions or persons, but not the first-born of either man or beast, which was devoted already. #Le 27:28| (a) If he vowed land, he might either redeem it or not Levi 25,27. (b) Animals fit for sacrifice if devoted, were not to be redeemed or changed, #Le 27:9; 10:33| persons devoted stood thus: devote either himself, his child (not the first-born) or his slave. If no redemption took place, the devoted person became a slave of the sanctuary: see the case of Absalom. #2Sa 15:8| Otherwise he might be redeemed at a valuation according to age and sex, on the scale given in #Le 27:1-7| Among general regulations affecting vows the following may be mentioned: (1) Vows were entirely voluntary but once made were regarded as compulsory. #Nu 30:2; De 23:21; Ec 5:4| (2) If persons In a dependent condition made vows as (a) an unmarried daughter living in her father's house, or (b) a wife, even if she afterward became a widow the vow, if (a) in the first case her father, or (b) in the second her husband, heard and disallowed it, was void; but,if they heard without disallowance, it was to remain good. #Nu 30:3-18| (3) Votive offerings arising from the produce of any impure traffic were wholly forbidden. #De 23:18| 2. For vows of abstinence, see CORBAN. 3. For vows of extermination ANATHEMA and #Ezr 10:8; Mic 4:13| It seems that the practice of shaving the head at the expiration of a votive period was not limited to the Nazaritic vow. #Ac 18:18; 21:24|