VOW, Votum; a Promise made to God, of doing some good thing hereafter. The Use of Vows is observable through the whole Scripture. When Jacob went into Mesopotamia, he vowed to God the Tenth of his Estate, and promised to offer it at Bethel, to the honour of God. Moses enacts several Laws for the Regulation and due Execution of Vows. A Man might devote himself, or his Children, to the Lord. Jephthah devoted his Daughter, Judg. xi. 30, 31. 1 Sam. i. 21, 22, &c. Levit. xxvii. 3.and ‘tis thought he offered her in Sacrifice. Samuel was vowed and consecrated to the Service of the Lord, and was really offered to him, to serve in the Tabernacle. If a Man or Woman vowed themselves to the Lord, they were obliged to adhere strictly to his Service, according to the Conditions of his Vow; if not, he was to redeem himself. A Man from twenty Years of Age till sixty, gave fifty Shekels of Silver, and a Woman thirty. From the Age of five Years to twenty, a Man gave twenty Shekels, and a Woman ten: From a Month old to five Years, they gave for a Boy five Shekels, and for a Girl three. A Man of sixty Years old, or upwards, gave fifteen Shekels, and a Woman of the same Age gave ten. If the Person was poor, and could not procure this Sum, the Priest imposed a Ransom upon him, according to his Abilities.
If any one had vowed an Animal that was clean, they had not the liberty of redeeming it, or of exchanging it, but were obliged to sacrifice it to the Lord. If it was an unclean Animal, and such as was not allowed to be sacrificed, the Priest made a Valuation of it; and if the Proprietor prietor would redeem it, he added a fifth Part to the Value, by way of Forfeit. They did the same in proportion, when the thing vowed was a House, or a Field. They could not devote the First-born, because of their own Nature they belonged to the Lord. Whatever was devoted by way of AnathemaLevit. xxvii. 28, 29., could not be redeemed, of whatever Nature or Quality it was. An Animal was put to death, and other things were devoted for ever to the Lord. The Consecration of Nazarites was a particular kind of Vow, of which we have already treated at length, under the Article NAZARITES, and in the Commentary upon Numbers, Chap. vi.
The Vows and Promises of Children were void of course, except they were ratified, either by the express or tacit Consent of Numb. xxx. 1, 2, 3, &c.their Parents. And it was the same with the Vows of married Women; they were of no Validity, except they were confirmed by the express or tacit Consents of their Husbands. But Widows, or repudiated Wives, were obliged to comply with their Vows, whatever they were: When thou shalt vow a vow Deut. xxiii. 21, 22.unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it; for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. See Eccles. v. 3, 4, &c.
Under the New Testament we see also the Practice of Vows. ‘Tis thought the Holy Virgin had made a Vow of perpetual Virginity, because she answered the Angel, Luke i. 34. Acts xviii. 18.How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? St. Paul made a Vow of Nazariteship, when he left the Harbour of Cenchrea, in order to go to Jerusalem. When he was arrived Acts xxi. 18, 19, &c.at Jerusalem, St. James the Apostle and the Brethren advised him to join himself to four Judaizing Christians, who had made a Vow of Nazariteship, and to present himself in the Temple, to contribute to the
2 Charge of their Purification. The same Apostle advises Timothy, to avoid the 1 Tim. v. younger Widows; because, (says he) after 11.they have lived a luxurious and wanton Life in the Church, they will marry again, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith. Lastly, we have seen in all Ages a great Number of Christian Men and Women, who have obliged themselves by Promises, either publick or particular, to the Observation of Evangelical Precepts, and particularly to that of Chastity.
The Vows which the Jews made, and which always included, at least implicitly, a kind of Imprecation against themselves, if they failed in the Performance of such Vows; they were generally expressed after a distinct and plain manner. But the Penalty was declared in a conditional and hypothetical manner. For Psal. xcv.example, I have sworn in my Wrath, if they Psalm cxxxii. 2, 3, 4, 5.shall enter into my Rest. I have sworn that they shall not enter into the Land of Promise, and I have said, Let me be a Liar, or something else, not expressed, if they enter into that Place that I had prepared for them. And David makes a Vow to the Lord, to build him a Temple, saying, Surely I will not come [ or, if I come,] into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to my eye-lids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Where it may be observed, that he does not mention the Penalty to which he devotes himself, if he should neglect to perform his Vow: As if he had said, Let God treat me with the utmost Rigor, if I allow myself the least Respite, till I have found a Place proper for my Design.
Sometimes they expressed the Penalty, or Imprecation; but then it was against their Enemies, or against brute Beasts. For example, 1 Sam. xxv. 22.So, and more also, do God unto the Enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light, any that pisseth against the wall. He does not say, that God may treat me as a forsworn Person, if I leave any one alive of the Family of Nabal; but, may God do so to the Enemies of David, if I leave so much as a Dog alive. Generally the Scripture expresses the Imprecations by these Words only; hoc faciat mihi Deus, & hæc addit, &c. without specifying any particular Penalty or Imprecation; whether it be that the Person who makes the Vow did not express any, or that out of Discretion he forbore to mention any. See the Articles DEVOTING, and IMPRECATION.
At the time of our Saviour the Pharisees had strangely altered the Laws of a Vow and an Oath, by their vain Explications, and by their evasive Subtilities. See what is said Leo of Modena, p. 2. c. 4.upon CORBAN.
This is what Leo of Modena tells us, concerning the Practice of the modern Jews in relation to Vows. “ Vows are “ not much approved of among them; “ but when they are made, they ought “ to be performed. Yet a Husband may “ acquit his Wife, even tho’ against her “ Inclinations, of any Vow about Abstinence, to which she may have engaged “ herself: But this must be done within “ the first four and twenty hours that he “ has Knowledge of it. A Father also may “ annul the Vow of his Daughter, if she “ is unmarried, as is said, Numb. xxx. 4. “ They
“ They hold also, by a Tradition, that a Man or Woman that makes an Oath, or a Vow, provided it is no Prejudice to any third Person, and that they have good reason to revoke it; they maintain, I say, that they may be dispensed with for not performing it, by a Rabbin of Authority, or by three other Men, tho’ of no Distinction. He therefore that would be delivered from the Obligation of his Vow, represents his Reasons to a Rabbin, or to three private Persons, who, if they find them sufficient, may say three times, Be thou discharged from thy Vow. And by this means he obtains his Liberty.