This passage will seem very strange for us today, and the reason is that we have slipped far away from the Biblical model in two ways.

The first way is that there is not the seriousness about keeping your promises as there was in Biblical times. If a man made a vow then he had to keep it (v1-2). God’s standards do not change in regards to faithfulness to what we promise. Jesus told His disciples, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’” (Matt. 5 v37). Followers of Jesus must be people who keep their Word.

The second thing is that we have become such an individualistic society that we have moved away from family responsibility and authority. A woman living at home or a woman married would not be held accountable for vows which father or husband did not agree with (v3-16).

The father or husband though can’t remain silent, they need to act in this situation (v5, 8, 10-11). In families the head of the home has great responsibility and other family members must respect their God-given authority. We need to pray for those who are the head of families. Fathers must not abdicate their responsibilities as the head of the home.