Numbers 30:6

"And if she be married to a husband, while her vows are upon her, or the rash utterance of her lips, wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her husband hear it, and hold his peace at her in the day that he heareth it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallow her in the day that he heareth it, then he shall make void her vow which is upon her, and the rash utterance of her lips, wherewith she hath bound her soul: and Jehovah will forgive her."

The legislation here permitted a husband the same authority over his wife that a father had over a dependent daughter, enabling him to disallow any vows made by his wife; but it also applied to vows that a wife was "under" at the time he was married to her. In cases like that, he could disallow the vows as soon as he heard of them, provided only, that he do so at once "on the day" that he heard of them. Thus, there is a double application of the law here.

Basing his conclusions upon the two distinctive Hebrew words used for "vows" in this passage, Wade declared that there are two kinds of vows which are particularly under consideration in this chapter: "They are (a) promises to give or to dedicate something to Jehovah, and (b) pledges to practice some form of abstinence."[6] It is easy to see the wisdom of such legislation. A dependent minor daughter might make a foolish and irresponsible vow to give vast sums of money to some project, such a vow, for some reason not being disallowed, and then the bridegroom marrying her would be saddled with an immense obligation unjustly. Here there was certified to him the right of annulment. "The husband had an absolute right to disallow and dissolve such obligations."[7]