Литература Второго Храма к Бамидбар 30:4

§ 63. The actual meaning of Num. 30:4 ff. is that a woman’s vows hold if her father or husband silently acquiesce, but not if they forbid them; whereas those of a widow, seeing there is no such person to prohibit them, must hold. By taking “husband” or “father” to represent reason, Philo extracts the thought that our wishes are not guilty if our reasoned thoughts prohibit them, so that we do not translate them into action. The “widow” stands for the soul, which has cut itself off from any such controlling influence, and whose guilt is abiding.

[63] For this reason also the vows and determinations of the soul are annulled, when they have been made in the house of father or husband (Numb. 30:4 ff.), if the reason and reflection do not hold their peace and so add their weight to the soul’s failure, but remove the offence; for in that case the Lord of all also “shall cleanse her.” But he leaves with no removal the vow of a widow or of her that is cast off: “for whatever vows she shall have vowed,” he says, “against her soul, abide for her” (Numb. 30:10). And this is reasonable. For if she has been cast off and gone forth to the parts outside, not turning merely but sinning by overt deeds, she abides incurable with no part in a husband’s admonition and deprived of her father’s persuasion.