Jacob Milgrom and Tikva Frymer-Kensky on Oaths and Vows - Their Types, Power and Annulment

(3) If a householder makes a vow to יהוה or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips. (4) If a woman makes a vow to יהוה or assumes an obligation while still in her father’s household by reason of her youth, (5) and her father learns of her vow or her self-imposed obligation and offers no objection, all her vows shall stand and every self-imposed obligation shall stand....

(10) The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, however, whatever she has imposed on herself, shall be binding upon her....

(17) Those are the laws that יהוה enjoined upon Moses between a husband and his wife, and as between a father and his daughter while in her father’s household by reason of her youth.

(10) A woman comes toward him dressed like a harlot.... (13) She lays hold of him and kisses him; Brazenly she says to him, (14) “I had to make a sacrifice of well-being; Today I fulfilled my vows. (15) Therefore I have come out to you, Seeking you, and have found you.

(3) When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. For He has no pleasure in fools; what you vow, fulfill. (4) It is better not to vow at all than to vow and not fulfill. (5) Don’t let your mouth bring you into disfavor, and don’t plead before the messenger that it was an error, but fear God else God may be angered by your talk and destroy your possessions.

(30) And Jephthah made the following vow to GOD: “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, (31) then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be GOD’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.” (32) Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them, and GOD delivered them into his hands.... (34) When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, with hand-drum and dance! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter. (35) On seeing her, he rent his clothes and said, “Alas, daughter! You have brought me low; you have become my troubler! For I have uttered a vow to GOD and I cannot retract.” (36) “Father,” she said, “you have uttered a vow to GOD; do to me as you have vowed, seeing that GOD has vindicated you against your enemies, the Ammonites.” (37) She further said to her father, “Let this be done for me: let me be for two months, and I will go with my companions and lament upon the hills and there bewail my maidenhood.” (38) “Go,” he replied. He let her go for two months, and she and her companions went and bewailed her maidenhood upon the hills. (39) After two months’ time, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She had never known a man. So it became a custom in Israel (40) for the maidens of Israel to go every year, for four days in the year, and chant dirges for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Shall be offered by me as an offering The opinion of our rabbis of blessed memory regarding this is known, and my lord and father, that the explanation of "shall be offered by me", the vav [ו] is disjunctive, with the same function as "or". And it can be explained as follows: "And it will be for God," i.e. sanctified [הקדש], if it is unsuitable for a burnt offering. Or it "shall be offered by me as a burnt offering," if it is suitable for a burnt offering. And similar to this, the vav of "He who strikes his father or [ו] his mother" (Exodus 25:15) signifies "or". And it is well explained.... And that which it also says, "he did to her as he had vowed to do" (Judges 11:39), and it does not say "He offered her as a burnt offering." This shows us that she was celibate/separated, and this is what he had vowed -- that she should be for God. This seems to me to be according to the plain meaning of the verses, and the words of our rabbis of blessed memory; if they [the words] were accepted into their hands as an acceptance, it is our duty to accept them.

(24) ”The men of Israel were distressed that day. For Saul had laid an oath upon the troops: “Cursed be the man who eats any food before night falls and I take revenge on my enemies.” So none of the troops ate anything. (25) Everybody came to a stack of beehives.... (27) Jonathan, however, had not heard his father adjure the troops. So he put out the stick he had with him, dipped it into the beehive of honey, and brought his hand back to his mouth; and his eyes lit up.... (31) They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmas to Aijalon, and the troops were famished.... the priest said, “Let us approach God here.” (37) So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hands of Israel?” But this time He did not respond to him. (38) Then Saul said, “Come forward, all chief officers of the troops, and find out how this guilt was incurred today. (39) For as the LORD lives who brings victory to Israel, even if it was through my son Jonathan, he shall be put to death!” Not one soldier answered him.... (42) And Saul said, “Cast the lots between my son and me”; and Jonathan was indicated. (43) Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me, what have you done?” And Jonathan told him, “I only tasted a bit of honey with the tip of the stick in my hand. I am ready to die.” (44) Saul said, “Thus and more may God do. You shall be put to death, Jonathan!” (45) But the troops said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, after bringing this great victory to Israel? Never! As the LORD lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground! For he brought this day to pass with the help of God.” Thus the troops saved Jonathan and he did not die.

(1) The Sages dissolved four types of vows without the requirement of a request to a halakhic authority: Vows of exhortation, vows of exaggeration, vows that are unintentional, and vows whose fulfillment is impeded by circumstances beyond one’s control. The mishna explains: Vows of exhortation are those by which one encourages another using vow terminology that is exaggerated. How so?

(8) The halakhot of the dissolution of vows, when one requests from a Sage to dissolve them, fly in the air and have nothing to support them, as these halakhot are not mentioned explicitly in the Torah. There is only a slight allusion to the dissolution of vows in the Torah, which is taught by the Sages as part of the oral tradition.

The halakhot of Shabbat, Festival peace-offerings, and misuse of consecrated property are like mountains suspended by a hair, as they have little written about them in the Torah, and yet the details of their halakhot are numerous.

The details of monetary law, sacrificial rites, ritual purity and impurity, and the halakhot of those with whom relations are forbidden all have something to support them, i.e., there is ample basis in the Torah for these halakhot, and these are the essential parts of Torah.