Seldom does the Bible go into detail about day to day life. Obviously, women are active and influential, as seen in the books of Moses:
- Women help with childbirth (Exodus 1:15-21).
- Women raise the next generation (Exodus 2:8-10; 6:20, 25).
- Mothers are to be respected and obeyed, on penalty of death (Exodus 21:15; Deuteronomy 21:18; Leviticus 20:9).
- Daughters help to set a precedent for inheritance law (Numbers 27:1-8 cf. Job 42:15).
- Women are the subjects of a number of laws (Leviticus 12, 20, 27; Numbers 5, 27; Deuteronomy 22, 24, 25).
- Some women tend to livestock (Deuteronomy 3:19 cf. Genesis 29:9).
- Women collect wealth, donate and use their skills (Exodus 3:22; 35:25-29).
- Women celebrate, worship and take vows (Exodus 15:20; Numbers 6:2; Deuteronomy 12:12).
The matter of religious vows offers insight into family structure (Numbers 30:3-16). As with any Israelite, a daughter is obliged to keep any vow she makes. However, “if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her” (Numbers 30:5). A similar rule applies to a wife.
If her husband makes [her vows] null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the LORD will forgive her. Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void (Numbers 30:12-13).