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Numbers 30 · a question people ask

Why could a father or a husband make a woman's vow void?

In the text

The chapter doesn't give a reason. It calls these "the statutes which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house" (30:16), and it sets out exactly what they allow. The father or husband had to act "in the day that he hears" (30:5, 30:8) or "in the day that he heard them" (30:12); if he said nothing, her vows stood (30:4, 30:7, 30:11, 30:14). If he forbade them or made them void that day, "The LORD will forgive her" (30:5, 30:8, 30:12). If he made them void later, "he shall bear her iniquity" (30:15). A widow's or a divorced woman's vow "shall stand against her" (30:9). Beyond these verses, the chapter gives no explanation.

The verses

“and her father hears her vow and her pledge with which she has bound her soul, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she has bound her soul shall stand. But if her father forbids her in the day that he hears, none of her vows or of her pledges with which she has bound her soul, shall stand. The LORD will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.”
Numbers 30:4-5 · World English Bible
“and her husband hears it, and says nothing to her in the day that he hears it; then her vows shall stand, and her pledges with which she has bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband forbids her in the day that he hears it, then he makes void her vow which is on her and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul. The LORD will forgive her. “But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her.”
Numbers 30:7-9 · World English Bible
“and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her and didn’t disallow her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand. Her husband has made them void. The LORD will forgive her.”
Numbers 30:11-12 · World English Bible
“But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges which are on her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her in the day that he heard them. But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.” These are the statutes which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house.”
Numbers 30:14-16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 30

Numbers 30: He shall not break his word

A vow was words that became a bond: "He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth" (30:2). For a daughter or a wife, the day her father or husband heard decided it, and silence said yes (30:14); if he forbade it, "The LORD will forgive her" (30:5). And Jesus took up the law of vows: "perform to the Lord your vows" (Matthew 5:33).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions