Daily Notes & Observations: “Silence is Acceptance” (Excerpt)

March 7

Silence is Acceptance

Daily Notes & ObservationsThese were some of the instructions given regarding the making of vows to the Lord.

Also if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by an obligation in her father’s house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father should forbid her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her because her father had forbidden her.

However, if she should marry while under her vows or the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself, and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows shall stand and her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he shall annul her vow which she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her” (Numbers 30:3-8).

By God’s design, the unmarried daughter living at home was to submit to her father. Likewise, the married woman was to submit to her husband as the head of the household. For these women, any vows they made to the Lord had to be approved by either their fathers or their husbands.

However, the fathers or husbands had to explicitly forbid these vows in order to annul them. If he said nothing, the vows stood.

The lesson for us is this: silence is a form of acceptance. If something is wrong, improper, immoral, etc., we need to speak up against it. Silence implies consent. So when we are in a position to speak out against something that is wicked or foolish, we ought to take the opportunity.


Daily Notes & Observations contains 365 articles like the one above – one article per day that will take you through the Bible in a year. Be prepared to start your study on January 1st – order your copy today!

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