The Seriousness of Vows and the Character of God

Numbers Chapter 30: The Regulations of Vows

Numbers 30:1-16

Day 88. Ontario is dragging its feet. Churches re-opened but a number need a week or longer to be able to get ready to meet all the requirements. My wife still can’t get an appointment at her hair salon. At least up to ten people (from different families) can actually get together now – but I guess they still need to keep all the safety requirements. Meanwhile, Covid-19 global statistics continue to improve, and the mortality rate is now only 5.46% of all those that have been tested and were positive. [Or put another way, approx. ½ of 1/100 of 1 percent of the world population – not exactly a real pandemic in my view.]  While the world worries about all the permanent impacts this will have on our world, our economy, our cultures, etc., we press on with what really matters. And that is, knowing God and His word. Our study in Numbers, looking for scriptural gems continues. Thanks for joining us as we look at Numbers chapter 30.

The Passage

30 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the word which the Lord has commanded. ² If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

³ “Also if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by an obligation in her father’s house in her youth, ⁴ and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father ^[a]says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁵ 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.
⁶ “However, if she should ^[b]marry while ^[c]under her vows or the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself, ⁷ 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. ⁸ But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he shall annul her vow which ^[d]she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her.
⁹ “But the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, everything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her. ¹⁰ However, if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound herself by an obligation with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not forbid her, then all her vows shall stand and every obligation by which she bound herself shall stand. ¹² But if her husband indeed annuls them on the day he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning the obligation of herself shall not stand; her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her.
¹³ “Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it, or her husband may annul it. ¹⁴ But if her husband indeed says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her obligations which are on her; he has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard them. ¹⁵ But if he indeed annuls them after he has heard them, then he shall bear her guilt.”
¹⁶ These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, as between a man and his wife, and as between a father and his daughter, while she is in her youth in her father’s house.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 30:4 Lit is silent to her, and so throughout the ch
2. Numbers 30:6 Lit be to a husband
3. Numbers 30:6 Lit her vows are on her
4. Numbers 30:8 Lit is on her

Thoughts on the Passage

Moses is still around even though Joshua has been appointed as the one to take over after Moses dies. And he calls the heads of the tribes together to give them what God has instructed with respect to any vows that is made a) to the Lord, and b) the person with an obligation.

Before we proceed, it may be worth our while to get a decent definition of the word ‘vow’. Generally, we find that it means to make a solemn promise to do a specified thing. It also means to make oneself be dedicated to someone or something, especially a deity.

Do you ever wonder why God says certain things to Moses at certain times? I do. Why on earth does the topic of vows come up here and now, following a chapter or two on offerings and special days? Matthew Henry proposes this idea: he suggests that since God’s instructions regarding vows in this chapter are presented to the leaders of the various tribes, it is possible that an issue had arisen with respect to vows and the leaders had asked Moses to settle it, and he in turn, went to God. That is a possibility. We do not know. Nor does it matter – but it does help to explain the order and timing of these things.

So, the first instruction is really the bottom line and it is addressed primarily to men [“If a man makes a vow. . . vs. 2] – you vow, you don’t violate that vow, and you do according to what you voiced you would in your vow.

Chuck Smith points out that elsewhere the Bible tells us that it is better not to vow at all than to vow and to break it (Ecclesiastes 5:5). Also, Smith reminds us that vows, even to God, are always voluntary. There’s no requirement to make a vow. Think of marriage vows. Or think of a vow a Catholic nun may make.

Smith also reminds us that some vows in the Bible were really unfortunate ones and ended up tragically. One excellent example is the one made by Jephthah in Judges 11:30-40.

Then God turns His attention to the vows of women. First to those who make vows while still in their father’s household. Her vow stands if her father hears it and says nothing. But if he objects and forbids it, the young woman is freed from her vows.

If we rush past this part of the passage quickly, we’ll miss something very important about the character and values of God Himself. First, God is aware that oftentimes young people make rash vows that are not always in their best interests. He created us and thus He knows us well.  Secondly, He instituted the family unit and values the role of the father in that unit. So, if dad forbids the vow, it no longer stands. God is not interested here in having a young maiden overrule the head of the family.

Robert Jamieson tells us that according to Jewish writers, the rules of vows that pertain between a father and a daughter also included vows made by male children that were minors. That makes sense to me. And is easy to think of examples were a clever lad may make some oath to someone, or God, and give the farm away to the dismay of his parents. Well, I’m sure dad would have something to say about that. And the wonderful thing is that God understands that.

Then God describes what happens if the girl’s father is okay with the vow, but then she gets married. Now if her husband hears of her vows and does not object, then her obligation to the Lord stands. But if when he hears her vows, he forbids her to adhere to them, they are annulled, and she is forgiven by the Lord.

In verse 9, God deals with a widow or a divorced woman and indicates that her personal vows, and I am assuming (based on verses 10-12) that means if not nullified earlier by her father or husband as per the earlier verses, are still valid and remain her obligation, even though she may return to live with her father’s family.

Verse 14 tells us that awareness of the vows by the husband and his subsequent silence, keeps them in place. But then verse 15 says, if he hears them and then annuls them – “he bears her guilt”. What does that mean? David Guzik says, “If the husband confirmed his wife's vow (either specifically or by silence), then he was responsible to make sure the vow was fulfilled”, otherwise he himself is just as guilty.

Now some students of this chapter may be asking themselves as I did, “Why would God only address the vows of women here?”. Well, I’ve always believed that when one has a question about something in the Bible, just keep reading ahead or go back and read what came before, and the answer will show up.  Or put another way, “scripture answers scripture”. And that it does here as well. In verse 16 we read that these specific statutes were intended to be between a man and his wife, or between a father and his unmarried daughter. Well, what about men and their vows? Read back to verse 2 of the chapter.  Men have no option – the cardinal rule of making an oath applies to them. Their daddies can’t get them out of it, nor t heir grand-daddies, and neither can their wives. There’s no room for making insincere or rash vows to God for men. So, ladies, before you go on about God being unfair to women, think again – here’s another case where, in His benevolence, and His desire, to maintain the family unit – first between husband and wife, and secondly between father and child – allows grace in the case of vows that need to changed or annulled for women.

The question also arises here as to whether or not Christians should ever make oaths. Some take Matthew 5:34-37 as their rationale and say Jesus was forbidding oaths or vows. David Guzik says a closer look at that passage and a review of the rest of scripture may suggest that this passage was really not forbidding vows or oaths, but promoting that we live a life of total integrity (let our yes be yes and our no be no) so that vows and oaths become unnecessary in daily living. Having said that, we are reminded that Jesus answered under oath in a court (Matthew 26:63-64), and God Himself swears oaths (Luke 1:73, Acts 2:30, Hebrews 3:18, 6:13, 17).

There are more lessons for us to consider or gems to gather. Henry suggests we need to be careful that we don’t make vows we can’t keep out a zeal for God that we cannot maintain. Again, best not to have made it. Secondly, sometimes we make vows or oaths out of shame for a sin that we have committed. I understand the psychology involved and the urge to feel that you are paying for your sin, but woe to you or me, if we can’t keep that vow. Better to just repent and do all we can not to repeat the sin.

Thirdly, we should consider some benefits of making reasonable vows. For example, if I were a gambling man, I’d lose a lot of money. I’d probably at some point promise my wife (not to mention God) that I would never gamble again. That vow or promise may well keep me from sinning that way in the future. You can place in that example any sort of vice that is a greater temptation to you. If you have any self-respect, any love for your wife, and any desire to please God, that vow not to be involved in _________ again, can well help you.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch a 2018 documentary entitled “American [Christ Alone] Gospel”.  I highly recommend it for Christians – it may be too confusing for non-Christians. Anyway, one of the many things that I learned was the entire Bible only has one Hero in it – God. And while our Sunday School teachers may have taught us otherwise, as adults we need to read every story looking for how God (or His Son or the Holy Spirit) stars in it and no one else. So, I decided yesterday that often we miss the real point of a passage of Scripture, because we are caught up with the action that took place in it, rather than how God was being presented and glorified in it.

With that in mind, we can then ask ourselves, what does this passage tell me about God and how does it confirm His character and attributes in a way that makes me want to love Him more and serve Him better?

For me, Numbers 28 points out our God is a serious God and we are not play games with Him. And it points out that our God is a loving God who often gives us an out when we act rashly because of brevity in years and the experiences that go with it.

I’d love it if you shared what this passage tells you about God. Thanks for joining us.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

The issue is not the Old vs. New Covenants or Testaments, it is Unintentional vs. Wilful Sinning.

Numbers Chapter 15: Offerings of Thanks; Offerings for Unintentional Sins; But NO offering for Unintentional Sins; and the Tassel on the Garment

Numbers 15:1-41

Day 62. Social Media cops are taking down everything that they disagree with. And more importantly, anything that disagrees with their approach to fighting Covid-19.  People continue to ignore the restrictions, the face penalties, and they sue the governments involved. The whole world is in the same storm together on a tumultuous ocean and unfortunately the entire crew and most passengers are drunk out of their minds.  We press on, living one day at a time. Trying to be influencers as best we can and allowing God’s Word, as we continue our study in Numbers, to influence on. Read on.

The Passage

Chapter 15, verses 1-21 are instructions from God for Moses to share with the people with respect to various offerings of Thanksgiving to the Lord to be made when they reach the Promised Land.

Verses 22-29 covers offerings to be made for when they “unwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments” which the Lord spoke to Moses for the people. These are the offerings of Unintentional Sins.

Verses 30-36 cover what happens when people do “anything defiantly” in opposition to the all the commandments God has given Moses for the people of Israel. Basically, there are to be no offerings for them, and they are to be “cut off from among (His) people”. Verses 32-36 within that section describe the stoning of a man, with Moses’ approval, after checking with God, because he had been found gathering wood on the Sabbath.

³⁷ The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁸ “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. ³⁹ It shall be a tassel for you ^[a]to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not ^[b]follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, ⁴⁰ so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”
Footnotes

1. Numbers 15:39 Lit and you shall look at it
2. Numbers 15:39 Lit seek

Thoughts on the Passage

God continues to remind His people that they will reach the Promised Land as He had stated and that when they did, they were to offer various offerings of thanks unto Him. Many of the same rules and criteria that were expressed earlier are also offered here.

The same is true for those offerings to be made when they realize they unwittingly sinned against one of God’s commands. The involvement of the priests remains critical in making these offerings. Chuck Smith reminds us that even these sins require forgiveness.

In the passage, we see that God remains strong on His penalty for wilful disobedience of His known commands. These sinners were to be “cut off” from His people. Now let us stop and think for a moment. Have you ever willingly, and knowingly, committed such a sin? I know I have. I can also tell you that for many of us not committing a sin wilfully that we know is a sin is a battle for millions every day. In the Old Testament, God says that we would be cut off. Has that changed because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, because of His paying the penalty for all our sins?

I think it has. But that does not mean that God is happy with our actions. And if you are in that group of millions, you know that you’re not happy with your actions either. You feel defeated and sense that you’re moving backwards rather than growing in the Lord. In short, you feel awful.  And you know that God has given you the power to overcome that sin. All you have to do is face it in that power. You need the willpower and for some, the self-discipline to say “no”. In the end, however, I believe if you blatantly reject God – even the God you once adored, you will be rejected by God. He is not a fool to be played with. Needless to say, most commentators are silent on this issue.

In the days of the children of Israel in the wilderness, God stuck to his word, as we see in the stoning of the man who collected wood on the Sabbath. A commandment had been broken and the penalty had to be paid. David Guzik writes, 

“This was so all would know that the social order and law of God are more important than any individual's "right" to attack or destroy that social order or law of God.”

And that, especially today, where the world screams for its rights and fairness and equity, etc., is so hard for even some Christians to accept. But accept it, we must.

But God did not leave His people without a means of remembering the commandments. In the last part of this passage, God tells them and their future generations to wear tassels on their garments. Looking at those tassels with the blue ribbon attached would help them follow God’s commandments and not follow after “they own heart” and their “own eyes”.  And again, He tells them why – because He brought them out of Egypt and because He was and is their God, and ours. Today, in many of coats of Jews, especially the Orthodox Jews, we see coats with a blue ribbon at the bottom.

Guzik, however, warns us, as Jesus warned the Pharisees and Sadducees in the New Testament, that this “reminder” may be ill-meant. He writes:

We might imagine an Israelite being tempted into some kind of sin, and then catching sight of his own distinctive garments - reminding him of who he is, and reminding him that others can see who he is: A child of God, and not a child of the sin he is contemplating. In this sense, Christian theme clothing and jewelry and such can indeed serve a purpose. Such things can remind us of who we are and provide a kind of "walking accountability" for our conduct. However, man's instinctive pride always has a way of perverting such good and holy commands of God; in Jesus' day, He directly rebuked the abuse of this command among the religious elite, speaking of how they would enlarge the borders of their garments (Matthew 23:5), making the tasseled area as conspicuous as possible, as an ostentatious display of their "holiness." The same can also be said of today's Christian theme clothing and jewelry; it can also be abused in the same self-righteous, hypocritical manner.

 As many passages in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, we are often presented with challenges as to their correct application for us today. This is one such passage. Clearly, it is important to remind ourselves that these instructions were for the original Chosen People as they were being prepared to be a great nation. Not everything applies to us. We are to search for and reap the key principles and teachings only.

Bottom lines for this passage for me at least are as follows:
1. God will deliver on His word.

2. We are to be offering thanks to God for His delivered promises.

3. We are to seek forgiveness for sins we committed unwittingly.

4. We are to refrain from wilful sins.

5. We are to do all we can to help us remember God’s commandments.

Those are big lessons from such an otherwise unexciting passage.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

The Israelites learn Repentance even with the right Deeds and Words, means nothing without a change of Heart.

Numbers 14:36-45 The Immediate Consequences of the Israelites’ Disobedience

Day 61 and still no word from our Premier on further openings in our province. No problem, we’re getting used to this.  But, hey, that’s exactly what they want. More and more in the world are standing up for their rights. Politicians just need a little more time to “save face”.  No problem. Meanwhile we’re finding gems in our study of Numbers.

The Passage

³⁶ As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land,³⁷ even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹ When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly.⁴⁰ In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ^[a]ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; ^[b]we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the ^[c]commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed? ⁴² Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.”⁴⁴ But they went up heedlessly to the ^[d]ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp.

⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 14:40 Or top of the mountain
2. Numbers 14:40 Or and we will go up...for we have sinned
3. Numbers 14:41 Lit mouth
4. Numbers 14:44 Or top of the mountain

Thoughts on the Passage

The people grumbled, Moses intercedes, God forgives (again) but issues His justice (none of the grumblers will enter into the Promised Land), and the Israelites will spend forty more years in the wilderness. But are there are immediate consequences? Absolutely. This passage tells us that all those that caused the grumbling or stirred up the grumblers, plus all the spies that gave a negative report died by a plague God allowed. And of course, that caused all to mourn. But as Matthew Henry suggests, by these deaths God was communicating a message to the people – He could have wiped them all out just like that; just like the spies. Sometimes we have close calls due to our sinning or disobedience and we still fail to recognize the lesson God is trying to teach us.

The spies that had faith in God’s ability to deliver, Caleb and Joshua, were spared. These days, living in the 21^stcentury, it is not always acceptable to answer the question of why did so and so live, while others die by saying “perhaps because God wanted to spare them due to their faith and obedience to Him”.  That wouldn’t fly well today, but yet that is exactly the situation we have in this passage. And I believe it is still sometimes (not always) the situation as we try to address that question of “why”?

But by the morning, the people had come to their senses, albeit too late. They realized they had sinned and now wanted to go the land God had promised them. There was no more talk of returning to Egypt. Yes, they were sorry, no doubt like many of us are often sorry about the sins we commit. But as David Guzik says perhaps they were not sorry enough to turn their hearts into a genuine trust and reliance on the Lord going forward. Uttering the right words and even doing the right things without a change of heart does not cut it in these circumstances. Sometimes, folks, we take too long to come to our senses. Sometimes we run to make things right without really seeking to change in the way God wants us to change. As a consequence, we get to watch the train we missed leave the station.

Moses tries to knock some real sense into their heads knowing that God had said that had they gone to get the land now, it would be a disaster. He warned them not to go up and try to take the Promised Land because the Lord was not “among them” at this time. Doing so now would be further sin against the Lord. And it would also be outright insanely dangerous. Thank God for some people that God sends to warn us of potential disaster. But did the Israelites listen even then?

No? Instead, they went right up to the land to take it. We are told that the ark of the covenant and Moses (and we assume Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua, among others) remained behind in the camp.

And like clockwork, as God had said, and as Moses had warned them of, the Amalekites and the Canaanites came down and “struck them and beat them down” as far as Hormah. We cannot change what God has determined will happen. For the Israelites, Hormah represents the beginning of the judgment that was to last forty years – allowing the carcases of the “old men” to die in the wilderness.

Hormah, means “devotion – a place laid waste” and according to Robert Jamieson was named afterwards as such in memory of the immense slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion. We need to be cautious of our potential “Hormah” and avoid it all costs.

What is the-big picture lesson for us? For me, at least, it is this: God is not to be ignored for He has the right to do with us as He said He would, both with respect to our obedience and more critically for us, in respect to our disobedience. I often ask myself, even at my age, “Have I really learned that lesson yet?” And I often wonder how many more times God will say about me as He said about the Israelites to Moses, “How long shall I bear with this evil man who is sinning against Me?”  May He, remembering the years of prayers my mother (and after her, my wife) uttered on my behalf, and also say, “I have pardoned him [again] according to their word.” May it be like that for you as well.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.