Numbers
chapter 30 is a very short, direct chapter assigning authority,
submission and responsibility. These are all concepts that seem
foreign to our society today. The chapter begins, “When
a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to obligate himself
by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he
said.”
Please notice it does not say old man or young man. A man is
expected to be responsible for what he says and does from the age of
accountability. Jesus said simply, “Let
your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’, ‘no’.”
Trustworthiness is a lifestyle; it cannot be situational. Whether
you are paying bills or negotiating a business deal or keeping your
marriage oath, your word should be binding. In contrast, “When
a young woman still living in her father’s house makes a vow to the
Lord or obligates herself by a pledge and her father hears about her
vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then her vows… will stand.”
Understand this fathers, inactivity is the same as approval. What
activities are you approving of by your inactivity?
The
text also places the authority for the daughter on the father, “But
if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or
pledges… will stand. The Lord will release her because her father
has forbidden her.”
In this age of women’s rights the word ‘forbid’ sounds harsh.
The thought of a woman submitting to a man is almost treasonous, but
this is more a picture of a loving father protecting his daughter
rather than oppressing her. If the men of our society will not step
up and take their responsibility seriously, the women are left to do
it themselves. “A
vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding
on her.”
Please understand, that is not God’s best for our daughters or our
country. The text continues, “If
she marries after she makes a vow or after her lips utter a rash
promise by which she obligates herself and her husband hears about it
but says nothing, then her vows… will stand.”
Notice the responsibility shifts to the husband once she is married.
Also notice, once again inactivity is the same as approval.
Understand this husband; God holds you responsible for your family!
“But
if her husband forbids her when he hears about her vow… he
nullifies the vow and the Lord will release her“.
But the husband must be decisive, “If,
however, he nullifies them sometime after he hears about them, then
he is responsible for her guilt.”
Some might ask how a woman today could willingly submit to her
husband, but in a biblical marriage we are commanded, “Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up
for her”
(Ephesians 5:25). This is a sacrificial love in which the husband is
willing to give up his life for his wife. And notice the husband is
to submit to the authority of Christ, so both yield together to their
savior. Ephesians chapter 5 ends with a quote from the establishment
of the first marriage back in Genesis, “For
this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to
his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
The unity of this kind of marriage begins with keeping our vows
before God.