March 25, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Numbers? Here’s today’s reading:
Numbers 30 (NIV)
Vows
1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: 2When 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......Continue Reading
Well the first thing I take from this chapter is that our words and vows we take before God are very important to Him and He takes them very seriously. It makes me think of the vow of marriage that we so easily in the world today cast aside when things get too difficult or don’t go the way we want.
The second thing is the obvious lower place a woman had in these times. Woman required a man to affirm her vows not just her own mind. Now we are a more emotional type then men and maybe makes us a little less likely to make a black and white decision (we see more shades of grey for sure LOL) but I do appreciate that I do have more of a voice now but still leave my husband the head of our house as God intended.
God certainly did not require the Jews to make vows, but once they made them He required them to keep them. The rules around daughters and wives was mostly for their protection. In this patriarchal society they would not have as much education or training and therefore they might be more subject to rash decisions.
God certainly leaves nothing to chance or miss interpretation in this chapter
I am doing an in depth study of John. Today I focused on John 1: 1-14 .
Numbers 29&30
Wow, I thought Balaam seemed like a pretty righteous guy since he only told Balak what God had told him. There was more to the story, however, using the Midianite women to subvert Israel was not very nice and he paid the price.
Numbers 30
I don’t think we should read too much sexism or patriarchy into this. If you think about how God set up the family, it is a unit with man at the head, one flesh. He oversees commitments made by any in the family and bears responsibility for the consequences.
We saw a few chapters ago, that if a man had no sons, his daughters would inherit his land. In this chapter, we see that unmarried adult women are bound by their vows. “If indeed she takes a husband” (implying that she has a choice) then her vows are binding if her husband agrees or assents when she makes them. So, women were free to make decisions, choices and commitments outside of the family unit and she was bound by them.
I think this all supports the goal of unity in marriage and family. Steve and I consult with each other on any “vows”: commitments to spending our money, our time, our parenting, etc. Making the decision itself binds our minds and our lives.
16These are the regulations the Lordgave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.