“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.”
Numbers 30:2 (NIV)
Not only men, but also women.
Promises promises - taking oaths and making vows is serious to the LORD.
Our word is to be our bond, sometimes we speak rashly but there is no going back unless you are a young girl in your father’s house, or a married woman.
An oath is a solemn promise invoking a divine witness,
we used to have to take oaths on the witness stand before court - I am not sure if you still do that in Canada - but we used to take an oath before God that we would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
A vow to the LORD is to promise to dedicate something or some action to the LORD.
We exchange marriage vows in Canada, as we enter into a marriage covenant.
We bring God’s name into these oaths and vows in order to bring an end to the argument of he said - she said, for we call on God to be the witness and arbiter of our words.
This Law is stating the importance of truth to God’s society. Every society needs truth to function properly, every person needs truth to be healthy.
We may despair that we live in a day and age of “fake news” and conflicting accounts of what the ‘truth’ is, but things were no different in Moses’ day,
and according to John 18:38 things were no different in Jesus’ day. Truly -
truth is hard to find among humans.
truth is hard to find among humans.
May truth be found wherever we speak.
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