Read Numbers 30
Questions from the Scripture text: To whom does Moses speak (Numbers 30:1)? Whom does he say has commanded this? What situation is He addressing (Numbers 30:2)? What must the man who makes a vow or oath not do (verse 2)? What must he do? Who else might make one (Numbers 30:3)? At what time? Who might hear it (Numbers 30:4)? What might he do? And what happens with her vows then? But what else might he do (Numbers 30:5)? And what happens to her vows? Who releases her? Why? What new circumstance does Numbers 30:6 consider? What might she have made? But who now hears it (Numbers 30:7)? What might he not do? And what happens to the vows then? But what else might her husband do (Numbers 30:8)? What happens to the vow then? Who releases her? What other circumstances might there be (Numbers 30:9)? And what happens to a woman’s vows then? What new situation does Numbers 30:10 now address? What might her husband not do (Numbers 30:11)? What happens to her vow then? But what might her husband do (Numbers 30:12)? What happens to her vow then? Why? Who releases her? How does Numbers 30:13 summarize this? How do Numbers 30:14-15 restate it? And what title does Numbers 30:16 give these statutes?
How much weight does God give to fatherhood and a husband’s authority in marriage? Numbers 30 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s statutes about vows and oaths display the great weightiness of the authority of fathers and husbands.
Vows and oaths. It is common now to use “vow” and “oath” interchangeably, but the language in WCF 22.1, 5 comes from the Scripture. A vow is “unto YHWH” (Numbers 30:2a), and an oath is sworn “to bind himself by some agreement” (i.e. between two or more people, verse 2b). The principle, in both cases, is that YHWH is the ultimate enforcer of these promises, whether to Him or others. From the rest of the passage, we see a vow is something to which YHWH binds, or from which YHWH may release (Numbers 30:5, Numbers 30:8, Numbers 30:12).
Honoring fathers. Considering the language of being bound (in twelve out of the sixteen verses!), and the language of “standing against” (Numbers 30:9), “afflict her soul” (Numbers 30:13), and “bear her guilt” (Numbers 30:15), we see just how seriously the Lord takes a sworn vow (even if it is made rashly, Numbers 30:6). So, it is against this backdrop that we can see how much weight God gives the authority of fathers over daughters. A father can overrule his daughter’s vow or oath (Numbers 30:5), and YHWH Himself will release her! A binding word that was an act of worship, the Lord permits to be taken back for the sake of a father’s honor from his daughter. How very opposite this is from the view of the honor of a father taken by the religious leaders of Jesus’s day (cf. Matthew 15:3–9)!
Honoring husbands. Now, considering the honor given to a father, we are prepared to see the even greater (!) honor given to a husband. For, Numbers 30:10 relates to vows while made in her husband’s house, making it even clearer that Numbers 30:6 is addressing vows that had been made in her father’s house. And, despite the great weightiness of a father’s authority that Numbers 30:4-5 establish, if she marries (Numbers 30:6), her husband can now override even the former authority of her father (Numbers 30:8). Your author’s culture, and indeed church culture, has certainly strayed far from Holy Scripture’s own view of the weightiness of a husband’s authority.
Widowed, divorced, single. Numbers 30:9 shows what a great loss is the widowhood of a woman who had a godly husband. She no longer has the spiritual protection that his authority offered from vows that were foolish or wrong. And it shows what a dreadful circumstance divorce is, bringing a woman into a sort of widowhood. Interestingly, this Scripture has no category for a woman who leaves her father’s house but not to become a wife in another house. Following the logic of the passage, such would be voluntary orphanhood. One wonders how biblical is the worldview of a society in which many young ladies choose this, and many fathers even encourage it.
Passive husbands. Finally, something must be said about the dim view that Numbers 30:14 takes of the passive husband. The Hebrew doubling of the verb for being silent, and the added effect of “from day unto day” in verse 14, draws a picture of a man who knows that his wife’s action will bring her soul low (Numbers 30:13); but, he lacks either the courage or the diligence to say something about it, and eventually as time passes, it becomes too late for him to do anything about it. A passive (or wicked) husband makes his wife a widow in his own home! Such is not the husband that Christ is to the church, having the affection and strength and zeal to speak and do what is right, even (and especially) when He must cross our wills to do so. He is the husband who, when we had sinned away our souls in our first father’s house, He betrothed us to Himself, bearing the brunt of what we had done to ourselves, to restore us as His bride. What a Husband Christ is to the church! And He has brought us into the Father’s house, that we might also enjoy adoption as God’s children.
What vows have you made to God? What oaths have you promised to men? How are you living out and acting upon these commitments? What is your role in your family? How do the responsibilities and duties of this passage apply to you? How has God been both perfect Father and perfect husband to you?
Sample prayer: Our Father in heaven, thank You for adopting us as Your children, and bringing us into the blessedness of being under Your authority. Lord Jesus, thank You for betrothing us to Yourself as members of Your bride, Your body. Holy Spirit, thank You for ministering to us our adoption and our union with Christ. Grant that we would honor and take seriously fatherhood and marriage in our own households. And make us keepers of our vows and oaths, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP45B “Daughter, Incline Your Ear” or TPH128B “Blest the Man Who Fears Jehovah”
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