Today we begin Numbers Chapter 30.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
Numbers chapter 30 deals with content I think we can all relate to: the subject of making vows and oaths to God.
What’s interesting is that the idea of vow and oath making to a deity is something that is NOT just restricted to the Bible.
You will find vows and oaths in practically every religion in existence whether it’s Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam etcetera.
Heck, even hardcore atheists have been known to turn to God when they found themselves in some kind of life-endangering predicament.
The saying “There are no atheists in foxholes” is absolutely true.
So what kind of areas in our modern life do we make use of vows and oaths?
Well, the first and probably most common example that comes to mind is the marriage ceremony when a man and a woman exchange “wedding vows” promising to remain committed to each other “until death do us part“.
Unfortunately, given the skyrocketing divorce rate in some nations, it’s obvious that many folks are treating their wedding vows as casual afterthoughts they can break willy nilly without consequence.
However, as we will see, vow-making in the Bible is a much more serious matter.
They weren’t seen as casual or superstitious.
Quite the contrary, if you made a vow or swore an oath to God, HASHEM expected you to keep your word.
In fact, vow-making was seen as so serious that it was generally recommended that one NOT make a vow or swear an oath unless it was absolutely necessary.
When Yeshua said “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’“, he was cautioning against the tendency people have to carelessly making vows in the heat of the moment.
Now I’ve touched on this before, but there is a distinct and important difference between a “vow” and an “oath“.
Let me try to give you a simple explanation of the difference.
A vow is basically a conditional promise and is usually phrased like this:
“God, IF you allow us to have children, then I will tithe 20% of our income to the church”.
or
“God, IF you give me the money to pay off my debt, I will never overcharge my credit card again”.
On the other hand, an “oath” is making an assertion that you swear is absolutely true and is usually expressed like this.
“I swear in the name of HASHEM that I did not cheat on my wife”.
or
“I swear by God I did my homework but the dog ate it”.
This type of oath was called SHEVU’AT ISSAR in Hebrew.
Notice the phrases “to swear in the name of HASHEM” or “to swear by God“.
Well, in ancient times, God’s personal name, the tetragrammaton “YHVH” was used.
The Hebrew for “to swear by YHVH” was NISHBA LE-YHVH.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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