3002.) Numbers 30

“A Scout is trustworthy.”

Numbers 30   (CEV)

Making Promises to the LORD

¹The LORD told Moses to say to Israel’s tribal leaders:

²When one of you men makes a promise to the LORD,  you must keep your word.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5  (ESV)

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

Reflections on promises:

Let God’s promises shine on your problems.
~Corrie Ten Boom

We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.
~Abraham Lincoln

Eggs and oaths are easily broken.
~Danish Proverb

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain.
~Arabian Proverb

No pillow so soft as God’s promise.
~Author Unknown

³Suppose a young woman who is still living with her parents makes a promise to the LORD. ⁴If her father hears about it and says nothing, she must keep her promise. ⁵But if he hears about it and objects, then she no longer has to keep her promise. The LORD will forgive her, because her father did not agree with the promise.

^6-7Suppose a woman makes a promise to the LORD and then gets married. If her husband later hears about the promise but says nothing, she must do what she said, whether she meant it or not. ⁸But if her husband hears about the promise and objects, she no longer has to keep it, and the LORD will forgive her.

⁹Widows and divorced women must keep every promise they make to the LORD.

¹⁰Suppose a married woman makes a promise to the LORD. ¹¹If her husband hears about the promise and says nothing, she must do what she said. ¹²But if he hears about the promise and does object, she no longer has to keep it. The LORD will forgive her, because her husband would not allow her to keep the promise. ¹³Her husband has the final say about any promises she makes to the LORD. ¹⁴If her husband hears about a promise and says nothing about it for a whole day, she must do what she said–since he did not object, the promise must be kept. ¹⁵But if he waits until the next day to stop her from keeping her promise, he is the one who must be punished.

¹⁶These are the laws that the LORD gave Moses about husbands and wives, and about young daughters who still live at home.

This is an outworking of the principle of headship. When God declares someone to be in a position of rightful authority and others are expected to submit to that authority, the head also is accountable before God for the result.

–David Guzik

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Music:

HERE  country music star Alan Jackson sings “Standing on the Promises of God.”

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Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Scout promise.   http://images.clipartpanda.com/scout-clip-art-scout-clipart-3.gif

pinky promise.    http://blog.onebyonedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/promise.jpg