Numbers 30.
THE subject of this short chapter is the making of vows, —solemn promises, — before God, and particularly by women. A man making a promise is only mentioned at the beginning, in verse 2. “He shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.”
Here, the Holy Spirit, in moving Moses to write this book, had the only One before him who never had to recall a word, Jesus. He it is whose word stands forever, unchanged. What He has undertaken, He will surely finish, for though “the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, the Word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:24,2524For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:24‑25)). Are you trusting Him?
The young woman in her father’s house in verses 3, 4 and 5; and the married woman spoken of in verses 6, 7 and 8, and 10 to 15, present the people of Israel in connection with God who had undertaken for them as a Father and a Husband. He heard their rash promises, all of them, from first to last, and He disallowed what was wrong, though He made them to feel the result of their own badness. This is also God’s way with believers now, —those who are His children by faith in Christ Jesus.
Verse 9 speaks of a widow or a divorced woman, and the way this is brought in, in the midst of the verses about a wife who sat home with her husband, fits in exactly with the place of Israel now. She is a widow, or divorced from her husband, so to speak; they are out of relationship with God, but it is not to be forever. (Isaiah 54:4-74Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. (Isaiah 54:4‑7)).
ML 06/22/1924