Vows
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Leviticus 27 and Psalm 95 (NIV)
(Suzanne Yong, Prayer and Praise Ministry)
READ:
The book of Leviticus concludes with regulations concerning vows, i.e. dedication/ consecration of people, animals and property to God (vv14-24), including the restrictions on such actions, the guidelines for their redemption (vv26-33), and the fixed value of a shekel (v25). The chapter opens and closes with the emphasis that the commandments were spoken by God to Moses, for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai (vv1 and 34).
OBSERVE:
1. Anyone might vow to dedicate themselves, a family member, animals, property and things to God.
2. Unlike the neighbouring Canaanite practices of child/ human sacrifices and temple slavery, the Israelites were to fulfil the vow(s) of dedicating a person, by paying fixed sums that did not fluctuate (v25), but varied by age, gender and economic means (vv3-8). In the spirit of God’s laws, the lower designated sum for women, children and the elderly were more likely to be set based on physical strength, i.e. an estimate of the dedicated person’s work ability and earnings, at a time and in a world still largely dominated by physical labour. It was not intended to determine nor reflect the inherent value of a person.
3. While the laws in the earlier chapters were largely commandments to be obeyed, these vows were voluntary, but they were no less costly and consequential.
It would take an average person at least months to save up for the smallest sum, and years for the larger amounts, animals and property. In other words, it required more than emotions, but disciplined commitment and resolve to fulfil a vow. Hence it became necessary to prescribe clear regulations (1) to underscore the sanctity of voluntary vows and by so doing, curb irreverence and flakiness, and (2) to manage the diverse situations that might arise in the course of fulfilling them (vv9-33).
APPLY:
Despite these allowances for vows, God actually discourages them (Lev. 5:4; Num. 30:2; Deut. 23:21-23; Judg. 11:30-40; Prov. 20:25; Eccl. 5:1-2), for they tend to be means of expressing zeal, devotion and/or gratitude during good times, or attempts to plead, bargain, bribe and/or “incentivise” God to intervene in difficult circumstances. Both were more about the vow-maker than God, and they reveal a lack of knowledge and relationship with Him.
Vows do not move God into action. He does not require them. What He wants is for His people to love Him with all their heart, mind and strength (Deut. 6:4-7; Matt. 22:37), and obedience is the expression and embodiment of this love (1 Sam. 15:22).
I have, in all sincerity, “vowed”’ myself to love God wholeheartedly with single-mindedness, words, songs, time, service, material things and so on, without fully grasping the scope and depth of this commitment. I eventually lost faith in my abilities and willpower to keep the great commandments of loving Him and others. The Lord then reached out and spoke from John 15:1-11. Abiding in Him is the language to His heart, and it bears the fruits of intimacy, obedience and maturity.
DO:
Pray and listen; worship and abide into intimacy and maturity instead of vowing them.
PRAY:
Psalm 95 – Lord, I come before You with thanksgiving and praise, for You are the great King above all gods. I kneel and bow in worship for I am but a sheep in Your pasture, prone to wander. Enable me to hear Your voice, see Your works and know Your ways. Let me not harden my heart and put You to the test. Keep me from going astray, and bring me into Your rest. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
