Numbers 30:2
“If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
A vow is a form of a promise. The person taking the vow is promising certain actions will follow. This whole chapter is emphasizing the need to be faithful to the promises made to the Lord and to others. The basic idea is that God wants His people to be honest.
Honesty is a foundational principle for healthy relationships. If a person lies they cannot be trusted, and it becomes impossible to build or even maintain relationship with them. As parents, it is critical that we instruct our children on the value of honesty. This is done by both setting an example and establishing certain guidelines. We lie because we think the truth will get us into trouble. We need to encourage truth from our children and help them see that lying is, in many ways, only delaying the inevitable and making things worse.
Honesty is also a critical part of our walk with the Lord. We are easily deceived, and in many cases, not honest with ourselves. When we sin, we are very good about blaming circumstances or other people. We need to take an honest evaluation of ourselves and make the proper changes so we don’t end up falling into the same sin over and over again.
Let’s be sure to allow the Lord to examine us, be willing to confess our faults to Him, and receive His grace to move beyond them.
Pastor Jim
As a nation, Israel was required to offer sacrifices to the Lord, daily. Each day started and finished with the sweet aroma of a burnt offering being dedicated to God. This is a pretty good pattern for every Christian to follow. Our walk with Christ will be richly enhanced if we start the day by offering ourselves to the Lord and finish by doing the same. The beauty of beginning our day with Jesus is that we receive both direction and strength for what the day holds. Those who spend their mornings in the Word of God can attest to how often they have found that the passage they read had a real life application in their day. In some cases, it actually led to ministry opportunities in the life of others. The beauty of ending the day with the Lord is we are able to enjoy His mercy and grace for the areas where we have slipped or fallen. We do not have to carry the guilt of sin into the night, nor do we have to continue with whatever ungodly attitude may have been developed in us, through the experiences we encountered that day. Our evening time becomes a time of confession and cleansing, and we can sleep the sleep of the righteous.
A few years ago, I was in Serbia speaking at a conference for some of the local churches. On the last day of our trip, we were invited by one of the pastors to visit a Gypsy village, where he had been ministering to the families for some time. Upon arriving, we broke up into groups, and began visiting some of the homes of the sick, and gathering with many of the children. After about an hour, a woman from a nearby town approached us. She stood out to us because she was wearing a beautiful purple dress with a purple overcoat. One of the other pastors approached her; she asked him who we were and what we were doing here. He responded that we were from America, and had come to Serbia to teach the Bible and share Christ. Her response was quite shocking. She said, “I meant what are you doing in the Gypsy’s village. No one cares about the Gypsies.” We were a little shocked by her statement, but began to share with her that Jesus loved all people, even those who were despised by the world. She made a decision to receive Christ that day because of His love for those whom no one else cared.
A dangerous and all too common cycle is exposed in these verses. Some of the men of Israel were drawn into unhealthy relationships, which led to ungodly practices. Their sin led them out from under the blessings of God and into a place where they were chastened by the Lord. Unhealthy relationships are one of the chief causes of sin throughout Israel’s history. Whenever they were drawn to the nations around them, it was not long before they were involved in the practices of those nations. After years of this cycle repeating itself, Solomon wrote,
The final prophecy from Balaam, regarding Israel, declares God will defeat all their enemies. The nations that surrounded Israel, as well as those who lived within its borders, would be brought under the mighty hand of the Lord.
The Moabites were descendants of Lot and ancient ancestors like Israel. They inhabited the land east of the Jordan and south of the Dead Sea. As a result, they were not under the same curse as the Canaanites, and they occupied an area of land that was not given to Israel. In God’s economy they were to be neighbors and allies with Israel. Isn’t it sad that they had established such a distorted view of what would happen to them if they submitted to the will of God and allowed Israel to pass through their land? They believed that submission to the Lord meant their lives would be ruined.
A heifer is a cow. One that is entirely red in color would be extremely rare, and as a result quite valuable. As part of Israel’s purification process they were to take a red heifer and offer it outside the city. Once it’s blood was symbolically sprinkled on behalf of the people, the priests were to wash with water and stay away from things that would defile them, making them unfit for service. Anyone who became defiled would need to go through a purification process that required both cleansing and a period of time. It is not difficult to see the symbolism here, or to relate this to the work of Christ and the walk of the believer.
A miracle is defined as an unusual or wonderful event that is believed to be caused by the power of God. In other words, it is something that could not happen if God did not infuse His power into the situation. That is exactly what transpired here. To determine the validity of Aaron’s calling and ministry, God infused His power and made something that was incapable of bearing fruit, become fruitful. Aaron’s rod, which was nothing more than an old tree branch, suddenly came to life and produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.
Korah and his disgruntled ministry team were upset with the leadership of Moses, and discontent with the opportunities they were given to serve the Lord. They soon formed a club and brought their complaints to Moses. They were hoping he would allow them to wear the priestly garments and enter the Tabernacle. Because ministry is based upon the call of God, Moses could not grant their request, but instead pointed out the folly behind their discontentment. They were guilty of considering what they did for the Lord as a small thing; as if some areas of ministry are big and others are small and unimportant.
God established a pretty clear method of directing Israel through the wilderness. They were traveling roads they had never been on, through obstacles they had never faced before, to a destination none of them had ever seen. In order to ensure they arrived safely, God chose to use a cloud to direct their journey. In a sense, they had the first ever GPS system. When it was time to go, the cloud started moving and when it was time to camp, the cloud stopped. I am sure all of us wish we had a cloud that moved when it was time to move so we could always know the way the Lord wants us to walk.
Jim Gallagher 