Numbers 30
HUSBAND AND WIFE RELATIONSHIP
The NIV translation of the Bible includes some helpful topic headings every now and then. These topic headings come in the text to explain what the next series of paragraphs are about. They are usually very good and helpful to the reader, but the heading at the beginning of Numbers 30, “Vows,” is quite different to the summary Moses gave us at the end of that section. If I was one of the translators, I too would have entitled this section “Vows” because it is all about who can or can’t make or disallow a vow. But the comment we read at the end of Numbers 30 puts a completely different context on what we read:
“These are the regulations the Lord gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living at home.” (Numbers 30 v 16).
While this section of Scripture uses the examples of vows, vows are only the example, not the topic. It is about the relationship between a man and the women in his household (his wife and his daughters). To summarise the chapter, we could say that the husband or father is ultimately responsible for the spiritual wellbeing of his wife and daughters. He bears the responsibility before God, while his wife and daughters are responsible to him.
These laws were for Israel, but the principles are ones we should adopt as we strive to live a righteous life of obedience for the God who does not change.
May we encourage one another in God’s ways this week.
With love in our Lord,
Robert
ThinkyThings 