Numbers 30
2If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth


God is balanced and his word (from what I see) is balanced

So when do you break a vow? If he that vows a vow is written in granite?

What if the vow made BEFORE God was to keep a promise God never wanted us to make –


Such as in anger – you touch me again “I vow before God I will kill you!”

So, now a vow before God has been made. Does one HAVE to keep it?

Some things I am thinking about….

Marriage:

made in youth to a dangerous spouse

made as an “arranged” marriage as some cultures practice

made in sin (as outlined Biblically, sex before marriage is what I am thinking here) and turns out to have been temporary lust? But you vowed a vow

DOES GOD EXPECT YOU TO KEEP THESE VOWS?

OR do we get out of balance in our thinking, our religious “backbone” gets stiff and indignant and we forget the two commandments

Matthew 22:36-40.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"

Try to suppress these and the very rocks will cry them out to you.




WHAT IS THE LAW OF THE PROPHETS – HERE ARE SOME

Found in Exodus 20:3-8,12-17
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
19 All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
20 But the firstling of an foot thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
23 Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.


found in Deuteronomy 5:
6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments

BACK TO THE DISCUSSION:

He that vows a vow –

Who can live up to the law? IT is impossible. So, God sent us a savior and whittled the commandments down to this

Matthew 22:36-40.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"


IF all the law of the prophets hangs on these commandments then when is it okay to break a vow—

IF breaking it does not make me break the above commandments.

If I divorce because I lust after another – then I am not loving my neighbor (spouse) as myself.

If my spouse turns to witchcraft, which I am opposed to, then I think the prior VOW I made can be broken --- I can get out.

If the spouse causes you bodily, huge emotional or mental harm – I think the vow of marriage can be broken.



I do not see these vows as etched in stone- not pliable – but rather as a guideline where we make decisions based on the commandments of the NT.


Matthew 22:36-40.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"



Do we stay in a marriage when it is harmful?

I always had a problem with loving my neighbor as myself – because I seemed to love “my neighbor” more than I loved MYSELF. So, my commitments were out of balance. I did not have healthy boundaries.

There comes a point where you have to use these things as guidelines rather than A VOW –that if broken one feels that God will no longer love them….

I do think we can break a vow (at times) and I do think we can try again...  Christ to me is the man who offers second chances....

Nope, the word does not give the green light on divorced folks remarrying.  However, if I marry a divorced man, even if his marriage ended as a result of him cheating on his ex-wife; I believe that God's grace is sufficient to honor the marriage; especially if he has mended his ways.  A better question is can God forgive a divorcee?

But I gotta say something.  And people have gotten mad at me or thought I was crazy for expressing this.  But the last time I dealt with physical intimacy....it changed my appearance.  My nose got bigger and lips shrunk.  And it was an extremely noticeable change.  I would abstain from taking on just anybody just to avoid looking like a troll.  Has anybody else noticed that people that become intimate with each other sort of look alike?

Remarriage after Divorce:

Jesus' teaching on this subject is bound by these words:

Mar 10:6-9  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;  And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

huckfinn