Look at the law related to vows in Numbers 30: 1-8
1Then
Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel,
saying, “This is the thing which the Lord
has commanded: 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.
3“Or if
a woman makes a vow to the Lord,
and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her
youth, 4“and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she
has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall
stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand. 5“But
if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor
her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will release her, because her
father overruled her.
6“If
indeed she takes a husband, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from
her lips by which she bound herself, 7“and her husband hears it,
and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall
stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. 8“But
if her husband overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make
void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she
bound herself, and the Lord will
release her.
What is God’s attitude toward vow-keeping? Ecc 5:5
According to the Numbers 30 passage, In what way is a daughter held accountable for a vow she makes if she doesn’t keep it because her father overrules her?
In what way is a wife held accountable for a vow she makes if she doesn’t keep it because her husband overrules her?
The husband’s role as covenantal head is to do dominion work, provide for his family and protect his family.
Dominion Work – God told us in the Garden that we are to have dominion or rulership over His creation.
26Then God
said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth.” 27So God created man in His own
image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28Then
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
15Then the
Lord God took the man and put him
in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
I believe that the work we do as men falls under the category of dominion work. We have a responsibility of tending and caring for God’s creation and having dominion over it. This shows itself in all the many decent occupations that we may be involved in.
Provision -- God also calls us to provide for our families. I Timothy 5:8 says, 8But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
This means that as a young man grows up in his home he must be taught that he will someday need to provide for his family. In order to do that in today’s culture, he must either be educated or trained in some endeavor that will allow him to provide adequately for his family. It is not right to allow him to grow up through his teen years especially and not be setting any goals in front of him that will challenge him to learn and develop skills that will provide for his family in the future.
When I was teaching this in Sunday School, the question was raised as to whether that was minimizing the possibility that God would call him into the ministry or missionary service. Such service may not look like there will be enough money to supply the needs of the family. I don’t think that this discussion is saying that a person should not be open to God’s call to the ministry. God will supply all needs in this case. God has promised to supply all needs whether in the ministry or not, but my point is that if a young man grows up without learning any skills and without God’s calling into the ministry – he is just going to get a job somewhere to support himself and his family, it is shortsighted not to plan. In our culture it is very difficult to get a job that will supply the needs for a family without some planning – either higher education or vocational training, apprenticeships, etc.
Protection – God also calls us to protect our families. This means to protect them physically from physical harm and danger but it also means to protect emotionally and spiritually. We’ll get into this aspect of protection a little later in the study.
When we discussed all of this in the Sunday School class, someone asked if that means that the husband has to make all decisions in the home. What if the wife does a better job with the finances or what about decorating the kitchen? My answer to that is that if the husband delegates the keeping of the checkbook to the wife, then that is fine, but the responsibility remains his. If something happens to the family financially, he cannot say, “The woman you gave me did this.” like Adam did in the Garden. He must confess their problems to God and anyone else as though he is the one who is responsible because he is.
Questions to Ponder: