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.”

February 9th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God places great importance on the words that come out of our mouths. Here in Numbers it says everything a person says is important: “all that proceeds out of his mouth.” The Apostle Paul picked up on this theme when he said:

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9­–10).

How do we believe on Jesus Christ? Paul says it is “with [our] hearts.” What do we do when we believe in our hearts? We are to “confess with [our] mouths.” We are to make a vow, which is what confessing with our mouths means. It is a verbal testimony, a statement of what we believe in our hearts to be true. The two are connected; the mouth must sing in harmony with what the heart believes. Confession has to do with agreeing with a subject. When we confess that Jesus is Lord, we are agreeing with what God says about Jesus, and with what Jesus says about Himself.

Here in Numbers 30 we find this to be true about all vows that are made. The heart, mind, and mouth must all be in agreement. And when they are all in agreement, God listens and so do other people. God is emphasizing the fact that what we say really does matter.

“LORD, we want to speak the truth this day in agreement with what our hearts know to be right. May our words be filled with Your power and Your authority so that others may come to know You though our lives.”

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Numbers 30 KJV

¹ And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. ² If 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.  ³ If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; ⁴ And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. ⁵ But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. ⁶ And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;  ⁷And her husband heard it , and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. ⁸ But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her. ⁹ But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. ¹⁰ And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; ¹¹ And her husband heard it , and held his peace at her, anddisallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. ¹² But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her. ¹³ Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. ¹⁴ But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them . ¹⁵ But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity. ¹⁶ These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.