The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 410

other men. It must lie within the proper province of & man's own free will; it must concern such things as he can really control. This was what gave the vow its virtue and significance. Certain things were commanded, with respect to which there was no choice but obedience; and outside of these there was still a large field, where the Israelite was left to his own control. What use he would make of this freedom was of course a test of his own disposition. That he must keep clearly within his own freedom was a thing that needed no insisting upon. II. CONSIDER THE NECESSITY THERE WAS FOR IMPRESSING ON TIIE lSRA.ELITIJ:S THE SOLEMN OBLIGATION OF THEIR vows. How came the Israelite to make a vow 7 We must recollect that in those days there was a general and practical belief in the power of supernatural beings to give help to men. The Israelites, only too often found unbelievers in Jehovah, were not, therefore, wanting in religious feeling, When they lost faith in the God of Israel, the lapse was not into atheism, but into idolatry. And thus when their hearts were strongly set on some object, not only did they put forth the effort of self and solicit the aid of others, but especially the aid of Jehovah. And as they sought the aid of their fellow-men under the promise of a recompense, so they sought the aid of Jehovah under a similar promise. Under the influence of strong desires and highly excited feelings all sorts of vows would be made by the Israelites, and some of them, probably, very difficult to carry out. Doubtless there were Israelites not a few with somewhat of Balak's spirit in them. They felt bow real was the power of Jehovah, and, being as little acquainted with his character as Balak was, they concluded that his power could be secured on the promise of some sufficient consideration in return. Among an unspiritual people whose minds were filled with a mixture of selfishness and superstition, vows would take the aspect of a commercial transaction. So much indispensable help from God, and, as the price of it, a corresponding return from man. And as the help of God would be felt to require a much greater return than the help of man, so the vow would under- take something beyond the ordinary range of attainment. May we not conclude that the petition connected with the vow was oftentimes answered, and that God for his own wise purposes did give people the desires of their own hearts, even as he did to Hannah? If so, we see at once the difficulty that would often arise in fulfilling the vow. "\Ve know how the desire of a man's heart, once accomplished, is often felt to be unworthy of the effort and expenditurn. Thus there would be a strong temptation to neglect the fulfilling of the vow if it could be safely managed, It was an invisible God who had to be dealt with; and ·ready enough as the Israelite might be to believe in Jehovah as long as it was for self-advantage, the faith in him and the fear of him wonld begin to wax feeble when it wa11 a question of meeting what had proved a profitless engagement. A vow to an idol was really a vow to be paid to avaricious and watchful priests. A promise made to a fellow-man he may be trusted to exact. But what is a vow to the invisible God? "I may neglect it with impunity," is the thought in the Israelite's heart (Ps. I. 21; Ix.xiii. 11). But the impunity was a delusion. God had marked the vow only too carefully; and it was less harm for & man to go with some heavy burden and great hindrance hanging about him all the days of his life, than that the sanctity of the vow or o&th should be alighted in the smallest degree. III. CONSIDER HOW THE PRINCIPLES THAT UNDERLIE THIB INJUNCTION ARE TO BE CARRIED OUT BY CHRISTIANS. We are passed into an age when vows are not commonly made. Most of those whose thoughts are filled with the desi!e~ of their own hearts do not believe in the power of God to help them. And Chnatmns ought to be free from such desires. It is their part to pray the prayer of the Collect for the fourth Sunday after Easter: "Grant ui:ito thy people that they may love the thing which thou co~~andest, and desire that wh1c\1 thou dost promise." But though modern _Chnat1~ns may not havE: the. aa!De mducemei:i,ts to make vows as ancient Israelites, at1ll there are certam prmc1ples and duties underlying this injUDction of Moses which deserve our careful regard. 1. Oim,- Bider well the great projects and ruling views of your life. Let the prayer of the above Collect be uttered on every Sunday and week-~ay thr~ugh_out the y~ar. Enter_ only on such undertakings as not merely accord with God a w1ll, bu_t sprmg from 1t. Nothing really accords with God's will save what springs from it, The OH, XXX, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 897