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REDEMPTION OF VOWS!
In 1632 Germany was the main arena for the Thirty
Years War. But being a casualty of war was not the major source of anxiety
for its citizens. The major source of anxiety was the Black Plague. Since
1347 cyclic outbreaks of the disease, carried by rats and fleas, hit every generation
causing a chronic depopulation of Europe. Survivors, as you can imagine,
lived in constant fear of the next outbreak.1
By the 16th century people had learned that preventing
the movement of goods and people from one area to another prevented outbreaks. So
it was not surprising that the village of Oberammergau in 1633 set up a ring
of "plague guards" to quarantine their village from outsiders. For
a long time this strategy was successful, whereas a neighboring village that
had not posted guards was almost completely eradicated by the plague.2
However, when time came for the annual parish
fair a man who had been working in another village snuck past the guards so that
he could enjoy the fair with his family. He arrived safely and enjoyed
the fair. The following Monday he was dead. Within three weeks 84
other residents of Oberammergau were also dead.
On October 27, 1633 the villagers attended church
and made a vow that if God would stop the plague in their village, in gratitude
they would present a play depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ for the duration of their existence. Miraculously, after taking
the oath, the village suffered no more deaths from the disease.
The first Passionsspiel, or Passion Play, was
performed in 1634 and the most recent one was in the year 2000. The all-day
play (7 hours) is performed in German by those who have lived in Oberammergau
for at least 20 years. To add to the play's authenticity no wigs or make-up
are allowed. Cast members, with the exception of the Roman soldiers, must
grow their hair and beards to match their Biblical roles. The women who
play the roles of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene are required to be virtuous
and have a good reputation in addition to being single.3
So for 372 years the people of Oberammergau have
kept their vow to enact the last week of Christ as found in the gospel accounts. In
dire straits, many have prayed for deliverance and made vows to God but not everyone
fulfills them. Once the crisis is over, unlike the residents of Oberammergau,
those who make such vows tend to forget they ever made a vow or only partially
fulfill it.
Jonah evidently made a vow to say whatever God
wanted him to say and go wherever God wanted him to go. But when the time
came to fulfill his vow he went on a Mediterranean cruise. Bad decision! For
this rebel of a prophet soon found himself in the belly of a fish where he reconsidered
this decision. In Jonah 2:7 - 10 we read:
"When my life was ebbing away, I remembered
you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 "Those
who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9
But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed
I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."
And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited
Jonah onto dry land.
After gaining Jonah's attention, God directed
the fish to make an amphibious landing so that this wanna-be prophet could be
on his way to Nineveh. What the book of Jonah tells us, in part, is that
we ought not to ignore our vows for God expects us to keep our word and never
forgets that we gave it. This is what Solomon had in mind when he penned
Ecclesiastes 5:4 - 7. We read:
When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling
it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to
vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead
you into sin. And do not protest to the [temple] messenger, "My vow was
a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work
of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore
stand in awe of God.
You vowed it, you keep it. Note, he is not
saying if we make a vow. He is saying when we make a vow we are to let
it guide our decisions and actions. Take a moment and reflect on some
vows you have made and estimate your batting average. No doubt you made
one or two of the following vows which are pretty typical in our society. They
are:
- "I vow before others to raise my children
in such a way that they come to
know and love Christ
Jesus."
- "I vow to make sixty (60) car payments."
- "I vow to give my employer my time and
expertise in exchange for a
paycheck."
- "I vow to be faithful to my spouse until
death do us part."
- "I vow to remain morally pure."
- "I vow to read through the Bible this year."
- "I vow to exercise three times a week."
Vows are good things for they set a course for
us. That is, they are good things unless we have uttered them carelessly. A
new car always sounds nice and our culture invites us to indulge ourselves. But
do we really want to commit ourselves to monthly payments that seem to go on
forever? If you're like me, most of us have learned the hard way to think
carefully before we make a vow. This is God's advice, advice that he gave
as early as Leviticus 27. In vv. 1 - 8 we read:
The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Give the
following instructions to the Israelites: If you make a special vow to dedicate
someone to the LORD by paying the value of that person, 3 here is the scale
of values to be used. A man between the ages of twenty and sixty is valued at
fifty pieces of silver; 4 a woman of that age is valued at thirty pieces
of silver. 5 A boy between five and twenty is valued at twenty pieces of
silver; a girl of that age is valued at ten pieces of silver. 6 A boy between
the ages of one month and five years is valued at five pieces of silver; a girl
of that age is valued at three pieces of silver. 7 A man older than sixty
is valued at fifteen pieces of silver; a woman older than sixty is valued at
ten pieces of silver. 8 If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford
to pay the prescribed amount, go to the priest and he will evaluate your ability
to pay. You will then pay the amount decided by the priest.
At first glance, it strikes me as odd that Leviticus
would even have a twenty-seventh chapter. After all, the twenty-sixth chapter
with the blessings and curses laid out before us seems to be a fitting end to
the book. But the blessings and curses are, in a very real sense, vows
made by God to the nation of Israel; promises of what he plans to do in the future. So
it makes sense that it would be followed by a chapter on man making vows to God. Besides,
no true worship can take place apart from the making of vows.
In light of the blessings it is easy to imagine
someone wanting to make a vow to God. Recognizing the mercy and grace
of God in our life, day-in and day-out, it meets with common sense that we would
respond by presenting ourselves and our substance to God. Then, on the
other side of the coin, in light of the curses where God's hand increasingly
weighs on man it is equally easy to imagine man feeling the necessity to make
a vow to God. Either way, especially in light of our impulsive nature,
it is very gracious of God to address the subject of vows.
You will note that these are "special vows" which
suggest they were over and above what was normally expected of a lay person. This
means that these were also vows that were prone to being second-guessed. Someone
commits himself or herself to serving God overseas and then, after making the
vow, has second thoughts about the decision. It happens all the time.
In Scripture, Hannah made a vow to give her first
born to God. She may have had second thoughts in regards to her decision
but if she did we would have to read between the lines in her conversation with
her husband when he and Petty Peninnah traveled to Jerusalem the following year. In
I Samuel 1:21 - 28 we read:
The next year Elkanah, Peninnah, and their children
went on their annual trip to offer a sacrifice to the LORD. 22 But Hannah
did not go. She told her husband, "Wait until the baby is weaned. Then I
will take him to the Tabernacle and leave him there with the LORD permanently."
"Whatever you think is best," Elkanah
agreed. "Stay here for now, and may the LORD help you keep your promise." So
she stayed home and nursed the baby.
When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to
the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice
and half a bushel of flour and some wine. 25 After sacrificing the bull,
they took the child to Eli. 26 "Sir, do you remember me?" Hannah
asked. "I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the LORD. 27
I asked the LORD to give me this child, and he has given me my request. 28
Now I am giving him to the LORD, and he will belong to the LORD his whole life." And
they worshiped the LORD there.
To her credit Hannah kept her vow and handed Samuel
over to serve God. But, do you think she was tempted to change her mind? Sure,
most mothers would think about doing so all the time. Could she have changed
her mind? Was that a realistic possibility? Yes, according to every
source I've read, she simply needed to flip back to Leviticus 27 to see what
she and Elkanah needed to do to redeem the child. It would cost them something
but special vows could be redeemed.
In their case, the redemption rate of a boy less
than 5 years old was five shekels. If the boy was between five and twenty
the rate was twenty shekels and for any male over twenty but less than sixty
the rate was the prime labor price of fifty shekels. The redemption rate
for females was about half because the rate was based on work within the marketplace. Of
course, if someone was too poor to pay the redemption rate allowance was made
for them.
When you consider that the average wage of a worker
was one shekel/month, the rate of redemption seems awfully high. But the
rate is what a man, woman, or child would have commanded in the marketplace. This
suggest that while it was high enough to make you think twice about making a
vow, it wasn't out of reach of the average Israelite. So for the most part,
he or she could buy themselves back from God.
Why? Why would God allow us to redeem our
special vows? Why would he allow it when Scripture as a whole makes it
abundantly clear that God expects us to keep our vows? First of all, don't
mistake God's graciousness for wishy-washiness; lacking strength of character. Second,
a careful reading of chapter 27 where a penalty of 20% is included in the cost
of redemption will convince you that God is serious about the making and paying
of one's vows.
Third, and most importantly, God is not a taskmaster. When
we make a special vow he wants us to make it because we genuinely want to make
it - that is what makes it special to Him. If we have second-thoughts he
would just as soon have us back off until we are ready to serve him gladly and
wholeheartedly. This is what honors God, not the I-guess-I-have-to-do
it attitude of resigned resignation.
Finally, look at vv. 9 - 13. We read:
"'If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable
as an offering to the LORD, such an animal given to the LORD becomes holy. 10
He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one
for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the
substitute become holy. 11 If what he vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal-one
that is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD-the animal must be presented
to the priest, 12 who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value
the priest then sets, that is what it will be. 13 If the owner wishes
to redeem the animal, he must add a fifth to its value.
In a culture where animal sacrifices were an everyday
event the vowing of an animal was undoubtedly the most common of all vows. When
someone was especially blessed, or felt the need to make a vow, he may have offered
a particularly valuable animal. He then may have had second thoughts about
it, thinking that he had out-given God or in a state of heightened anxiety had
been too impulsive. To correct the "error" he tried offering
a less valuable animal in exchange for the one he had previously offered.
But in the matter of vows, God doesn't play games. When
a man tried to pull a fast one on the Lord he forfeited both animals to the sanctuary. In
trying to be clever or sneaky both the original and the substitute became
holy.
If what he vowed was an unclean animal - an unclean
animal! In reading v. 11 you might object thinking that these were suppose
to be "special vows." That's right, they are special because
the vow of an animal, even though it was an unclean animal, wasn't a requirement. Granted
the animal could not be sacrificed. But they could be used by the priest,
or if not needed they could be sold for profit.
Regardless of what the priest decided to do with
the animal he automatically evaluated the worth of the animal. Because
the one who vowed to give it may have had second thoughts and wished to redeemed. If
so, he was allowed to do so by paying 20% more than the priest's valuation.
However, what makes v 11 especially encouraging
is that if an unclean animal could be offered to the Lord than surely you and
I as ordinary layman could vow ourselves to divine slavery. This special
vow, as with the unclean animal, would be graciously accepted by the Lord and
would be of some profit to him. And perhaps in the process we would discover
that we are more valuable then we ever realized!4
1 In winter the disease seemed to disappear because the
carrier fleas were dormant. When spring arrived the outbreaks erupted.
2 In 1634 nearby Munich lost 15,000 residents due to the
plague. The rest of Europe, including Germany, lost one out of every
three people - about 25,000,000 people.
3 In the most recent enactment, 2,200 people were involved
either as actors, singers in the chorus, stage hands, or as members of the
orchestra. There were 34 changes of scenery and 16 acts. In between
each act was a still-life portrayal of an Old Testament event.
4 Incidentally, a number of years ago a family
vowed to give their home to Bethany Community Church to be used as a home for
missionaries. It was a special vow which they fulfilled that same year. As
you can imagine, it has been a blessing to many missionary families over the
years.
LEVITICUS - GOD'S GUIDEBOOK TO WORSHIP 7/16/06 1
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