What do you think about when you hear the word vow? I think of marriage and a contract that may not be so much legal, as morally binding. Personally, the morally binding means more to me than man made laws. However, vows go so much deeper. A vow is a voluntary expression of devotion, usually connected with a condition that is to be met. They are binding to another person or to God.
Once the Jewish nation repented and learned how to live a life to serve God, they decided to make it official. The nation decided to make a vow as one person to God. Wow, that is a serious commitment. That holds each family and neighbor accountable for each other for life.
To make it official they put it into writing who their leaders were going to be. Then the leader, Levites, and priest put the individuals put their seal on it, like a legal signature that is notarized. The people separated themselves according to God's law and bonded themselves to their vow to follow God's laws carefully. It was like a legal contract spelled out very carefully.
When I say they separated themselves, it was not like they ignored the world around them, they were careful to not allow pagan's into their inner lives, like marriage. They didn't conduct business with them on the Sabbath to keep it Holy. They paid all their debts and made sure that God got His tithe. To sum up the vow, it was to live Holy and not to neglect God or His house.
Today we are not bond to the Law, but the law is for moral boundaries. When Jesus came, he completed the Law. That means there is no need to add onto it, but it is still there. We are not chained to it, but use it to live our life to serve God in love instead of bondage.
Nehemiah 10
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