The Broken Vow

Friday 9-2-2016  Home in Modesto

Scripture Reading: Eze 17 – 19    Rev 7

S=Scripture O=Observation A=Application P=Prayer SOAP for the soul.

S.  Ezek 17:16-19

As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke — with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, when they heap up a siege mound and build a wall to cut off many persons. Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact gave his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape.'" Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "As I live, surely My oath which he despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will recompense on his own head.

NKJV

O.  Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king of Babylon, had carried off King Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah, when he was eighteen years old and had only reigned in Jerusalem three months.  In his place, Nebuchadnezzar inserted Jeconiah’s uncle Zedekiah (also a descendant of King David) to reign, as his “puppet king” over the remaining Jews in Judah.  And King Nebuchadnezzar made a covenant with Zedekiah that he would allow Judah to go on functioning in peace as long as he would remain a vassal of Babylonia. King Zedekiah signed this covenant with a vow. This arrangement worked well until Zedekiah decided to break the vow of that covenant and sought the Egyptian King Pharoah’s help to rebel. In the above verses God expresses how He looks upon broken vows.

A.  A broken vow, even with a pagan king, is despised by God.  An oath, before our perfectly holy God is more than our word, it is a sacred thing of great value.  When I make a promise to my bride “to love and cherish, through sickness and health, through poverty and plenty, through joy and sorrow until death shall part us”, witnesses are listening and the most important witness is God, Himself.  He is a God Who honors my vows that are kept and Who hates broken promises.

P.  Lord, I find myself making commitments every day or so. “Yes, I’ll meet you for coffee at 10 AM.” Or “I’ll bring the money for the payment tomorrow morning.” I pray for wisdom to not promise more than I can honor and the integrity to honor each and every promise I make.  Amen.

Ralph