BIBLICAL BRIEFS 84
The Voortrekkers who took the vow in 1838, just before the Battle of Blood River against the Zulu warriors, were Christians, who entered into a covenant with God because of their dire circumstances and distress. Through this act they confessed their complete dependence on God and that they believe that God determined the fate of people and nations. After deep reflection and in accordance with their understanding of the Scriptures and the theology of that time, also their identification with Israel as a chosen covenant people, they made a vow which shows many similarities with the Old Testament vows in the Bible. The Voortrekkers concluded a covenant with God on behalf of them and their descendants to ensure that they would conquer their enemy. The vow committed them to set up a memorial house to honour God and also that they and their descendants will devote December 16 perpetually as a Sabbath to the Lord. After the victory, there was broad consensus that it was impossible without God’s intervention. The Boer victory at the Battle of Blood River greatly determined the success of the Great Trek, which in turn established the Afrikaner on the continent. The Voortrekkers erected the Church of the Covenant (die “Geloftekerk”) in Pietermaritzburg as a memorial house. (Later the Voortrekker Monument was also built with the same intention, but with wider negative spiritual implications – see Denise Woods’s book: Reap the Whirlwind of National idolatry). But to answer the above question specifically we need to spell out some things. Firstly: The Bible is strict regarding the fulfilment of promises made by vowing – vows must be paid (Ps. 116:14; Deut. 23:21-23). If you cannot do something that you have sworn to God in a vow, ask for His forgiveness and then ask God to discard the vow, otherwise it will become sin within you (Ecc. 5:3-5). God remains faithful, even though we are unfaithful (2Tim. 2:13), but we should never haphazardly make a vow. When Jephthah had done that, he was subsequently required to honour the vow, even though it costed him his only daughter (Judg. 11:30-40). Secondly, in the new covenant, there may not be corporate covenant vows made which implicate descendants (as in the Old Testament – Lam. 5:7). Every person carries his own responsibility (Gal. 6:5; Rom.14:12; Eze. 18:2-3). This Biblical principle relieves the descendants of the responsibility of the ancestors’ promises. Thirdly, in 2006 there was a national revocation of the Blood River covenant, and a convocation of the collective Afrikaner to take responsibility for God’s agenda for white, brown and black Afrikaners in Africa.
Dr Tom Gouws
