Ecclesiastes Chapter Five, The Perils Of Vowing

Ecclesiastes 5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed– [5] Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

Vowing is an OT act in which a penitent voluntarily makes an oath to God, swearing to give or to perform whatever it was that they spoke. We read, “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you. But if you refrain from vowing, it shall be no sin in you. You shall be careful to perform what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth,” Deuteronomy 23:21-23, RSV.

Vowing is a serious issue, then. Or at least it was under the Sinaitic Covenant Israel made with Yahweh. God expects expedience of the one who vows; if you have vowed, then you should perform to demonstrate the willingness to explain and execute one’s intentions. Even the apostle wrote, “For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he has not,” 2 Corinthians 8:12, RSV. One must both desire and possess what one intends to give, whether to men or to God. In the case of men it is considered lending to the Lord, Proverbs 19:17. In the case of God it is a test that defines how one views God. Men like Cain, or the priests of Malachi’s time viewed Him rather poorly, and so gave in an equally poor manner. And to be transparent, it is not the quantity of what is given; it is the spirit in which it is given. The old widow Jesus commended gave almost nothing in terms of alms to the temple treasury. Yet the Lord revealed that she donated out of the deep excess of her poverty, honoring God with her little gain. To that end, Jesus explained, she gave more than all the others who made rich donations, because they gave a small fraction of their expansive wealth, Mark 12:41-44.

The preacher urges his readership to pay what was vowed; it was better to abstain from vowing than to do so and renege. In Deuteronomy we read that it is sin to vow and not perform the contents of said vow. In King Saul’s time, he placed the people under an oath that no man should taste food until he avenged himself on his enemies, 1 Samuel 14:24. In due time, after victory and much distress from hunger, Jonathan tasted honey, oblivious of the oath made. God stopped speaking to Saul in the midst of this scenario, 1 Samuel 14:37. When Saul sought out Israel’s sin by lot, God took Jonathan as the offender, but the people delivered the young man from the penalty the oath suggested, 1 Samuel 14:43-45. Saul distressed his people and ultimately did not fulfill the obligation his rash words created. God would have granted the victory to Israel that day regardless of Saul’s oath. It is an interesting point to ponder if Saul was guilty then, for not performing what he swore he would do? Though the prospect was something as awful as Jonathan’s demise, Saul did vow death to the guilty; and God disregarded Saul’s searching prayer until the matter with his son was sorted.

Another incident, and a far more infamous one, comes from the Judge, Jephthah. When fighting the people of Ammon over a land dispute, he said, “If you will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering,” Judges 11:30, 31. Like Saul in the previous example, Jephthah did not need to make such a vow; he knew the living God was with Israel and would deliver His people out of the hands of their oppressors, as He had already done so many times in the past. And to his incredible dismay when he returned home after victory over Ammon his daughter, his only child, came to greet him. Now, much may be said (and has been said) about what the vow meant and how it was carried out. But the language of the vow is clear: she was to be a burnt offering to the Lord, as he vowed. She bewailed her virginity with her friends, not because she would remain unmarried for life, but because her life was ending shortly and she would never marry and have children. Jephthah heeded the advice of the preacher; and though he regretted his rash vow, he faithfully did what he told God he would, Judges 11:39. It was better to pay what he vowed, than vow and not pay since God did indeed deliver Israel out of Ammon’s hands.