June 21, 2024

Ecclesiastes 5.5 (NIV)

It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

A person is always building trust or breaking it.*

We are under constant obligation* to God and no vow makes it more or less our duty. Vows are arbitrary things – it is our choice whether to make them or not. But once we have made a vow, we are bound to keep it.*

  

There are two key factors that lead us to break a vow: 1) we didn’t really mean it in the first place; or 2) we didn’t realize the ramifications of our promise. Often, in the first case, we want to mean it. Too many times we agree to things just because we don’t know how to say “no.” I have a friend who agreed to help with the kids’ program at church. My friend wanted to be pleasing to the children’s minister but she was totally unreliable - which the minister did not find pleasing. These two people could have remained friends if the one had been able to say “no” when she meant “no.”

There is an extreme example in the Old Testament (Judges, chapter 11) of the second basis for breaking a vow - making a vow without considering the possible consequences. Jephthah was a military commander who was commissioned to defeat the Ammonites. He tried negotiating with the king of Ammon but got nowhere with him. Finally, Jephthah made a vow that if God would deliver the Ammonites into his hands, he would make a burnt offering sacrifice of “whatever” came out of his house to meet him upon his triumphant return. Talk about rash promises! “Whatever??” What kind of “whatever” was going to propel itself out the door to greet him? He had to know that “whatever” would be a “whoever.” And the “whoever” turned out to be his daughter – his only child.

Clearly, as Solomon said, it is better not to make a vow than it is to break a vow. When we break a promise, we lie to God. Was Jephthah truly obligated to keep his vow and sacrifice his daughter? Does a vow take precedence over human life?  There are no easy answers but I promise to be careful about making vows!

If broken promises were lumber, we could build a subdivision.*