When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to perform it; for Jehovah thy God will certainly require it of thee, and it shall be sin in thee.
This short rule reaches into everything a person promises God. Israel never had to vow at all — but once the words left the mouth, God treated them as a debt He would collect.
The law does not push anyone into vowing. It only insists that a spoken vow becomes binding. The next verse adds that refusing to vow carries no guilt.
The Israelites were not told to make vows. But if they made them of their own free will, God said they must carefully perform them. Man is always ready to boast of his strength, while he is not aware of his own weakness. When Israel heard the law, they did not hesitate to say, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do," but sadly they failed completely.
The freedom lay only at the start. After that, nothing in a person's circumstances could cancel the claim — not even poverty.
Poverty could never be used as an excuse to block God's claim, or to shelter the one who made the vow from fulfilling it. No one had to make a vow: "But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin" (Deut. 23:22). But once someone made a vow, the Lord would require it. No one could set aside an agreement made with God, on his own decision or whim.
The verse does not wait for outright refusal before calling something sin. Slowness is enough. One writer notes that this law alone should have held Israel back from rash vows, and that Jesus later goes further.
If one made a vow to the Lord he must pay it all at the appointed time (v.21), for being negligent in this was sin. How much better not to vow at all than to make a promise and not keep it! This law should have by itself kept Israel from making questionable vows. However, the Lord Jesus, in speaking of this law, says, "But I say to you, do not swear at all" (Matt. 5:33-34).
Behind every vow sits a silent claim: the speaker has the power to deliver.
It is of the very essence of a vow that it assumes the ability to fulfil; and where is man's ability? A bankrupt might as well write a cheque on the bank, as a helpless sinner make a vow. A man who makes a vow denies the truth about his nature and his condition. He is ruined — what can he do?
Scripture gives one case of what a rash vow can cost.
To devote anything to God was a solemn and irreversible act, and Jephthah learnt this at great cost. He had made a rash vow: if he returned victorious from the fight, he would offer as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house to meet him. So he felt bound to sacrifice his daughter, his only child. His rash vow meant he went down to the grave childless.
Man's failure to keep his word carries a warning into the New Testament. It also sets our promises beside God's own.
Old Testament history proves that man in the flesh cannot be trusted. So the New Testament warns us against making promises, or even announcing what we are going to do in the future, including the very near future (James 4:13-16). Even though we intend to act on our promise, we may find that we cannot. What a contrast we see in God's promises! He not only promised but "confirmed it by an oath" (Heb. 6:17), for His promise and His oath are absolute: they cannot be broken.
The law sets a standard no one met — until One did.
So also in the keeping of vows: no one had ever fulfilled their obligations and promises to God. That is why our Lord warned them against taking oaths they could not keep (Matt. 5:33-37). But He could say, "I must perform my vows to you, O God" (Ps. 56:12); "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people" (Ps. 116:14). What vows they were! — to glorify God about sin; to seek and to save the lost; to lay the eternal foundations of redemption deep, firm and broad; to bring many to glory.
(Ridout quotes Psalm 56:12 in an older translation: "Thy vows are upon Me, O God.")
- Free to enter. God never commanded a vow; silence was blameless. The whole weight of this verse falls only on those who chose to speak.
- Bound once spoken. The moment the word is out, it becomes a debt, and delay in paying is already counted as sin.
- Beyond recall. No later poverty, regret, or change of mind cancels the debt. God will collect what a man has promised Him — as Jephthah learned, at the cost of his only child.
- Exposing weakness. A vow claims a strength we do not have. Israel promised to do all that the LORD had spoken, and then failed completely.
- Kept by Christ. Jesus tells His followers not to swear at all. God's own promise is sealed by an oath and cannot be broken, and Christ alone could say He would perform His vows — and He paid them.
But if thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.
God's law here leaves a door open. You could pass by the whole matter of vows and stay guiltless. So why vow at all — and what changed the moment a man spoke the words?
The chapter gives no command to vow. One writer sets that freedom beside what the Lord required of a man who did vow.
A man could never plead poverty to bar God's claim, or to escape having to fulfil his vow. No one had to make a vow: "If you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin." But once a man made one, the Lord would require it. No one could set aside an agreement with God to suit his own orders or whims.
The same distinction is drawn more briefly elsewhere, where the vow is described as something Israel was never told to do:
The Israelites were not told to make vows, but if they voluntarily made them, God said they must conscientiously perform them.
The freedom ran one way only. A man could choose whether to speak; he could not choose whether to pay.
A man took these vows on freely, but he was not free about keeping them once taken. Keeping them was then a plain matter of righteousness, and the One to whom they were made judged it. A man might regret his promise and let himself off easily as to the performance. So the valuing of his vow was not left to the one who made it. God Himself, or the priest as His mouthpiece, settled it all.
Another writer describes the same closed door:
Such was the law about vows. There was no relief for the man. He was bound to go right through with whatever had come out of his mouth. There was no back door, as we say — no way of getting out of it.
If silence is safe and speech is binding, why speak? One writer looks at what a vow claims about the person making it.
It is of the very essence of a vow that it assumes the ability to fulfil it; and where is man's ability? A helpless sinner making a vow is like a bankrupt writing a cheque on the bank. A man who makes a vow denies the truth about his own nature and condition. He is ruined — what can he do? He is utterly without strength, and can neither will nor do anything good.
Israel's own history is read as the test case. They said they would keep the law, and the record of what followed is offered as the verdict:
The Old Testament teaches that man is so utterly untrustworthy that it is no use making vows. What is the sense, then? Why not do the thing without making a vow?
One writer traces this law forward to what the Lord Jesus said about oaths.
How much better not to vow at all than to make a promise and not keep it! This law should by itself have kept Israel from making questionable vows. However, the Lord Jesus, speaking of this law, says, "But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all." … What a contrast is seen in God's promises. He not only promised but "guaranteed it with an oath," for His promise and His oath are absolute: they cannot be broken.
Our promises fail. One did not.
Vows have no place in Christianity. Only One has perfectly kept His vows. The Lord Jesus says in Psalm 116:18, "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." He did this at Calvary. So we rest on the absolute truth of His word, which could not fail, and not on our own reliability.
Refusing to vow is not refusing to give yourself.
As Christians we should live lives of dedication to God — if we fail to do so, who will? In this sense the offer, "if a man or a woman makes a vow," still stands. Not that we should make a vow for this or any other purpose. But a heart set on living for the Lord is the only fitting response to what He has done for us.
- Free to be silent. God commanded no Israelite to vow. Staying silent left no guilt. A vow was a choice, not a duty.
- Bound once spoken. Free at the start, bound at the finish. No poverty or regret could release a man. God, not the man who vowed, set the terms.
- A vow overrates the one who makes it. It assumes strength a ruined sinner does not have, like a bankrupt writing a cheque. Israel's broken promise proved the point.
- Christ closes the door. What the law permitted, the Lord forbids: "Do not take an oath at all." Our word is weak. God's promise, guaranteed by His oath, cannot be broken.
- One paid in full. He alone paid His vows, at Calvary. So we rest on His reliability. We answer Him not with pledges but with a heart set on living for Him.
What is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and do, as thou hast vowed to Jehovah thy God, the voluntary-offering that thou hast promised with thy mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:23 closes a short law about vows. No Israelite had to make one, but once a promise passed his lips it became a debt God would collect.
The law leaves the vow to the worshipper. The verse before says that refusing to vow is no sin. But the moment the words are spoken, everything changes. One writer traces the same law in Leviticus, where even the poor could not escape it:
No one could plead poverty as an excuse to block God's claim, or to shelter the person who made the vow from carrying it out. No one was obliged to make a vow: "But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin" (Deut. 23:22). But once a man made a vow, the Lord required it. No man could set aside an agreement with God to suit his own demands or whims.
The verse calls the vow voluntary, promised with your own mouth. But that freedom ends the moment you speak:
These vows were voluntary in the making, but not in the keeping once made. Keeping them was then simply a matter of righteousness. And the One who received the vow judged whether it was kept. A man might regret his promise and let himself off lightly in carrying it out. So the valuing of his vow was not left to the man who made it. God Himself, or the priest as His spokesman, settled everything.
Israel's history supplies the warning. God used Jephthah to deliver Israel, but the vow he spoke was never weighed:
Here the rashness of the man enters the scene, and what follows is painful in the extreme. We have seen the power of God acting in deliverance. But man on his own cannot even make a safe vow to the Lord. Who could fail to foresee the bitter fruit of rashness here? Man is as weak and erring as God is mighty and good.
The practical lesson drawn from that story is simple, and it applies wherever people are invited to sign a pledge:
We may be asked to make a pledge or a promise, but how much better to do good than to promise to do it!
Israel made the same mistake at Sinai, promising to do everything the Lord had spoken. One writer reads that promise as the pattern of every broken vow since:
It is the very nature of a vow that it assumes the ability to fulfil it; and where is man's ability? A helpless sinner making a vow is like a bankrupt writing a cheque on the bank. A man who makes a vow denies the truth about his own nature and condition.
One writer sets this law beside the words of Jesus, and then beside God's own promise:
If a man made a vow to the Lord he had to pay it in full at the appointed time (v.21), because neglect here was sin. How much better not to vow at all than to make a promise and not keep it! However, the Lord Jesus, speaking of this law, says, "But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all" (Matt. 5:33-34)… For even though we mean to act on our promise, we may find ourselves unable to. What a contrast is seen in God's promises — He who not only promised but "guaranteed it with an oath" (Heb. 6:17), for His promise and His oath are absolute: they cannot be broken.
One Man spoke to God and performed everything that passed His lips:
No one had ever fulfilled their obligations and promises to God. So our Lord warned them against taking oaths they could not keep (Matt. 5:33-37). But He could say, "I must perform my vows to you, O God" (Ps. 56:12); "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people" (Ps. 116:14). What vows they were! — to glorify God about sin; to seek and to save the lost; to lay the eternal foundations of redemption deep, firm and broad; to bring many to glory. As we think what it cost Him to keep these vows, may we adore Him who never made a rash vow. He never broke a single promise made to His God and Father.
- Free to speak — God never commanded a vow; silence carried no guilt, so every vow was the speaker's own idea.
- Bound by speaking — once the words were out, keeping them was plain righteousness, and neglect was sin.
- Priced by God — the one who vowed did not get to value his own vow; God, or the priest for Him, settled the account.
- Weighed and found short — Jephthah and Israel at Sinai both promised what they could not pay, like a bankrupt writing cheques.
- Paid by Christ — He alone never made a rash vow and never broke one; our security rests on God's oath, not on ours.