Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and draw near to hear, rather than to give the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they do evil.
After four chapters on the emptiness of life under the sun, Ecclesiastes turns to the house of God. The verse is about the feet, the ears and the mouth: where you step, what you come to hear, and how fast you speak.
One writer starts where the verse starts: with what God is owed.
God's rights come first. Everything goes wrong when God is left out, and this is the very root of the misery in man and the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speaking before Him, nor vows to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or emptiness. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him. Man's weakness, since he is fallen, follows him everywhere. The wise man's only resource is to fear God. Without this, religious effort only increases the danger.
Why guard the step? Because of the One you are approaching.
He demands respect from man. The folly of the heart is indeed folly in His presence.
The phrase names an offering that costs real effort but takes no account of sin. One writer points to Cain, who brought the fruit of ground God had cursed.
Cain had ears but did not hear. His conscience was untouched about the sin in himself and the ruin around him, and he cared just as little about God's grace and truth... He never took to heart, "Cursed is the ground because of you." He had worked that ground by the sweat of his face, and to his mind that added value to his offering of its fruit. The sin of man was no more to him than the curse of God. Why should God not accept the fruit of the ground, the offering of his own toil and effort? Cain did not know that it was only "the sacrifice of fools," the proof of an unrepentant, unbelieving heart.
That is why the verse says the fools "do not know that they are doing evil." The offering felt sincere to the man giving it. The same charge reaches past Cain to us:
Everything our natural hearts can offer is "the sacrifice of fools." It rests on what fails at the source of any good: the sin of a hard heart. That heart does not recognise our condition — our sin and our separation from our God.
Commentators differ on how the verse lands on a Christian today. One writer says greater freedom of approach calls for more reverence, not less.
If the grace in which we stand has given us greater freedom of access to God than this, surely we are not to use that freedom as an excuse for irreverence and haste. God the Holy Spirit is actually present among us. That should be as strong a motive to reverence and godly fear as the thought that God is in heaven and we are on earth.
Another writer says the distance the verse assumes has now been closed:
The Holy Spirit is permanently present on the earth and lives in the believer. This has bridged the distance between heaven and earth for the believer. So we do not pray today with a sense that God is far off in heaven. We pray with all the confidence and closeness of children, in the immediate presence of God.
One writer draws a line between praying alone and praying where others listen.
It would be a widespread blessing if everyone who prays aloud kept this in mind, whether in the household, the assembly, the prayer meeting, or the preaching room. Long prayers are a mistake, and a sign of weakness, in all these settings. In private, where no eye sees and no ear hears but God's, Scripture appears to set no restriction. But in public, Scripture mentions long prayers only to condemn them.
- Foot — Guard your steps. God asks for respect from the person who comes to Him, and folly stays folly in His presence.
- Ear — Hearing from God comes before speaking to God. Drawing near to listen outranks anything you bring.
- Offering — Cain's offering is the sacrifice of fools: real effort, no account of sin, from a heart that never listened.
- Mouth — Because God is in heaven, keep your words few. In private Scripture sets no limit; in public it mentions long prayers only to condemn them.
- Fear — Without the fear of God, going to His house makes no one safe. Religious effort only raises the risk.
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5 turns to a subject men treat lightly: how they speak to God. The verse gives a reason — God in heaven, we on earth — and draws one practical conclusion from it about our prayers.
The warning opens a new section of the book, and it opens with what God is owed.
A natural division begins with chapter 5... The first of all rights is that God should have His. Everything is wrong when men leave God out, and this is really the root of the misery in man and in the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speaking before Him, nor vows made to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or vanity. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him... The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without this, religious effort only increases the danger.
The verse guards the heart as well as the mouth.
He demands respect from man. The folly of the heart is indeed folly in His presence.
Christians stand on different ground, yet one writer argues the lesson presses harder on us, not less.
If the grace in which we stand has given us greater freedom of access to God than this, we must not use that freedom as an excuse for irreverence and haste. God the Holy Spirit is actually present among us. That fact should be as strong a motive for reverence and godly fear as the thought that God is in heaven and we are on the earth.
Awareness of God, one writer argues, makes rambling impossible.
Long prayers may impress the crowd, but they did not impress the Lord! Let us remember this and avoid them ourselves. We dare say this: no one with deep desire, truly conscious of God's presence, can wander about in a maze of words. As Ecclesiastes 5:2 shows, his words must be few.
Prayer is not a way to give God information, and the Lord's own words put long public praying in company nobody would choose.
True prayer is not telling the Lord a host of things, repeating familiar phrases or making statements of doctrine, as if we were trying to explain principles to God and give Him a lot of information... "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words" (Matthew 6:7). Of the scribes He said, "who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers" (Mark 12:40)... So from the Scriptures above we must conclude this: anyone who makes long public prayers puts himself in the same class as the heathen, the scribes, and fools. That is hardly a compliment.
One writer gives a measure for length, and a warning against turning prayer into teaching.
The longest prayer recorded in the Bible is King Solomon's, at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem, a very special occasion (2 Chronicles 6:14-42). It takes only six or seven minutes to read. Lengthy prayers often kill a prayer meeting. Prayers made up of explaining Scripture are surely out of place. God does not need anyone to tell Him the meaning of His own inspired word.
One writer points to Peter, who asked the Lord one short question.
Peter was heeding this counsel as he simply says to the Lord, "Explain the parable to us." How refreshing is the brevity and directness of his prayer. Notice, too, that he gets what he asks for at once.
Commentators differ on how far the verse's reasoning still applies. One writer says the Spirit has closed that gap for the believer.
The Holy Spirit is permanently present on the earth, and He lives in the believer. This has bridged the distance between heaven and earth for the believer. So we do not pray today with the sense that God is far off in heaven. We pray with all the confidence and familiarity of children in the immediate presence of God.
That nearness makes prayer shorter, not longer. One man put it like this:
He said, with reverence and earnestness, "I never knew He was so near before." It is a happy thing when the soul knows it is this near to God. It is so near that it only seems necessary to whisper its petitions into the ear of a listening and sympathetic Father, with all the confidence and familiarity of a child.
- God's rights first. The chapter opens with what belongs to God, and everything goes wrong when men leave Him out.
- Hear before speaking. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him. Without the fear of God, religious effort only raises the danger.
- Reverence, not distance, is the point. Freer access is no excuse for haste. The Spirit's presence should stir the same awe as the thought of God in heaven.
- Few words prove real desire. Someone who knows God is present cannot ramble. Long prayers impress crowds, not the Lord.
- Nearness shortens prayer. Solomon's longest recorded prayer reads in six minutes. A child near his Father only whispers, and the Lord answered Peter's short question at once.
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice through a multitude of words.
This verse backs up a call for slow steps and few words in the house of God. Why does a crowded day breed restless dreams, and why does a flood of words mark a fool?
One writer sums up this part of Ecclesiastes as a matter of order: who listens first, and who speaks.
God's rights come first: He must have what is His. Everything is wrong when God is left out, and this is really the root of the misery in man and the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speech before Him, nor vows to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or vanity. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him... The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without this, religious effort simply increases the danger.
So going to God's house is no protection in itself. Careless words there do not cover folly; they display it.
The first half of the proverb explains the origin of most dreams. Scripture allows two sources, and only one of them is God.
Dreams have two sources: either God sends them, or they come from much business. In them God may reveal His mind, or they may simply be "many vanities," the fruit of our own passions or needs.
The verse points to the second kind. A crowded life keeps running after the body lies down, and the mind makes pictures out of its own busyness. One writer draws out what this means now that God's revelation is complete.
God often used this way to make His mind known, or to reveal coming events, in the ages before Moses, when there was no written revelation of His will. Now we have His written revelation, the completed Bible. Only in very rare and exceptional cases can we recognise a dream as having come from God. "A dream comes with much business" — that is, from purely natural causes, Scripture says. This may be said of most dreams.
The two halves of the verse belong together. A crowded life breeds hollow dreams, and crowded speech breeds hollow worship.
The speaker knows man's careless, easy-going ways and his enslaving superstitions, his rash vows and wordy prayers, his shallow reverence and dreamy worship. That worship is dreamy and unreal because it is full of pleading vanities and worldly business. So he presses the crowd going to the house of God to use few words and to take slow, solemn steps in their worship and their vows.
The clearest test of this verse is the prayer meeting. Length is not the measure of earnestness, and the Bible's own record proves it.
How many prayers we have listened to which were only a weariness to the flesh. We have heard prayers where we wondered when the man praying would ever finish. The longest prayer in the Bible is Solomon's at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, a very special occasion (2 Chronicles 6:14-42). It takes only six or seven minutes to read. Lengthy prayers often kill a prayer meeting. Prayers made up of explanations of Scripture are surely out of place. We do not need to tell God the meaning of His own inspired word.
Ecclesiastes gives one reason for few words: God is in heaven, and we are on earth. One writer turns to those who now come nearer than that.
The grace in which we stand has given us greater freedom of access to God than this. Surely we are not to use that freedom as an excuse for irreverence and haste. God the Holy Spirit is actually present among us. That should be as strong a motive for reverence and godly fear as the thought that God is in heaven and we are on earth.
- Overflow. What fills a life comes out of it. Much business overflows into restless dreams. Many words overflow into a fool's voice.
- Origin. Dreams have two sources — God, or a crowded mind. Now that the Bible is complete, a dream from God is a rare exception.
- Unreality. Wordy prayers and rash vows make worship as unreal as the dream itself.
- Brevity. God does not need our explanations of His own word. Solomon's own greatest prayer reads in six or seven minutes; length is no proof of earnestness.
- Fear. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him. The fear of God is the only safeguard; without it, religion only adds to the danger.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed.
Ecclesiastes 5 warns about the words we say in God's presence. Nobody has to make a vow, but delay in paying one puts the speaker among the fools — so is vowing wise at all?
One writer starts further back: the trouble in man and the world begins where God is left out.
The first of rights is that God should have His; all is wrong when God is left out, and this is the root of the misery in man and the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speaking before Him, nor vows to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or vanity. Hearing from God takes precedence over speaking to Him. The weakness of fallen man follows him everywhere. The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without this, religious effort only increases the danger.
Nobody in Israel was ever commanded to vow. The obligation began the moment a person chose to speak.
The Israelites were not told to make vows, but if they made them voluntarily, God said they must carefully perform them. Man is always ready to boast of his strength, without being aware of his own weakness. The law made vows binding, and gave directions for exceptional cases where it was impossible to keep them.
The verse names delay, not refusal, as the failure. One writer explains why by looking at what a sacrifice is.
"When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no pleasure in fools." The element of sacrifice does not enter into anything that shows compromise. A sacrifice is something offered absolutely, once for all, and if it is a sacrifice it cannot be taken back. It must be free of all entanglements.
Hannah shows how it is done. She prayed for a son, vowed him to God, and then gave the boy up.
She did not selfishly cling to him, nor make a scene at parting with the loved and lovable "son of her vows." She gives him up freely and gladly. Was it not for this very purpose that she waited long and prayed earnestly? She was not one of those who vow and afterwards regret it.
One writer applies the verse to Israel's own promise to obey God.
Israel made a fatal mistake in saying, "We will do." It was taking on a vow they were not able to pay, even if they had been willing. And we know who said, "Better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay." At its heart, a vow assumes you are able to fulfil it — 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 own nature and condition.
Jesus later pushed the warning further. One writer traces it, then sets God's promise beside ours.
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." Old Testament history proves that man in the flesh is untrustworthy... For even though we intend to act on our promise, we may find ourselves unable to. 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.
Only one man ever met this verse's standard without failure.
In the performance of vows, no one had ever fulfilled their obligations and promises to God. So our Lord warned them against taking oaths they could not keep. But He could say, "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." 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. Think what it cost Him to pay these vows. May we adore Him who never made a rash vow, and never broke a single promise He made to His God and Father.
- Free. No one was ever commanded to vow; the whole obligation begins with your own mouth.
- Binding. You cannot quietly take a vow back. A sacrifice is offered once for all.
- Delayed. The verse names delay as the failure. Hannah did the opposite and gave up what she vowed, freely and gladly.
- Bankrupt. A vow assumes you have the strength to pay it, and a fallen man writing that cheque is drawing on an empty account.
- Paid. God's promise and His oath cannot be broken. Christ kept every vow He made, so our confidence rests on His word, not on ours.
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
Ecclesiastes 5 turns from the emptiness of life under the sun to how a person behaves toward God. It watches how he enters God's house, how he speaks there, and what he promises. This verse weighs two options and calls one of them better: silence over a promise you leave unpaid.
One writer sums up the section: God must have what is His, and no religious activity shelters a person from folly.
God must have His rights first. Everything goes wrong when people leave God out. That is the root of the misery in man and the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor words spoken before Him, nor vows made to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or emptiness. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him... The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without this, religious effort only increases the danger.
Every vow assumes something about the person who makes it. One writer tests that assumption against Israel's promise to God: "we will do."
Israel made a fatal mistake in saying, "we will do." They were taking on a vow they were not able to pay, even if they were willing. It is of the very essence of a vow that it assumes you are able 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 nature and condition. He is ruined; what can he do? He is completely without strength, and can neither will nor do anything good.
The law never commanded vows. That is what makes an unpaid vow so serious: the whole thing started as a free choice.
No one had to make a vow: "But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin" (Deuteronomy 23:22). But once a vow was made, the Lord would demand it. A commitment made with God could not be set aside because a man ordered it or changed his mind.
Two examples show both halves of the warning. One man kept a reckless promise. Another tried to slip out of one. Neither escaped.
Jephthah was rash in the vow he made, but he stood to it and bore the consequence. Not so Ananias and Sapphira; but their deception did not shield them from death. We must weigh what we say before God, and never take it back for selfish reasons.
Jephthah led Israel in battle. He promised God whatever came out of his door if he won — and his daughter came out. Ananias and Sapphira sold land, brought part of the money, and claimed it was all of it.
One writer traces the vow back to its root, then says what to do if you have already made a foolish one.
What people usually call a vow means pledging yourself, with or without penalties if you break the pledge. In itself it is the fruit of self-confidence and energy in the flesh — two things that mark fallen men, and that God hates... Suppose a man vowed to become an apostle, or to convert many people, or never to marry. Let him confess his sin, and leave himself in God's hand. He has assumed power to be in himself, and it is not there.
One writer carries this verse into the New Testament, and sets our promises beside God's.
How much better not to vow at all than to make a promise and not keep it! When the Lord Jesus spoke about the law of vows, He said not to swear at all (Matthew 5:33-34). Old Testament history proves that man in the flesh cannot be trusted. So the New Testament warns us not to make promises, or even to announce what we are going to do in the future — and that includes the very near future (James 4:13-16). We may fully intend to act on our promise, and still find that we cannot. God's promises are the complete opposite. He not only promised but backed His promise with an oath (Hebrews 6:17). His promise and His oath are absolute: nothing can break them.
That leaves something better than a pledge to offer God.
It is better to tell the Lord that we really love Him and want to please Him, but that we need His help. "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).
- Hear first. Listening to God comes before speaking to Him. Without the fear of God, religious words only raise the risk.
- No credit. A vow assumes you can deliver, like a bankrupt writing a cheque. Israel said "we will do" and failed. Silence beats a promise you cannot pay.
- Freely bound. God never asked for vows. But once you made one, He held you to it, and no change of mind cancelled the debt.
- No exit. Jephthah kept a rash vow at terrible cost. Ananias and Sapphira tried to take one back and died. Weigh your words before God, and never take them back for selfish reasons.
- His promise. Have you already made a foolish vow? Confess it and leave yourself in God's hand. Then lean on the promise nothing can break, and on the God who works in you to will and to do.
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an inadvertence. Wherefore should God be wroth at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?
Ecclesiastes 5 warns about how we behave in God's presence, and this verse is its sharpest edge. What is a vow worth, who is the messenger, and why would God be angry at mere words?
The chapter begins with religious activity, not with obvious sin. One writer traces the trouble further back, and warns that even the right place and the right words cannot protect anyone from folly.
The first of all rights is that God should have His. Everything goes wrong when God is left out, and this is the root of the misery in man and the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speaking before Him, nor vows to Him, can rescue from folly or vanity. Hearing from God takes precedence over speaking to Him. The weakness of man, fallen as he is, follows him everywhere. The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without this, religious effort only increases the danger.
So worship without the fear of God does not make anyone safer. It gives the mouth more chances to sin.
A vow sounds like devotion. But it makes a quiet claim about the person making it, and one writer tests that claim.
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 own nature and condition. He is ruined. What can he do? He is completely without strength, and can neither will nor do anything good.
So the mouth leads the whole person into sin. The promise goes further than the person can go.
The verse pictures someone standing before God's messenger and calling a broken vow an oversight. But the person who made the vow never had the last word on it.
A man might regret his promise and let himself off lightly when it came to keeping it. So the valuing of his vow was not left to the one who made it. God Himself, or the priest as His spokesman, settled it all.
So the messenger is the one who speaks for God, and the excuse is made to His face. An unpaid vow was not a private matter to be dropped either. Another writer lists it among the things that made an Israelite unclean.
Why does the warning end so darkly, with God angry and a man's work destroyed? Much depends on who is speaking here, and on the God he can see.
The speaker knows man's casual, anything-goes attitude and his enslaving superstitions, his rash vows and wordy prayers, his shallow reverence and dreamy worship. That worship is dreamy and unreal because it is full of pleading emptiness and worldly business. So he urges the crowd going to the house of God to use few words and slow, solemn steps in their worship and vows. But even then he speaks as a natural man himself. He knows only a God far away, who looks on sinful people on earth with a cold judicial eye, ready to destroy the work of man in wrath.
The verse ends with a man's work swept away by a God he knows only from far off. Careful speech may keep him out of trouble, but it cannot bring him near.
God is still in heaven and man on earth (verse 2), with a vast distance between — a gulf no one has bridged. What is needed is revelation, that which is "above the sun." It brings man to God, gives him peace and assurance, and frees him from fear. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only provision.
This changes what a promise means for a believer today.
The Old Testament teaches that man is so completely untrustworthy that there is no use making vows. What is the sense, then? Why not do the thing without making a vow? The Lord Jesus confirms this: "Do not take an oath at all." James says the same: "Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." So there are to be no oaths and no vows. The believer today is under the grace of God.
- Mouth. A rash word is not a small thing. It leads the whole person into sin, and religious surroundings do not soften that.
- Bankruptcy. Every vow claims a power we do not have — a bankrupt writing a cheque on the bank.
- Excuse. Calling a broken promise a mistake settles nothing. The worth of a vow was never yours to decide.
- Distance. The dread behind the verse belongs to a God known only as far off in heaven, watching and ready to judge.
- Gospel. Fewer words do not cross that gulf. God's revelation in Jesus Christ does, and grace takes the place of vowing.
For in the multitude of dreams are vanities; so with many words but fear God.
Ecclesiastes 5 opens with instructions about going to the house of God, speaking before Him, and making vows — and verse 7 is the verdict on all of it. One commentator traces the whole movement of the chapter and lands on the same single resource the verse names:
God's rights come first. Everything goes wrong when people leave God out, and that is the root of the misery in man and in the world. Yet neither the house of God, nor speaking before Him, nor vows to Him, can rescue anyone from folly or vanity. Hearing from God comes before speaking to Him. The weakness of fallen man follows him everywhere. The only resource for the wise man is to fear God. Without it, religious effort only increases the danger.
Not every dream in Scripture is empty. One writer gives dreams two possible sources, and puts this verse under the second:
Dreams have two sources. Either God sends them, or they come from too much business (Joel 2:28, Eccl. 5:3). In them God may reveal His mind, or they may be nothing but "various vanities," the fruit of our own passions or needs (Eccl. 5:7, Isa. 29:8).
The same Bible that lists dreams among trifles also shows God speaking through them:
In some passages dreams are linked with trifles and vanities (Job 7:14; Eccl. 5:7). Yet Scripture also gives plenty of evidence that God often made His mind known to people through dreams. He did this not only with those who obeyed Him, but also with people outside Israel (Gen. 20:3, 6; Judges 7:13).
The chapter has already said that God is in heaven and you are on earth, so your words should be few. One commentator applies that distance to the way worship is actually conducted — and warns that greater nearness is no licence for carelessness:
Surely, if the grace in which we stand has given us greater freedom of access to God than this, we are not to use that freedom as an excuse for irreverence and haste.
The many words are not idle chatter. They are prayers and vows made in worship:
The speaker sees man's casual liberalism and enslaving superstitions, his rash vows and wordy prayers, his shallow reverence and dreamy worship. That worship is dreamy and unreal because it is full of pleading vanities and worldly business. So he presses the crowd going to the house of God to use few words, and to take slow, solemn steps in their worship and vows.
The verse sums up a passage that says it is better not to vow at all than to vow and not pay. Writers see in that a diagnosis of human capacity itself:
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 as to his nature and condition.
Not every fear of God is the real thing. One writer marks how far a man can get on his own, and where he stops:
The natural man may fear God, though with a slavish fear. He may try to worship Him and do something, yet he does not know God, and he cannot know Him by himself... God is still in heaven and man on earth (verse 2), with a vast distance between — an unbridged gulf. Man needs revelation to bring him to God, to give him peace and assurance, to deliver him from fear — revelation that is "above the sun."
The fear the verse commands, when it is genuine, is not a torment but a liberation:
Then how necessary to cultivate the fear of God as a habit! There is nothing right where this fails. The holy fear of God shuts out every dishonouring fear of man, and all tormenting fear of God. We know His majesty, His holiness, and His righteous character; and we know also that He loves us beyond a father's love.
- Dreams. Scripture gives dreams two sources — God may send them, or they may rise from a crowded mind. Here they belong to the second kind: the overflow of business, not revelation.
- Words. Reverence, not fluency, is what the passage asks for. Greater freedom of access is never a reason for haste.
- Vows. A vow assumes you can deliver. That is why it fails: it is a cheque written on an empty account.
- Fear. Religion without the fear of God only deepens the danger. Kept as a habit, that fear drives out both the fear of man and the terror of God Himself.