“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.”

Eyes Fixed on God

1. The Folly of Rash Words

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.”

There are a lot of people who aren’t overly drawn to the Old Testament. Their point of concern is that while Jesus seems to have great love and compassion, God in the Old Testament displays far more wrath. It’s true that Jesus doesn’t display wrath in the same way that God does in the Old Testament, but this comparison quickly morphs into a caricature of both the Father and the Son. It’s one thing when non-believers and skeptics acting in poor faith do this – attempting to distort the message and context of Scripture, they’ll paint God as a brutal and chaotic tyrant, Jesus as a mild-mannered pacifist, and claim that the incongruency between the two just proves the Bible is invalid and incorrect. It’s another problem altogether when believers, professing Christians, fall into this line of thinking. There is a structure to our faith – the Law was fulfilled and replaced with a new covenant, and in this we have a call to a certain way of being. It’s not about legalism or works-based salvation, but rather a state of spiritual transformation that displays itself through work and conduct. However, because there are visible characteristics, there are people who will imitate those qualities without having undergone the transformation – they’re going through the motions, but there’s no heart or faith behind them. We may hear this and think of people who are knowingly pretending to be Christians. There are certainly people whose faith is unresolved but who act as if they’re committed because of a sense of family pressure, or because the social functions of the church are desirable. But there are people who are going through the motions with no intention of deceiving others, and are simply moving from a place of detached complacency. They go to church because they’ve always gone to church, they sing in the choir because they’ve always sung in the choir, they bow their head to pray because everyone else is bowing their head to pray, and they take communion because everyone else is doing it. The biggest problem with acting thoughtlessly out of habit or pattern isn’t that this is ultimately living out a lie – though that’s certainly a massive problem. It’s that this is blatantly and offensively dishonoring to God. While rebuking the Pharisees Jesus states in Matthew 23:18–22,

“And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.”

When we act out worship without thought or meaning we bring something insincere before the Lord – and this, whether we really think of it that way or not, is blasphemous. Backing up a bit, Jesus teaches during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:23–24,

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

What we bring before God is of the utmost importance, because God is worthy of the highest glory, honor, and praise. It’s not about our money, time, or talents, but rather the heart and spirit behind these things as they’re offered up to God. This is why, as we first read in today’s passage, Solomon begins chapter five of Ecclesiastes not with the solemn lament that we’ve read of so far, nor does his tone shift to words of encouragement as he speaks of approaching the house of the Lord. Rather what we read is a wise counsel of caution. God is not to be approached frivolously or with a sense of disregard. While we are certainly invited into a personal, loving relationship with our Lord and Father, it is in no way a casual thing – He’s still God – holy, righteous, and eternal. He’s not our buddy, He’s not our genie, He’s not a tool to be picked up and set down as we see a use for Him – He’s the Author of all creation, of reality itself, and there is never a case where we should come before God without recognizing who He is, and all that He is due. This doesn’t mean moving or speaking for the purpose of being seen, or to serve the function of habit. There is a time to move and a time to be still, a time to speak and a time for silence, and what’s important is not doing what you want to do, or doing what you think will look the best, what matters is doing what is right before God. A fool has no understanding of this. Solomon wrote previously in Proverbs 12:23,

“A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly.”

What God is due is genuine praise – if that takes the form of silent meditation or discreet service, or if it’s in the form of loud declarations and visible action, the authenticity of the offering is what matters. The fool cannot grasp this and they act with uncomprehending presumption and bring condemnation on themselves. But the wise and prudent fear the Lord, and so the offering they bring is different because it pours from a heart that is truly seeking God.  

“Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth.”

The perspective of man is one of extreme limitation. We are stuck within the bounds of space and time – our dilemma is as Solomon wrote previously in Ecclesiastes 3:11,

“… Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

We can know what happened before us through written record, through oral history, and through the evidence that marks the planet itself, but we only experience what happens within our own lifetimes, and even of that, only what we encounter personally. There are an infinite number of experiences and events that unfold during our days present on the earth that we won’t see or even know of. Despite the capacity of the human mind we live and die only knowing the barest fraction of what the world has held – it’s almost difficult to conceive just how limited our perspective actually is. Some will take this realization and think, “If my perspective is so limited I should keep my mind as open as possible and accept everything, rather than being grounded or fixed in a particular way of thinking.” This is pure foolishness. It imagines that every perspective and experience is somehow equal, and that by trying to be everything at once you’re actually something, as opposed to being divided so evenly that you’re essentially nothing. The aim, rather than becoming an amalgamation of the varied thoughts and beliefs of men, should be to surrender your shuttered, hindered view for that of God’s. Isaiah 55:8–9 tells us,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:33,

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…”

And John the Baptist wisely states in John 3:30, as Jesus’ earthly ministry begins to eclipse his own,

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

There is no loss in surrendering your blindness before God, only Light, and Life, and Freedom. Bearing this in mind, it’s stunning to realize just how presumptuous we can sometimes be, and how rash we can become in our bold declarations. God delivers victory, and all too often, bolstered by the confidence of His success, we adopt a sense of arrogance as if we’ve accomplished something ourselves. This is foolishness, pride, and vanity. As Solomon writes, God is in heaven – there is nothing that goes unseen or that is misunderstood by the eye of God. And yet we will on occasion think that we know better, will think to speak for Him – or else we’ll think to somehow manipulate or coerce the Almighty. We stumble and fall in profound and remarkably foolish ways when we exalt ourselves, or when we forget and diminish the righteous glory of the Lord. One of the most senseless and tragic examples of the consequences of rash words takes place in the book of Judges. Judges 11:29–31, 34–39 says,

“Then the Spirit of the LORD was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” … “Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow.’ And she said to him, ‘My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the LORD has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.’ So she said to her father, ‘Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.’ So he said, ‘Go.’ Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made…”

Consider the scenario that we first see Jephthah in here – he has been raised up from a lowly station of exile to be a leader of the people of Gilead, and he is fighting to deliver them, and all of Israel along with them from the oppression of the Ammonites. He had already staked his position as their leader, not on his own prowess, but on the Lord’s deliverance, with Judges 11:9–10 saying,

“Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, ‘If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the LORD gives them over to me, I will be your head.’ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ‘The LORD will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.’”

He’s already shown that he’s entrusting his future into the Lord’s care, and now, before entering into battle he makes this rash, horribly foolish vow before God. It wasn’t necessary – consider the words of Hosea 6:6, which Jesus quotes in Matthew’s gospel,

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Jephthah wasn’t in a position where he needed to persuade God, or somehow barter to earn God’s blessing – all that was needed was for this man that God had raised up to be obedient before Him. Well, as we’ve read, Jephthah is given victory and returns home to be greeted by his daughter. His first words upon seeing her,

“Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me.”

Show him missing the point completely – the girl has done nothing, it is him and him alone in his impulsive foolishness that has placed them both in this position. A straightforward reading of the passage would lead us to believe that Jephthah did exactly what he’d vowed and burned his daughter as a sacrifice, however there is an alternate interpretation that some scholars put forward. They say that because there is this emphasis placed on Jephthah’s daughter lamenting her virginity, that he actually dedicated her to perpetual virginity, and that this was given as a figurative sacrifice instead of her life. The idea is that there is still suffering in this because that means she will live out her days childless, and Jephthah’s line won’t continue on through here. Personally, I find this interpretation to be a bit weak, with one element still giving it some credence. He promised a burnt offering, the passage says that he did with her “according to the vow he made,” and it seems strange that all the daughters of Israel would collectively lament one young woman’s consignment to lifelong chastity, tragic as that may be. The one thing that I find that lends some credence to the virginity argument is that after this Jephthah continues on as judge over Israel. God uses a variety of flawed and broken people throughout Scripture, but His condemnation of child sacrifice is seen as being without compromise. It seems strange that Jephthah would have been left in place as judge after sacrificing his own daughter. Regardless, the absolute best case scenario is that his horribly rash and shortsighted vow was that his daughter was condemned to a life without husband or children, and the worst case was that Jephthah committed an atrocity in the name of the Lord. We don’t live lives of this intensity – I’m willing to bet that there’s not a single person reading this who will ever say anything so thoughtless that they’re placed in a position as dire and tragic as the one Jephthah landed himself and his daughter in – but it would be foolishness in the extreme to think that our words don’t matter. What we need more than anything are eyes that are fixed on God, hearts that earnestly seek His face, and mouths that, rather than running away without thought, seek to obey, serve, and please the Lord, regarding His lofty omniscience, our profound limitation, and conducting ourselves with humility as we live out our days under the sun in service to His will, and not our own.

2. The Folly of Broken Vows

“Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.”

There are some who think that dreams are meaningless nighttime illusions, a series of images or experiences conjured up without form or function by our subconscious minds. The reality is that dreams often have a meaning, but it’s indirect, or they will hold a nugget of significant insight that’s buried in a sea of fluff. I’ve had more dreams that I can count where I was blessed to walk away with genuine clarity around a set of circumstances, but the information came in a kaleidoscope of random images and events. Sometimes a dream may be laden with meaning – there’s symbolic relevance to the placement of everything, the colors, the words spoken, and even the feelings experienced in response to everything that’s happening all hold significance. But sometimes it’s just a dream, a random jumble that’s barely remembered, that lacks all sense of reason. This gives us an image for the voice of a fool – sometimes it’s just noise, and if there is any meaning in what he says, you have to sift for it. Nothing is simple, nothing straightforward. There is great value in speaking simply, in not shading or adjusting the truth, but communicating simply and without the sea of meaningless chatter that comes from the fool. We’ve already spoken of rash words, and Jephthah gave us an illustration of the chaos that can come from vowing without thought or consideration. But now, considering the busy words of the fool, we look at the problem of rash words that lead to broken vows, the foolishness of man that leads to further transgression before the Lord.

“When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”

Vows aren’t a simple thing. In our culture we “promise” and “swear” with a shocking degree of frivolity, but our words carry far more weight than the vast majority of people realize. In thinking over the practices of the Christian faith, there are exceptionally few things that actually require vows. The first one that comes to mind is marriage – there is a public commitment made, both to one another, and to God when entering into this covenant. But this isn’t something that we’ve added to what God has given, the institution of marriage is intended as an irrevocable thing. Genesis 2:24,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

And Jesus, clarifying the conditions of this union states in Matthew 19:6,

“So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

You could say that the act of Baptism carries a public vow with it as well, but again, this is an integral part of this action, not something that we elected to add on. After Peter preaches his sermon at Pentecost, the people, cut to their hearts, respond with a simple question: what shall we do? Peter replies in Acts 2:38–39,

“… Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

The baptism is an outward sign of what God has done within, a public testimony to declare who we are, made new in Christ. It is fitting then that this carries with it, not necessarily some somber vow, but a joyful declaration as to what the Lord has done in our lives, that everyone might know what the gospel has done. While there may be some outside of these two (pastors for example will make vows concerning their calling and dedication to service), these two are the only ones we see with any degree of common use, and even of them, marriage is the only one commonly referred to and acknowledged as a vow. This isn’t because we’re somehow averse to commitment, but that Scripture is quite clear that vows are not a light or casual thing, and they’re often simply not necessary. Jesus teaches during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:33–37,

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

And James writes in James 5:12,

“But above all, my brothers, 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.”

It’s not as if God has commanded us to make regular or consistent vows, it’s the opposite that’s true. More often than not, outside of these few cases we’ve identified, a human vow is nothing more than an act of ignorance – it’s as if we’re saying that our word alone is insufficient, it’s not trustworthy. If we tell someone something, or we tell the Lord our aim and intent it’s not good enough, but if we promise, if we swear, if we vow whatever it may be, well then, now it’s serious, now we really mean it. But human words are human words, and whether we say something with simple sincerity, or we layer on many words to emphasize our commitment, we can, and so often will break what we say. We’ve already looked at Jephthah, and the tragedy that can result from a rash declaration before the Lord. But the Old Testament gives us another example of a rash vow, improperly kept, which shows us more so an act of selfishness and publicly revealed stupidity than any degree of righteousness. Saul, who was raised up as the first king of Israel gives us a perfect picture of an enthusiastic, but foolishly rash king. While his words often honored God, his actions communicated a preoccupation with his own aims and desires. He brought condemnation upon himself with his unlawful sacrifice in 1 Samuel 13, he disobeyed God concerning the Amalekites and ultimately has the kingdom stripped away from him, and fearing his enemies he ends his life through suicide on the field of battle rather than be captured. His life is a series of disobediences that all show him trusting in himself instead of God. Another example of this, and one that underpins his rash foolishness, occurs in 1 Samuel 14:24,

“And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.’ So none of the people had tasted food.”

To give some context – Saul has been established as king and is waging war against Israel’s enemies. After the people are saved and the camp of the Philistines is broken, the army of Israel pursues them, which is where we now see Saul give his command and lay his oath over the people. The thing is, there’s no point, no real purpose other than to give himself a sense of pride and authority over their pursuit – I guess. It’s honestly idiotic – his enemies are fleeing and he’s driving his army in pursuit, they’re in what is arguably the most advantageous position they could be. The victory they’re tasting wasn’t something that they grasped by their own might, but was delivered – and yet Saul seizes this moment to be the authoritarian ruler, and to press his people to pursue the Philistines and take his vengeance immediately, to the detriment of everyone involved. Immediately after Saul’s oath we read in 1 Samuel 14:26–27,

“And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright.”

When he learns of his father’s oath Jonathan replies in 1 Samuel 14:29–30

“… My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.”

Proving the young man’s words right, just after this we see as the people finally catch and strike down the Philistines they’ve been pursuing. 1 Samuel 14:32 says,

“The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood.”

So, just to recap, because of Saul’s rash impulsivity he’s now laid the groundwork for his own son to break the oath he made, as Jonathan knew nothing about the enforced fast that had been laid upon the people. Saul has also starved his army as they pursued their enemies, placing them in a position of such profound and impatient hunger that they break a dietary law that has existed since the time of Noah and sin against God. Compounding his foolishness, Saul caps off this entire situation by handling his discovery of Jonathan’s accidental transgression by again responding rashly and without any logical consideration. When God falls silent and doesn’t communicate with Saul, he inquires through the Urim and Thummim, and through casting lots and determines that Jonathan was the cause. Upon learning that Jonathan had eaten the honey after Saul had made his oath, the king is perfectly willing to put his son to death, saying in 1 Samuel 14:44,

“… God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

It is then the people who point out and even overturn the foolish decision of their king. This is the man who the people begged for, rejecting God and seeking a human ruler like all the other nations, but in the face of his rashness, they set aside his instruction and do what makes sense. 1 Samuel 14:45 says,

“Then the people said to Saul, ‘Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.’ So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die.”

Note that the people still honor the vow, they don’t simply ignore that an oath was made before God, but ransom Jonathan, they satisfy the debt, but it was never part of their consideration that the young man actually be put to death over his father’s stupidity. The fact that Saul banned the people from eating until they had killed their enemies and satisfied his vengeance was a foolish decision from the start. Saul’s rule that his own son die for unknowingly breaking the command, was again foolish and illogical. This story doesn’t carry the weight of tragedy that Jephthah’s does, but it again shows the weight of rash words, and it illustrates the point that Solomon makes – that it is far better to never vow at all than to make a vow only for it to be compromised because of your own shortsightedness. All from the rash declaration of this one man there was a whole host of sin caused, and the life of a righteous young man was placed in jeopardy. There are likely none of us whose word will carry the weight of a king’s among his people, and yet again, we must weigh our words and actions, we must understand the significance of what we say, what we do, and how we represent God as His children. We can’t afford to speak rashly, we can’t afford to make vows needlessly, only to break them or attempt to water them down. So often we experience a sense of guilt because of how our sin impacts other people, and this isn’t necessarily an invalid or wrong response – but we must always remember that what makes our sin so vile and disgusting is that it stands as a transgression against God, it is a slight against His holy name. God is not harmed by this, His glory is undiminished, but we suffer in our opposition to the Truth. Jesus teaches in Matthew 12:35–37,

“The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our words cannot be idly given, our vows cannot be casually made, lest in the abundance of our foolishness we are found in opposition to the Truth and therein rebellion before the Living God.

3. The Wisdom of the Fear of the Lord

“Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.”

As we’ve read previously, Solomon wrote in Proverbs 9:10,

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

This is where we land, where an understanding of the pitfalls of rash words and broken vows leads us – the sober and righteous fear of God. It’s not about avoiding misspeaking, or being honest because we want to be thought well of by others, our aim and aspiration is to please God and be found right before our Father. James 3:5–6, 9–12, tells us

“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” … “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”

On our own we will never bridle our words – left to our own devices we will blend blessings and curses endlessly, we will malign our brothers, we will be found out as a liar, we’ll sin against God again, and again. But to fear God, to serve the Lord leads to wisdom and understanding, not through our own insight, but through His careful and holy teaching.  The path of self-knowledge, the path of human understanding is to follow in the footsteps of Jephthah and Saul, rashly and foolishly throwing the words that we’ve been blessed to speak around without proper regard. But when we fear God – when by revelation of the Spirit we see the true condition of our sin, and the incomprehensible might of His righteousness, then there is fear. Then there is proper understanding, and an opportunity to set aside foolishness, to cast off the chaotic discord of dreams, and the vaporous pit of folly, and to earnestly and obediently fear, revere, love, and obey the Lord, our Father.