Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
www.suscopts.org
   A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Are vows biblical?

Vows are biblical, and in the twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Leviticus, God ends his instructions to His people with a word about vows to him.

Vows deal with the promises that we make to God in response to what he has done for us in times of danger or in moments of strong desire, or sometimes out of gratitude and thanksgiving.

In both the Old and New Testaments, God never commands a vow. Vows are not mandatory, or obligatory, in order to get something from God. God is a Giver. The Bible also teaches us that once you make a vow, God expects you to fulfill it. In Numbers 30:1-2 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, "This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." Also in Ecclesiastes 5:5 it says, "Better not to vow than to vow and not pay."
  
That is why if you make a vow, you have to be realistic in what you promise. We read in the book of Judges the story of Jephthah, who made a hasty vow. He went out to battle against the enemies of Israel and said to the Lord, "If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors 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). The Lord delivered the people of Ammon into his hands, and when he returned to his house, his only child, his daughter, came out to meet him. His heart sank, for he felt that he had to fulfill that vow. Of course this vow is a wrong vow because he promised something that he does not own.

The Lord warned us not to vow something that is not ours; because its will be considered a wrong vow. In Numbers 30:3-15 we read: "Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father's house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will release her, because her father overruled her. If indeed she takes a husband, while bound by her vows or by a rash utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, and her husband hears it, and makes no response to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her agreements by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband overrules her on the day that he hears it, he shall make void her vow which she took and what she uttered with her lips, by which she bound herself, and the Lord will release her.
Also any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her. If she vowed in her husband's house, or bound herself by an agreement with an oath, and her husband heard it, and made no response to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband truly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded from her lips concerning her vows or concerning the agreement binding her, it shall not stand; her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her. Every vow and every binding oath to afflict her soul, her husband may confirm it, or her husband may make it void. Now if her husband makes no response whatever to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all the agreements that bind her; he confirms them, because he made no response to her on the day that he heard them. But if he does make them void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her guilt
."

Also in Leviticus 27:29-33 it says that we can not vow things that already belong to the Lord. For example we can not use the tithes to pay off our promise.
Home | Ask A Question | Search Q&A