◄ Deuteronomy 23:21 ►
If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Study Bible
If you make a vow
The concept of making a vow in ancient Israel was a solemn and sacred act. The Hebrew word for vow, "נֶדֶר" (neder), signifies a promise or commitment made to God. Vows were voluntary but once made, they were binding. This reflects the seriousness with which the Israelites approached their relationship with God, understanding that their words held weight and were a reflection of their faith and integrity.

to the LORD your God
This phrase emphasizes the personal relationship between the individual and God. The use of "LORD" (YHWH) signifies the covenant name of God, highlighting His faithfulness and sovereignty. "Your God" personalizes this relationship, reminding the Israelites that their vows were not just religious formalities but commitments to the One who had delivered them and established a covenant with them.

do not be slow to keep it
The instruction here is clear: promptness in fulfilling vows is crucial. The Hebrew root "אַחַר" (achar) implies delay or procrastination. In the cultural and historical context, delaying a vow could indicate a lack of respect or seriousness towards God. This urgency underscores the importance of integrity and faithfulness in one's spiritual commitments.

because He will surely require it of you
This phrase serves as a solemn reminder of God's justice and omniscience. The Hebrew verb "דָּרַשׁ" (darash) means to seek or require. It conveys the certainty that God will hold individuals accountable for their promises. This reflects the biblical principle that God is a righteous judge who values truth and integrity.

and you will be guilty of sin
The consequence of failing to fulfill a vow is clearly stated: it is sin. The Hebrew word for sin, "חֵטְא" (chet), denotes a moral failing or offense against God. This highlights the gravity of unfulfilled vows, equating them with sin and emphasizing the need for repentance and atonement. In the broader scriptural context, this serves as a call to holiness and faithfulness in all aspects of life.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Israelites
The original audience of Deuteronomy, receiving God's laws and instructions through Moses.

2. Moses
The leader of the Israelites and the mediator of God's law, delivering these instructions.

3. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who requires faithfulness and integrity from His people.

4. Vows
Promises made to God, often in the context of worship or seeking divine favor.

5. Sin
The moral failing or transgression against God's law, which occurs when vows are not fulfilled.
Teaching Points
The Seriousness of Vows
Vows are not to be taken lightly. They are solemn promises made before God, and failing to fulfill them is considered a sin. This teaches us the importance of integrity and accountability in our commitments.

God's Expectation of Faithfulness
God requires His people to be faithful and trustworthy. When we make promises, especially to God, we must be diligent in keeping them, reflecting His faithfulness in our lives.

The Consequences of Delay
Delaying the fulfillment of a vow is equated with sin. This highlights the need for promptness and sincerity in our spiritual and personal obligations.

Integrity in Speech and Actions
Our words should reflect our intentions. As believers, we are called to be people of our word, ensuring that our actions align with our promises.

Reflecting God's Character
By fulfilling our vows, we mirror God's own faithfulness and truthfulness, serving as a testimony to others of His character.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern-day examples of vows or commitments that Christians might make to God?

2. How can we ensure that we are not making hasty or thoughtless vows in our spiritual lives?

3. In what ways does fulfilling our vows to God impact our witness to others?

4. How can the principles in Deuteronomy 23:21 guide us in making and keeping promises in our personal relationships?

5. Reflect on a time when you made a commitment to God. How did you fulfill it, and what did you learn from the experience?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
This passage echoes the importance of fulfilling vows made to God, emphasizing that it is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

Numbers 30:2
This verse underscores the seriousness of vows, stating that a man must not break his word but must do everything he has promised.

Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus teaches about oaths, encouraging honesty and integrity in speech, which aligns with the principle of fulfilling vows.

James 5:12
James advises believers to let their "yes" be yes and their "no" be no, reinforcing the importance of truthful commitments.
Sermons
Various PreceptsJ. Orr Deuteronomy 23:15-23
Money-Making Must be Above SuspicionR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 23:17-25
The Place of VowsD. Davies Deuteronomy 23:21-23
People
Aram, Balaam, Beor, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pethor
Topics
Account, Certainly, Complete, Defer, Delay, Demand, Doubt, Effect, Guilty, Oath, Pay, Perform, Require, Responsible, Sin, Slack, Slow, Surely, Vow, Vowest
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 23:21

     4926   delay, human
     5430   oaths, human
     8711   covenant breakers

Deuteronomy 23:21-23

     5468   promises, human
     5741   vows
     8251   faithfulness, to God

Library
Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Here Then Shall These Persons in their Turn be in Another More Sublime Degree...
28. Here then shall these persons in their turn be in another more sublime degree of righteousness outdone, by them who shall so order themselves, that every day they shall betake them into the fields as unto pasture, and at what time they shall find it, pick up their meal, and having allayed their hunger, return. But plainly, on account of the keepers of the fields, how good were it, if the Lord should deign to bestow wings also, that the servants of God being found in other men's fields should …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Lessons for Worship and for Work
'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Introductory Note to the Works of Origen.
[a.d. 185-230-254.] The reader will remember the rise and rapid development of the great Alexandrian school, and the predominance which was imparted to it by the genius of the illustrious Clement. [1865] But in Origen, his pupil, who succeeded him at the surprising age of eighteen, a new sun was to rise upon its noontide. Truly was Alexandria "the mother and mistress of churches" in the benign sense of a nurse and instructress of Christendom, not its arrogant and usurping imperatrix. The full details …
Origen—Origen De Principiis

Excursus on Usury.
The famous canonist Van Espen defines usury thus: "Usura definitur lucrum ex mutuo exactum aut speratum;" [96] and then goes on to defend the proposition that, "Usury is forbidden by natural, by divine, and by human law. The first is proved thus. Natural law, as far as its first principles are concerned, is contained in the decalogue; but usury is prohibited in the decalogue, inasmuch as theft is prohibited; and this is the opinion of the Master of the Sentences, of St. Bonaventura, of St. Thomas …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath.
(Probably While on the Way from Jerusalem to Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 1-8; ^B Mark II. 23-28; ^C Luke VI. 1-5. ^b 23 And ^c 1 Now it came to pass ^a 1 At that season ^b that he ^a Jesus went { ^b was going} on the { ^c a} ^b sabbath day through the grainfields; ^a and his disciples were hungry and began ^b as they went, to pluck the ears. ^a and to eat, ^c and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [This lesson fits in chronological order with the last, if the Bethesda …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

That it is not Lawful for the Well Affected Subjects to Concur in Such an Engagement in War, and Associate with the Malignant Party.
That It Is Not Lawful For The Well Affected Subjects To Concur In Such An Engagement In War, And Associate With The Malignant Party. Some convinced of the unlawfulness of the public resolutions and proceedings, in reference to the employing of the malignant party, yet do not find such clearness and satisfaction in their own consciences as to forbid the subjects to concur in this war, and associate with the army so constituted. Therefore it is needful to speak something to this point, That it is …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Canaan
Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by the sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. Abraham "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near Hebron; Jacob had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from his own spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in Goshen looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new home for themselves. Canaan had ever been …
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Brief Directions How to Read the Holy Scriptures once Every Year Over, with Ease, Profit, and Reverence.
But forasmuch, that as faith is the soul, so reading and meditating on the word of God, are the parent's of prayer, therefore, before thou prayest in the morning, first read a chapter in the word of God; then meditate awhile with thyself, how many excellent things thou canst remember out of it. As--First, what good counsels or exhortations to good works and to holy life. Secondly, what threatenings of judgments against such and such a sin; and what fearful examples of God's punishment or vengeance …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
BY A.E. GRIMKE. "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place: but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer:--and so will I go in unto the king, …
Angelina Emily Grimke—An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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