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We often make vows without any effort of fulfilling the obligation. It is the trademark of the politician which he uses in capturing his winning vote. Nothing precludes him from promising every local government area a university or an international airport. It does not matter if he made similar promises during the last election without making them good.
The church is not even left out. Pledges are made by some members which are not redeemed. Some communities have professional-pledge makers. The amount of money they pledge, especially where the pledged amount is made public, is often strange to their bank accounts balances. Initially, they enjoy the glamour of often being cheered and rewarded with chieftaincy titles until the leadership realises that their pledges only end in the trash can!
A vow is a formal and serious promise made by somebody for him to act or not to act in a certain manner. During the new birth, a person submits his life to Jesus to be his Lord and personal Saviour as I did on April 16, 1972. ‘I have decided to follow Jesus… no turning back…’ is a song of vow in rededication and appreciation to God.
I made another vow on my wedding day. The officiating minister asked me: ‘Will you take this woman, Miss Ifenyichukwu Hannah Onyekere, to be your lawfully-wedded wife…?’ I acquiesced with gladness, accepting her for better and for worse. I was introduced many years ago as a man who said that if his wife committed adultery or pulled the trigger on him and he survives it, he would still marry her. Why should I say so when adultery is enough ground for divorce? Yes, it could be for people searching for a ground for divorce but not with a man like me, who is looking for how I will love her more. I made a perpetual vow on March 25, 1978. I will live to honour it.
Pledges are serious vows we make in the church. Someone, for certain reasons, may pledge to give or be giving something to God or to some needy people. It may also arise when a support call is made by the church.
There may be compelling circumstances for us to make vows. The desire for holiness made the Nazarites in the Bible to abstain from alcoholic drinks, not to shave their hairs and, not to see dead bodies. Samson and Samuel lived under the vow of not drinking alcohol. Mindful of this life of holiness, it impacted the choice of food, dressing and residence of John the Baptist. The need for a child made Hannah to vow that if God blessed her with a son, she would dedicate the child to Him all the rest of his life. To acquire wealth in Haran, Jacob vowed to pay ten per cent tithe to God and build Him a House. Jephthah’s vow was that if he defeated the Ammonites and returned home safely, he would sacrifice to God anything that he met first.
From Jephthah’s case, care needs to be exercised when making vows. God’s Word tells us that vows are voluntary. There is no compulsion. Pastors should not frighten their members, exploiting the gullible one during a Support Call. The Bible says that it is not sinful if someone decides not to pledge – Deuteronomy 23:22. Rashness and emotions therefore must be avoided when making vows. God’s Word condemns those who regret later their vows – Judges 20:25. Women are prone to emotional vows than men. A lady’s vow, when living with her father, can be invalidated by him and a wife’s own by her husband provided that in both cases, it is made when they heard about it – Num 30:1-16.
Jephthah’s vow was very elastic. He did not consider if his wife or mother would be the victim. It turned out that it was his daughter, his only child, who was the first person to welcome him home. He honoured his vow. Should he? We must note that our vows and their fulfillment should not contradict the Scriptures. ‘Thou shalt not kill’ remains the Word of God. The environment however, where Jephthah lived in Tob and the spiritual depravity of Israel during the time of the Judges, influenced him and his vows. What we admire is his love for God above all else but conscious of lawyers’ insistence that illegality cannot be enforced.
While vows are voluntary, they are binding once they are made. When the King of Sodom offered Abraham the booty from the invading enemy, he did not accept them, not only because he did not want the king to claim later that he made him rich, but because Abraham had made a vow not to benefit from that. All he did in rescuing Lot, his nephew, and recovering the goods, were pro Deo. Jephthah did not like to sacrifice his only daughter to God. But he did. It was in fact, with pimple-goosed face that he did so, informing her of his vow to God of which, he would not repudiate.
We need not vow unless we are led by God and when we do, we are bound to redeem it and timely – Eccl. 5:4-5.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0909 041 9057; [email protected]
