Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

• Don’t Vow Hastily

  • Main Text: Ecclesiastes 5:1–7

  • Theme: God takes our words, prayers, and vows seriously; therefore, we must approach Him with reverence, not rashness.

  • Key Warnings:

    • Don’t treat God like a bargaining chip.

    • Don’t make hasty or manipulative vows.

    • Let your words be few—reverence is better than empty speech.

  • Old Testament Examples:

    • Jephthah (Judges 11) – rash vow leading to tragedy.

    • Hannah (1 Samuel 1) – heartfelt vow kept with great cost.

    • Levitical & Nazirite vows – regulated by God to be taken and fulfilled seriously.

  • Personal Testimony: Pastor Bryan shared his rash vow to God during a robbery as a teenager—God does not forget or take such words lightly.

  • Jesus’ Teaching:

    • Matthew 5 & 6: Better to let your yes be yes and no be no than to try loopholes or multiply empty words.

    • The Lord’s Prayer shows reverence, not bargaining.

  • Application:

    • Worship God out of love and reverence, not transaction.

    • Guard your words before Him—He is in heaven, we are on earth.

    • Keep integrity in speech and commitments.

    • Remember: confessing Jesus as Lord is a vow of lifelong obedience, not just a ticket out of hell.

Reverence and Vows before God

1. Biblical Themes

• Reverence in Worship – God is holy and exalted above us (Eccl. 5:2; Matt. 6:9).

• Integrity in Speech – Our words matter; truthfulness reflects God’s character (Matt. 5:33–37).

• Danger of Rash Promises – Foolish vows bring guilt and dishonor to God (Judg. 11; Eccl. 5:4–6).

• God’s Lordship – We serve Him not as an equal or bargaining partner, but as Lord and King (Phil. 2:9–11).

2. Historical Context

• Vows in Israel: Linked with sacrifices (Lev. 7; Num. 6). A vow was not casual but a binding act of devotion or thanksgiving.

• Temple Worship: Approaching God’s house meant drawing near with reverence, offering prayer, vow, and sacrifice together.

• Rabbinic Loopholes: By Jesus’ day, people swore by lesser things to avoid accountability—Jesus condemned this (Matt. 23:16–22).

3. Westminster Standards

• Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 22 (“Lawful Oaths and Vows”):

  • Vows are acts of religious worship, to be made with care, reverence, and truth.

  • They are binding, unless they promise something sinful.

• Larger Catechism Q. 113 (on the third commandment): forbids rash and unlawful oaths and vows.

• Shorter Catechism Q. 53–56: God’s name must be used with holy fear and reverence.

4. Practical Applications

• Before speaking to God in prayer or making promises, pause in humility.

• Cultivate reverence in worship—sing, pray, and confess mindful of God’s majesty.

• Speak truthfully to others—your word should be as trustworthy as an oath.

• Examine whether you treat God as a means to your ends, or as the end Himself.

and we pray that we would do that, that we would care for one another. We also pray for those men that are under care of the Presbytery. We pray for them often, but we pray, Lord, that you would give them a heart of zeal for you and a desire to proclaim you to their communities and to their congregations in the future. We pray that they would not grow weary in their studies, A lot of times we get to studying something with the vigor and joy and we get bogged down. But we pray that they may be energized by your spirit, that they may desire to proclaim you because they find great joy in knowing you and you loving them. and teaching them in the ways that may be helpful in their future work in congregations. So we pray for them that they would not grow weary of doing good. We also thank you, Lord, for those many short-term missions that have happened, and we pray that those would have been a benefit to the places where they were ministered to, We pray for those workers, those young people usually that go to these different areas of the country and the world to learn about missions, that that would be a blessing for them, that they would be doers of the word and goers, that they would go out and proclaim your word and find an understanding of how to do that effectively. So we do pray for them. We also pray for those in Central Asia, and there's a lot of different things that go on when you're across the world, and as missionaries from the states, and we pray that you would work out those logistics that need to be done, that babies are born, and health needs, and times of rest and relaxation. We just do pray you would work out those for them. But we also pray you would continue to protect those missionaries, as well as the people they are ministering to in their absence, you would care and provide. We are thankful, Lord, that you do bring us here as a body. We thank you that you do provide a great forgiveness to us. We just thank you for each other. We do pray that we would continue to worship you in spirit and truth while loving one another. We pray that we would sing psalms to you, sing psalms to you, but also to one another to encourage and to lift up and to help those of our neighbors that hear our voices. Thank you, Lord, for this day that we can worship you. And we do pray in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, in whose name we pray, amen. Let's continue on with worship. And we have another psalm to sing, Psalm 50, selection A. Psalm 50, selection A, that's an alpha. And let us rise as we sing this psalm. Walk prudently when you go to the house of God, and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool's voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not to pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there is also vanity, but fear God. That ends this portion of the reading of God's perfect word. The grass withers. The flower will fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we pray that your word would be sweet in our mouths like honey. That it would drip with wisdom that nourishes our souls. And Lord, that you would let us have hearts with ears to hear. Father, we pray that you would make your word effective in our lives to teach us, to correct us, to rebuke us. Lord, we need you to train us that we would be ready for every good work. Father, we need your spirit to do this. So please be with us in the reading and the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There's this weird story way back in the book of Judges. There's a judge named Jephthah. And Jephthah, I'm not going to go into all of Jephthah's life, but Jephthah was kind of this outcast of a guy until the enemies of God surrounded, and they were wanting to fight against God's people. And so the Ammonites are pressing in, and Jephthah's like this red-headed stepchild, far off, right? Nobody really likes him, but he's strong, and he's got a bunch of guys who follow him. And the Israelites come to Jephthah, their outcast relative, and they go, hey, help us fight the Ammonites, and we'll follow you. And he says, okay, let's do it. And so in Judges chapter 11, they're about to go fight, and he makes this promise, this vow to God. He says, God, if you help me defeat the Ammonites, I will offer to you the first thing that comes out of my gates. And it's amazing, they actually win the battle. They defeat the Ammonites, but then as he comes home, the first thing that comes out of his gates is his young daughter. Jephthah made a rash vow to God. He had not thought through what could come out of my gates. He was treating God like a divine bargaining chip. God, I'll do this if you promise this. And that's what we find in Ecclesiastes chapter five that Solomon is talking about. We see here in Ecclesiastes 5 the difference between the prudent man and the foolish person. And so I want to walk through this section of chapter 5 with you, and as we walk through chapter 5 verses 1 through 7, I want us to see first of all that vows, prayer, and sacrifice in the Hebrew mind are not different, disassociated things, but they're one combined package. All right, see, in the Israelite mind, this is one thing. When they drew near to the house of God, the house of God is a name for either the tabernacle or the temple in Solomon's time. And as somebody was to walk to the house of God, they may make vows to God, they may make promises to God. And then if the vow was fulfilled, then they would offer a sacrifice to God. And so do you see the steps here? Somebody's gonna go to the house of God, they're gonna literally walk to the temple or walk to the tabernacle, and while they're at the tabernacle or at the temple, they're going to pray, and as the words come out of their mouth, or they're writing it down, or they're saying it in their heart and they're making this vow to God in prayer, They would also say, God, if this happens, then I will make a sacrifice. And this is what exactly what God actually said was supposed to happen. In Leviticus chapter seven, verse 16, it said this, but if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering. See, we often think of, we think of sacrifices, we think of a sacrifice for sin, but they weren't always sacrifices for sin. Sometimes people sacrifice as a thanksgiving, as saying, God, you have been so good to our family, you've been so wonderful to us, we're gonna make this sacrifice to say thank you. Other times it was for sin, like on the Day of Atonement, when an animal was sacrificed as a covering over of sin. Other times it was because you made a vow to God. You made a vow to the Lord, you were going to do something, and once that vow was fulfilled, you would make a sacrifice fulfilling the vow. And so God had certain laws in Leviticus for how those vows were to be carried out. And a really special one about this was a Nazirite vow. We find that type of vow in Numbers chapter six. In Numbers chapter six, there's this Nazirite vow where somebody's not allowed to cut their hair, and they're not allowed to drink wine, and there's all sorts of stipulations on them during this specific period of time. Some people took a Nazirite vow for life. You think of somebody like John the Baptist, most likely, but other people, It might take a Nazirite vow for a few months or a few years. And so they would make this promise before God, they would go to the tabernacle and they would let it be known to the priests that this was what was going on, and then at the end of that Nazirite vow period, then they would go make a sacrifice. And that's what Numbers chapter 6 verses 13 through 20 get at. It's all about this, okay, you fulfilled these vows, you made these promises to God, now you need to actually fulfill the vow of making the sacrifice. But maybe that's like, okay, but that's Torah, Brian, give us a little bit of something to put our hands on this, right? Well, maybe you remember Samuel's mother. Right, in 1 Samuel, we find her at the tabernacle, and she's weeping, and she's praying in her heart, crying out to God, because she desperately, Hannah desperately wants a child. And she's, this is like this weird thing, because Eli the priest even comes, and he's like, what are you doing drunk here? Shouldn't you know you shouldn't get drunk in the temple? And she's like, I'm not drunk, I'm praying to God. Right, because her mouth is moving, but he doesn't hear any words. But she makes a vow, God, if you give me this child, if you give me a son, then this child will be devoted to the Lord forever. I can't imagine how hard that was to pay that vow, could you? Even the mothers in the room, if you're so barren for a long period of time, you made a vow, and God finally gives you your only child, and you take that child after they're weaned, they're young enough to walk, and you go dedicate that child to go serve the church the rest of their life. I can't imagine how hard of a vow that was for Hannah to actually fulfill. But this is what Psalm 66 points us to. Psalm 66, 13 through 14 says, I will go into your house with burnt offerings. I will pay you my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer you burnt sacrifices of fat animals with the sweet aroma of rams. I will offer bowls and goats. Do you see, as we look at this first part of chapter five, you're able to see this person, they walk prudently when you go to the house of God. Draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth and do not let your heart utter anything hastily before God. Right, and as it goes on in verse four, when you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Do you see the system that God is talking about? If you're going to make a vow to God, if you're gonna go before the Lord, you make that vow, you say your prayer, and then you must make the sacrifice that accompanies it. That's the context, right? So sometimes we have different ideas of vows. but it's very clear what I think Solomon is talking about in the Old Testament priesthood context. So, let's go through this by its group of verses and let's see the wisdom that Solomon has for us now that we have that picture in our mind what God is talking about. And the first thing to look at is verses one through three with guarding your steps and your lips before God. Walk prudently when you go to the house of God. The literal for that in the Hebrew is to guard your feet as you walk to the house of God. Guard your feet as you walk to the house of God and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven and you on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity and a fool's voice is known by his many words." When we come to God, it's not about multiplying a whole bunch of words. It's not about saying all the many, many things to try to gain God's favor. But Solomon points out here that it's better to just be quiet and listen to the Lord. You can imagine people at this time, farmers in a hand-to-mouth, agrarian, sustenance-type society, where it's difficult to plow, it's difficult to reap, it's difficult to store, it's difficult to do all the things, it's difficult to raise animals, you're never quite sure when poverty is around the corner, and so somebody might be tempted, as planting time is coming, and they've planted in tears, They don't have any more food, the grain's all gone, because they put the grain in the ground, praying for the next harvest. And they make a vow to God, they go to the temple, and the seed is in the ground, their bellies are empty, and they go to God, and they say, Lord, please, give us food, and if you give us food, we promise you, we will give you 25% of the proceeds. And then harvest time comes. And it is a good harvest. And they start paying off their debts, and they start doing everything they need to do, and they realize, oh no, we made this vow to God. We said we were gonna give 25% of all of the harvest. How are we gonna live through the winter? And they start reconsidering their vow. That's what Solomon's getting at here. He's saying that's the sacrifice of fools. And they do not know when they were speaking the evil that they were committing. They didn't know that the damaging effects that was happening, right? Because they didn't, God may have given them that bounty. God may have answered their prayer, but they overextended themselves and it would have been better for them just to cry to God for help. or the person just coming through, and they're making this vow, and they're just acting like in the moment, because it's difficult, but God's not really, maybe God's not gonna actually hold me to this vow. Maybe God's not gonna actually hold this seriously. The Lord does hold vows seriously. He certainly does. As I was praying over and thinking about this passage, I was thinking about a time when I was 17 years old. I made a rash vow to the Lord. I didn't know that the Lord was gonna make me pay that vow. I was working at a fast food joint. It was called Baker's Burgers, like 10.30 at night, something like that. My dad was in the parking lot waiting in the car for me to get off my shift. So we were cleaning everything up. And then we got robbed. We got robbed at gunpoint. And as a gun was pointed in my face, the floor was wet, the tile was hard and cold, and I just remember crying out to God, God, please save me. Don't let me die. I promise I'll serve you the rest of my life. I tried to run away from that promise for years. The Lord doesn't let us take vows lightly. He holds our feet to the fire. So Solomon says, let your words be few. Why? God is utterly transcendent. God is not here. He's not a man that's just gonna forget and walk away. No, God is in heaven. He sees everything. He is the ultimate, supreme, holy one who is to be reverenced above all else. And so we ought not to treat him as if he's just some little trinket, some little totem, some mysterious little deity over the fields that we can bargain with. No, he's in heaven and we're on earth, therefore let your words be few. Our prayers must be shaped by reverence. by knowing who the awesome and holy and majestic, high and exalted God we serve is. He's not some tool for us to use. It is a God for us to worship. So in verses four through six, we find this God we are told we must keep our vows to. Look with me at verses four through six. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it. For he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? This is exactly what Jesus was getting at with the Pharisees. As he was in the Beatitudes and he was teaching on the Sermon on the Mount that Elder Pilling read, and he said, you know, it's better just not to vow at all. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, because the rabbis had taught the Jewish people at that time, well, you know, God really does take vows seriously. And so you don't want to vow to God, because God's gonna hold you to that vow, and you might make a mess up. And so, instead of vowing to God, vow to the city instead. Instead of vowing to the name of the Lord himself, instead, vow to the altar. Or instead, vow to your head instead of God, who is your head. Just lower the vow a little bit, and Jesus is saying, y'all don't know what you're talking about. God hears what you're saying. He knows you're trying to find a loophole, a way to skirt your commitment. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. If you're gonna vow, keep your vow, but if you're not actually gonna vow, don't even vow. That's what he's saying there. We must not make rash promises that dishonor God and trap us in sin because God still demands the vow to be paid. And so do we have integrity in our speech? Now we kind of quickly glossed over verse three, but some people make vows out of desperation. Other people make vows out of lofty dreams. There's a lot of work and in all the doing, they start making promises to God and to others that they can't keep. And a fool's voice is known by his many words. And so do we have integrity in what we actually say? It's our yes, yes, and it's our no, no. And the Lord knows when you make a mistake. And if you make a sinful vow, I don't think God is going to force you to keep a vow that is sinful. But if you make a righteous agreement, if you make a righteous vow, especially to God, we must be those who are faithful to our commitments. But why? Well, look with me at verse seven. For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there is also vanity, but fear God. Why do we as Christians, right? If there's any similarity here in our vows to others and in our vows to God, what's the, What's the motivating thrust for us to actually want to keep those vows? I want you to notice something that's a little bit easy to gloss over. But look with me at, again, chapter five, and we're gonna just look from verses one through seven. I want you to count how many times you see the word God mentioned. In Hebrew, when a name is mentioned again and again and again, it's repetition to enforce something. So in verse one, we go to the house of God. And then in verse two, do not let your heart utter anything hastily before God. Why? For God is in heaven. And then in verse four, when you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it. And then in verse six, why should God be angry at your excuse? And then in verse seven, for the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity, but fear God. Right, all of this is in this context of worship and of making vows to God, and the point is that God is to be reverenced. Right, we sometimes in our culture have just this casual nature about all relationships. We don't like to think that people are above us. Many of us like to think people are below us. But we certainly don't like the idea of having to reverence someone above us. But Ecclesiastes doesn't give us that opportunity. In God's word here, why are you to reverence God? Because he is in heaven, not on earth. because he's no trinket or toy. He's not there at your disposal. He's not there just for you to get what you want, but God is in heaven. And so because of who he is as the transcendent one, the maker and master of the universe, we take our words before him seriously. Reverence may not be in vogue for the world, but it is in the Christian's heart. Have you ever wondered why we call God, specifically Jesus, Lord? Lord in the old English is the keeper of the bread, but that's not actually, it's a translation of a Greek word, Kyrios, which is what you would tell somebody who is either a slave master or the owner of the home or the one who is in charge of society. We kind of lost that, right? Maybe if we were in the South, right, people would say, yes sir, to anybody who is older than them, or yes ma'am to any older lady in the church, or their teacher. We don't really have, right? We've almost lost that sense of reverence of someone above us. And it's not just like this cultural thing, right? This is a biblical thing. God is not our equal. He is above us. He is our Lord. Now he loves us as a heavenly father. He cares for us, but he's not our bro. And we see that in Jesus' attitude himself when he taught his disciples and as he lived his life. I'd like to wrap this up by moving away from Ecclesiastes chapter 5 a little bit and looking at Jesus' life himself. I want you to just, as we work through this concept of Jesus' teaching and who Jesus is, just reflect a little bit on your own life and your relationship with Christ. As you think about Jesus, how do you think about and relate to him? When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in Matthew chapter 6, just after what Jim read for us this morning, in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. And you guys know this. And when you pray, and when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Essentially, they're doing this just out of man service, for the eyes of men, not out of a devotion and reverence to God. But you, when you pray, go into your room. And when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Notice in verse seven, the idea of this is vain repetition of words. Reminds us of Ecclesiastes five, with the multiplication of words and the falling. And when you pray, do not use vain repetition as the heathens do, for they think that they will be heard by their many words. And then in verse nine, in this manner therefore pray. And notice the reverence and the tone of how Jesus told us how to pray. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Did you hear a rash vow there? Did you hear trying to use God as just a way to get to your own ends? No. You see this family love of a son crying out to his father, but also this reverence, this humility. God, your name should be great. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Forgive me my debts, as I forgive those who are debtors against me. It's a reverent tone, even with this flowing of love. And we see Jesus had this, in his humanity as he was here on earth, treated his father with that same type of reverence and respect and love. He came to do all that his father sent him to do. It's interesting because the disciples, as they would go on, the disciples really had two different ways that they would talk about Jesus. They would often call him, rabbi or teacher. But there's certain points in their life when they realize there's far more than just a rabbi or a teacher. It's at those points, what would they call Jesus? Lord. And as they got that from Jesus from time to time, they would realize that Jesus was no one to be trifled with. He was no trinket for them to just learn from and then pass away. And my mind went, as I was studying this, thinking about how the disciples treated Jesus as their Lord, fearing him when he was in the boat. And as he slept in the boat, there was a great wind that was swept up, and the boat was starting to get swamped, and Jesus was asleep in the front of the boat, and the disciples go to him in fear, and they say, Jesus, wake up! Don't you know we're about to die? And Jesus stands up, and he rebukes the wind and the waves, and he says, be quiet. And immediately, It was a great calm, but it's the disciples' reaction after that that's amazing to me. And they asked each other, what type of man is this that the wind and the waves obey him? And they bowed down to Jesus and worshiped him. They knew that Jesus was nobody to just be trifled with. He was the one that by the words out of his mouth, the wind would stop and the waves would cease. See, this is why Philippians chapter two tells us that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Yes, Jesus is our older brother. Jesus is the one who forgives us of our sins. Jesus is the one whom we love, right? But Jesus is also our Lord. That's why we listen to him. That's why we reverence him. That's why we love him. And this is why in Revelation chapter five, all of heaven erupts in worship at the Lamb who was slain. So what is our attitude when we come before God? When you walk into the assembly of God's people, what are you wanting to get out of worship? When you walk into God's special presence on the Lord's day to worship, why are you here? Are you here because you think that somehow if you just attend enough church and say enough prayers and sing enough psalms and listen to enough boring sermons, finally God will give you what you actually want? Or do you come because your God in heaven is the one whom you love and you fear and you know all reverence and honor is due to him and so you serve him because you love him? Because you want his will and not your own? Because you want his kingdom and not your own. Because his glory and his name and his fame should be hallowed. And you want to be a part of his kingdom. Or are you coming because you think you've made a bargain with God? And then if you just do the right stuff, he'll give you what you want in this life and maybe you won't get sent to hell. Sadly, I think that's how a lot of people treat God. How a lot of people think of Jesus. If I just confess my sins to Jesus, that I've made this bargain with the divine, and I'm not gonna go to hell because I've made this little two-sentence prayer, and so I'm good. I'm good. Not realizing that what they've done in confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is a vow for all eternity to serve him. Jesus is no bargaining chip out of hell and into heaven. So I want to leave you, not with a nice little tightly bow, you know, everything's perfect with this picture of sermon. I want to leave you with questions in your mind. How do you treat God? What is your attitude when you come to worship? Do you treat God like a bargaining chip? Or is the Lord of heaven majestic in your eyes? And do you long to sing his praises and see his glory and to be with him forever because he is in heaven and we are but those on earth and yet he takes notice of us. Brothers and sisters, reverence the Lord. Don't be rash with your vows. But he is a God who is worthy of all true praise and honor and glory. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, that you have shown yourself to us. And God, we pray that we would not just be in some type of servile submission to you out of a shaking in our boots, oh no, you're going to destroy our work, type fear. But Lord, that you would fill our hearts with a holy awe and reverence that you, the God who created all things by the word of your power, have called us to serve you. And what a blessing it is to be counted in your kingdom as your children. And so God, we pray. We pray that you would please work in our hearts to lovingly submit to you, our Lord, our master, our king. For yours is the glory and the power and the kingdom forever and ever. We pray this in Jesus's name, amen.

• • Why do people make rash promises to God in moments of desperation? Have you ever done this?

  • How does Jesus’ teaching on prayer reshape our approach to vows and petitions?

  • What does it mean to confess Jesus as “Lord”? How is that itself a vow?

  • How can we cultivate reverence in a culture that often treats God casually?

  • When, if ever, is it appropriate for a Christian to make a vow today?

• Vow – A solemn promise made to God, binding in conscience.

• Sacrifice of Fools – Empty worship, rash speech, or unkept vows (Eccl. 5:1).

• Reverence – Holy awe and respect for God’s majesty.

• Integrity – Consistency of speech and action, truthfulness without loopholes.

• Lord (Kyrios) – Title for Jesus denoting authority, ownership, and divine lordship.