1 Samuel 1:11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me… And she vowed a vow. The first recorded instance of a religious yowls that of Jacob (Genesis 28:20; Genesis 31:13). Under a sense of obligation to God, he entered into a spontaneous and solemn engagement before him to do what he believed would be pleasing in his sight, joining with it the desire of obtaining certain benefits at his hand. He did not, as it has been said, make a bargain with God; but gratefully repeated what had been virtually promised ("if" or "since God will be with me," etc.), and simply desired those blessings, without which it would be impossible for him to fulfil his purpose. Directions concerning the practice of making vows were given in the Law (Leviticus 27.; Numbers 6., 30.). The age of the judges was an age of vows. "Then appears a new power of the age, the binding vow - a spasmodic impulse, dangerous to many, yet in the greatest emergencies of life indispensable; bracing up the deepest energies, and working the greatest marvels; often renovating, or else entirely transforming, whole nations and religions; assuming a thousand forms, and in all, while the first fidelity endures, exercising an indomitable power" (Ewald). Jephthah - Samson - Samuel. Vows are seldom alluded to in the New Testament (Luke 1:15; Acts 18:18; Acts 21:23). In some of their forms, and in so far as they might embody a legal spirit, they are done away. But they are not prohibited; and, understood as denoting a solemn binding of ourselves to the service of God, or resolutions and engagements made before him to perform or omit certain definite acts, they are often needful and beneficial. Consider that - I. THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS TO WHICH THEY MAY LAWFULLY PERTAIN. 1. Things over which we possess a rightful authority. We may not vow what does not belong to us. 2. Things which ought to be done, independently of vows; but the obligation of which is felt for the first time, or with unusual force. 3. Things which are in themselves indifferent; being right or wrong according to the individual conscience, but with reference to which a vow creates a new obligation. The vow of a Nazarite to abstain from wine, etc. 4. Things, more particularly, that relate to the use of (1) property (Genesis 28:22; 1 Corinthians 16:2); (2) time; (3) influence over others, especially in the training of children; (4) the various powers of body and soul (Romans 12:1). II. THERE ARE SPECIAL OCCASIONS ON WHICH THEY ARE APPROPRIATELY MADE. 1. Severe trouble - personal affliction, nearness to death, bereavement; bringing the invisible and eternal nigh, teaching dependence on God, and exciting desire for his help (Isaiah 66:13, 14). 2. Singular prosperity - unexpected recovery from illness, extraordinary deliverance from danger, unwonted providential and spiritual benefits, temporal success. 3. Spiritual exercises - in public worship, private meditation, religious profession. 4. Starting points of life - a birthday, the first day of a new year, the commencement of a fresh enterprise. These things are often occasions of spiritual illumination and impression, mountain heights that rise above the mists of ordinary life; and it is well to embody the views and feelings then entertained in fixed purposes, definite resolutions, solemn vows for future guidance and help. "Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God" (Psalm 76:11). III. THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE MADE IN A PROPER SPIRIT. With - 1. Due deliberation (Ecclesiastes 5:2), so as to ascertain "what the will of the Lord is," and what we may reasonably hope to accomplish, lest they should become a burden and temptation. 2. A sense of dependence on Divine grace; and not in a self-righteous spirit, as if our service were exceedingly meritorious, and deserved to be richly rewarded. 3. Humble and earnest prayer for the aid of the Divine Spirit. Vows made in our own strength are "as the morning cloud and the early dew." 4. Faith in Christ, the perfect pattern of self-surrender and self-sacrifice, the way of approach to God, the medium of Divine blessing. "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar" (Psalm 118:27). IV. WHEN MADE THEY OUGHT TO BE STRICTLY FULFILLED. Their making is optional, voluntary; not so their performance. Their obligation - 1. Changes not with a change of feeling, even with respect to those things which are, in themselves, indifferent. "The things which are in insight willed Must be in hours of gloom fulfilled." 2. Rests upon the same ground as that of the obligation of promises generally, and is specially strong because of their sacred character. 3. Is enforced by the consequences of their observance or neglect. Their fulfilment is a means of grace. Broken vows undermine the foundations of character, interfere with Divine fellowship, and pave the way to destruction (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6). 4. Requires their performance with sincerity (in the sense intended, not by the substitution of something else, not in part merely), cheerfulness (Psalm 116:17, 18), and promptitude. "Defer not." "There is a Greek mythical story of the treatment of the goddess Juno by Mandrabulus the Samian. This man had, under her auspices, and by her directions, discovered a golden mine. In the first flush of gratitude he vowed to her a golden ram; however, he presently exchanged that for a silver one, and again that for a very small brass one, and that for nothing at all" (Trench). "It is storied of a merchant that in a great storm at sea vowed to Jupiter, if he would save him and his vessel, to give him a hecatomb. The storm ceaseth, and he bethinks that a hecatomb was unreasonable; he resolves on seven oxen. Another tempest comes, and now again he vows the seven at least. Delivered, then also he thought that seven were too many, and one ox would serve his turn. Yet another peril comes, and now he vows solemnly to fall no lower; if he might be rescued, an ox Jupiter shall have. Again freed, the ox sticks in his stomach, and he would fain draw his devotion to a lower rate; a sheep was sufficient. But at last, being set ashore, he thought a sheep too much, and purposeth to carry to the altar only a few dates. But by the way he eats up the dates, and lays on the altar only the shells. After this manner do many perform their vows" (Adams, vol. 1. p. 112). - D. Parallel Verses KJV: And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no rasor come upon his head. |
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