PROMISE-KEEPERS IN THE BIBLE

 

The July/August 2021 issue of CT magazine had a feature article on the popular men's movement Promise Keepers begun 25 years ago. It outlined some of the reasons why it was successful for a while but had no staying power. That prompted me to think of biblical examples of those who made vows, promises, or proclamations and then either regretted them or had trouble carrying them out.

The whole concept of watching what you say in terms of promises and vows resonates throughout the Bible, with appropriate warnings found in both the New and Old Testaments. Whole chapters of the OT such as Leviticus 27 and Numbers 30 deal with the subject. Also:

    “When you make a vow to God, don't put off fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you have vowed. It is better not to have made the vow in the first place than to vow and then not fulfill it.” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5)

    “Let your yes be yes and your no be no; anything in addition to this comes from the Evil One.”    (Matthew 5:37)

    “Above all, beloved, don't swear by heaven or earth or be any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you do not fall under condemnation.” (James 5:12)

Of course, the supreme example we have in terms of someone who is true to his word is God Himself. However, we must keep in mind that God's promises are always conditional, whether it is actually stated or not, and are predicated on others acting in accordance with His will. (See Deuteronomy 28:68 for one example.) That brings up the fact that one could say the prime promise-breakers in the Bible were the people of Israel who repeatedly did not keep their covenant with God.

And I can think of several specific cases in the Bible where people regretted having given their word.

Old Testament

The early Patriarchs were known for their adherence to the promises they had made, especially those made to God. But the situation began to change with the conquest of Canaan.

Joshua 9: This chapter takes place during the time that Israel had just begun their task of conquering the Promised Land and a group of people from Gibeon approached Joshua in worn-out clothes and shoes. They give him a cock-and-bull story saying that they heard about the mighty feats of the Israelites in their far-away country and came to make a non-aggression pact with Israel. Although the story is obviously full of inconsistencies, Joshua and the people readily make the treaty and give their word not to harm them or their people.

Later, the Israelites learn that they have been tricked since Gibeon is a near neighbor. They can't go back on their vow, and so they compromise by turning the Gibeonites into their servants instead. This sort of approach to getting out of the letter of an agreement will be seen in other places. But, naturally, the best course of action would have been to refrain from making any sort of covenant in the first place until checking out the facts of the situation. The danger of making such rash vows will also be seen in the next example.

Judges 11: This contains the famous story of the judge Jephthah who vowed to give to God as a burnt offering the first thing/person who greeted him after battle if God would only give him the victory. In the first place, it is obvious that we should not take Jephthah's example as one to emulate by bargaining with God. Secondly, it is equally obvious that the wording of Jephthah's vow indicates that he was fully prepared to carry out a human sacrifice in order to win the battle.

Of course, it is his daughter who greets him and Jephthah must carry out his promise to God no matter what. At this point of the story, details get a little hazy. For one thing, his daughter bemoans the fact that she will never have a child, not that she will be killed. Secondly, we never actually hear of her death. I like to think, as do some commentators, that Jephthah did just as Joshua did in the above example – he commuted her sentence to serving God full time in the same manner that nuns do today.

Judges 21: As this chapter starts out, the eleven tribes have practically decimated the tribe of Benjamin. They are so angry that they vow never to give any of their daughters in marriage to the remaining males of that tribe. But soon afterward they begin to have second thoughts because they don't want that twelfth tribe to completely die out.

Realizing that they can't break their oath, they again decide on a compromise and arrange instead for the Benjamites to kidnap the women of Shiloh while they are dancing during their yearly festival. So basically the whole sad book of Judges ends with a story of mass rape.

I Samuel 14: Saul and Jonathan and their troops defeat the Philistines, and Jonathan especially acquits himself well in the battle. But, as v. 24 states, “Saul committed a very rash act on that day.” He bound his troops to an oath that they would not taste food until the battle was over or they would be executed. Unfortunately, his son Jonathan did not hear about it until he had tasted some honey. It later becomes obvious that God is displeased with the Israelites for some reason, and so they cast the Urim and Thummin to decide who is the guilty party. When the lot falls to Jonathan, Saul realizes that he will have to kill his own son. This story has definite similarities with that of Jephthah and his daughter.

The troops rally to Jonathan's defense and argue that he had been doing the LORD's work that day and should be spared. Saul backs down to public pressure, as he does later also, rather than honor his oath before God. This will mark the beginning of the end for Saul.

II Samuel 9: In this chapter we are told of the generous actions of King David toward Jonathan's lame son Mephibosheth. David takes him into his house and promises that he will always have a place at the king's table. He also restores all of Saul's land to him under the stewardship of the servant Ziba.

The next time we run into Ziba is in chapter 16 when David is fleeing from Jerusalem as Absalom approaches the city. Ziba gives David some food for the soldiers and tells David that his master Mephibosheth has deserted David in favor of Absalom, who he believers will restore him to his rightful position as king. This story is as full of holes as the Gibeonite's tall tale to Joshua was. For one thing, there would have been no earthly reason for Absalom to turn the reign over to Mephibosheth. It would have been more likely that Absalom would have had him executed as a rival to the throne.

But David had just been informed of the defection of his trusted adviser Ahithophel and was apparently in a receptive mood to believe Ziba's story, and so David rashly goes back on his promise to Mephibosheth and gives all of his land to Ziba instead.

The end of this story comes in II Samuel 19:24-30 when David returns to Jerusalem and is told by Mephibosheth that Ziba had been lying, as David should have suspected right off the bat. At this point, David doesn't know what to do since he had made promises to both parties. And so, as in other examples in this little essay, he divides the land equally between the two of them.

Daniel 3: Skipping ahead in time to the Babylonian captivity, we come to the story of another king, Nebuchadnezzar, in which he has a golden statue made and makes another rash vow. He proclaims that anyone not worshiping the statue will die. Of course, the three Jewish boys that he had promoted to very responsible positions within the kingdom refuse to do so, as the king would have realized if he knew anything at all about Jewish beliefs. They are thrown into the fire but are not consumed.

At this point, although Nebuchadnezzar can't take back his proclamation, he just issues another one stating that anyone blaspheming against their God will be torn limb from limb and their house destroyed.

Daniel 6: This story is very close in plot and theme to the one in Daniel 3 although it takes place during the Persian reign. King Darius makes a similar proclamation stating that upon threat of death, prayers during a 30-day period could only be directed to the king himself. Again, he should have realized that his favorite adviser, Daniel, would not obey such a command. Daniel is turned in by some of his enemies in the court, and Darius is forced against his wishes to throw Daniel into the lion's den. This time, after Daniel's escape, the king makes another proclamation stating that everyone should tremble and fear before Daniel's God.

Book of Esther: This is another example in which the plot hinges on the fact that the Persian king cannot take back a proclamation once it is issued. The villain Haman convinces Darius that there is an enemy group within his kingdom that must be eradicated. Again, illustrating the principle that one should be extremely careful about making vows, promises or proclamations without getting all the facts first, Darius lets Haman have his way. So a date is set on which the people are free to kill any Jews they come across. However, at the time the king is completely ignorant of the fact that (1) one Jew, Mordecai, has saved his life and (2) his own wife Esther is a Jew also.

When Darius learns the facts in the situation, it is too late to take back his proclamation so he just formulates another one giving the Jews free reign to not only defend themselves but go on the offensive against their known enemies at the same time.

Jonah 1:7-16: This story at the beginning of the book recounts the incident of the storm at sea when Jonah has taken a boat to try to evade God's command for him. The sailors begin to quiz Jonah and find out that he is the cause of God's wrath. When they throw Jonah into the sea, the storm stops and they fear God. They then offer sacrifices and make vows. We don't know the exact nature of the vows, but I would imagine that they were similar to the foxhole conversions in which a soldier prays that he will turn his life around if only God will let him live through the battle.

The question is: Were the sailors sincere and would they actually follow through on their promises? I would like to think that the answer to both is Yes. In the first place, they resist having to throw their passenger overboard because they don't want to incur any guilt. And then, when they do decide to go ahead, they pray to God to remove their guilt. Thirdly, they are completely convinced of God's power once the storm ceases. Lastly, the whole book is filled with examples of people and things that obey God: the storm, the giant sea creature, the king of Nineveh, the Ninevites, the vine, and the bug that eats up the vine. In fact, everything and everybody except Jonah himself.

New Testament

We have fewer examples of vows here to relate. Paul apparently at one point makes a temporary Nazirite vow not to touch strong drink or cut his hair (see Acts 18:18), but we don't know anything more about this occasion other than the fact that he completes his vow after the designated time is up.

Acts 21: When Paul enters Jerusalem, the church leaders there convince him to take part in a purification ceremony along with four men who have similarly made a temporary vow. This, James and the church elders hope, will show the Jewish Christians that Paul has not abandoned the Jewish ordinances. But, demonstrating the fact that even one's good works will sometimes be taken in the wrong way, that move turns into a disaster instead. The non-Christian Jews jump to the unwarranted conclusion that Paul has taken Gentiles into the temple and they riot.

But this event paradoxically has the effect of starting the process of arrest that will allow Paul to witness before leaders from the Jewish Sanhedrin to as far away as Rome. (See Acts 23:11 for the fact that all of this was really part of God's plan for him all along.) And in addition, this event leads indirectly to the final example of vows that I would like to highlight.

Acts 23:12-15: We learn in these verses that a group of forty co-conspirators has formed to kill Paul, and they have vowed not to eat or drink until their purpose has been accomplished. Their plot fails when a relative of Paul finds out about it. Since Paul lived on for many years after that time, I have often wondered what happened to these forty men. I find it hard to believe that they would have all starved themselves to death. I would be willing to bet that they acted just as almost all the above Old Testament examples did by somehow justifying to themselves that Paul was on his way to Rome where he would almost certainly be executed. Thus, they could be released from their vows without incurring the penalty of God's wrath.

The bottom line is: Be very careful what you promise to God or anyone else, especially when you are in a heightened emotional state and haven't taken the time to think it out clearly. Remember that you don't possess all the facts in the case and you may have a change of heart later on.