Ecclesiastes 5:4
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
Today’s verse is a fairly good example of the fact that the New Testament has no comments of rebuttal to offer to Old Testament moral teaching, but it often has refinements and improvements. The Teacher in today’s verse says to his audience what all teachers of morality have said since the beginning of time: “Little boys and girls should keep their promises.” In so doing, he fulfills the role of moral teacher that Samuel Johnson described: he reminds rather than instructs. And to go lower than this instruction is, for all eternity, to be a fool. But to go higher is not. And so, Jesus says not “Don’t pay what you vow” but instead says “Pay without the vow.” In other words, keep your promises without the added compulsion of a vow. Vows are like leg braces for a trick knee. They presuppose that the person making the vow is not terribly trustworthy. Jesus says, “Be trustworthy. Then you don’t need to make vows.” (Matthew 5:34-37).
