Scripture Daily

Context No. 1122 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 23:21-25: in context

21When you vow a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not be slack to pay it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, it shall be no sin in you. 23You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to the LORD your God as a free will offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do. 24When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat your fill of grapes at your own pleasure; but you shall not put any in your container. 25When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Two kinds of laws sit side by side here. First, on vows: if you make a vow to the LORD, do not delay to fulfill it, for God will require it of you; but if you refrain from vowing, that is no sin. Whatever your lips have promised, you must do. Second, a law of neighborly generosity: when you pass through your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes there, but not carry any away in a container; when you pass through his standing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand, but not put a sickle to it.

Both laws are about the integrity of your word and your restraint with what is not yours. The vow law is bracing: God takes our promises to him seriously, and it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. It is a caution against the easy, inflated promises we make to God in moments of need or emotion and then quietly drop; God remembers what our lips said, and a promise made to him is a debt. Notice, too, the freedom in it, no one is required to make vows, so the wisdom is to promise less and keep it rather than promise grandly and default. The field law shows the other side of integrity, generosity with a boundary. A hungry traveler could freely eat his fill from a neighbor's vineyard or grain, God built openhandedness into the land, but he could not load up a container or swing a sickle; he could meet his need but not exploit his neighbor's labor. Together the laws sketch a person of honest words and honest hands: one who keeps promises to God and takes from a neighbor only enough, never more.

Do I keep the promises I make to God rather than inflating and dropping them, and am I honest with what belongs to others, taking enough to meet a need but never exploiting their labor?

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