4 It is better not to take an oath than to take an oath and not keep it.
Give to the Lord your God what is his by right; let all who are round him give offerings to him who is to be feared.
I will come into your house with burned offerings, I will make payment of my debt to you, Keeping the word which came from my lips, and which my mouth said, when I was in trouble.
Make an offering of praise to God; keep the agreements which you have made with the Most High;
Again, you have knowledge that it was said in old times, Do not take false oaths, but give effect to your oaths to the Lord:
You had no joy in burned offerings or in offerings for sin.
If only there was one among you who would see that the doors were shut, so that you might not put a light to the fire on my altar for nothing! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of armies, and I will not take an offering from your hands.
Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on,
He has no delight in the strength of a horse; he takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in his worshippers, and in those whose hope is in his mercy.
O Lord, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of her who is your servant; by you have my cords been broken. I will give an offering of praise to you, and make my prayer in the name of the Lord. I will make the offerings of my oath, even before all his people;
I will make the offering of my oath to the Lord, even before all his people.
When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin. But if you take no oath, there will be no sin. Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God.
And let us go up to Beth-el: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Solomon, in this chapter, discourses,
So that if we can but learn out of this chapter how to manage the business of religion, and the business of this world (which two take up most of our time), so that both may turn to a good account, and neither our sabbath days nor our week-days may be lost, we shall have reason to say, We have learned two good lessons.
Ecc 5:1-3
Solomon's design, in driving us off from the world, by showing us its vanity, is to drive us to God and to our duty, that we may not walk in the way of the world, but by religious rules, nor depend upon the wealth of the world, but on religious advantages; and therefore,
Ecc 5:4-8
Four things we are exhorted to in these verses:-
Ecc 5:9-17
Solomon had shown the vanity of pleasure, gaiety, and fine works, of honour, power, and royal dignity; and there is many a covetous worldling that will agree with him, and speak as slightly as he does of these things; but money, he thinks, is a substantial thing, and if he can but have enough of that he is happy. This is the mistake which Solomon attacks, and attempts to rectify, in these verses; he shows that there is as much vanity in great riches, and the lust of the eye about them, as there is in the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life, and a man can make himself no more happy by hoarding an estate than by spending it.
Ecc 5:18-20
Solomon, from the vanity of riches hoarded up, here infers that the best course we can take is to use well what we have, to serve God with it, to do good with it, and take the comfort of it to ourselves and our families; this he had pressed before, ch. 2:24; 3:22. Observe,