Genesis 28:20 Commentary and Bible Study

A vow is a very special act. A promise is not as strong as a vow. We should keep a promise, but often a promise is made in the hope we can keep it without being certain. We may be sick and so have to use our best endeavours, but you only make a vow if you can and must keep it. We make them at certain times: marriage vows; vows in a court of law. They are reserved for the highest issues of life, and there can be none higher than the pledge to live to God. It is a reasonable vow; it can be done. We don’t vow to flatten mountains, or do miracles, or be sinless, but we vow to give our life to God. We don’t make vows like this to our fellow man or woman, but to God. We had better keep it alive. We know the advantages, the persecution, the derision we may face; when we made it we understood the costs. That vow is the end of rebellion. This is not said to downgrade a promise, but we bind ourselves to keep a vow. The Christian life is based on a vow: one particular one, of immense importance at the start, and many others that follow. The new Christian vows to follow Christ all the days of his or her life. That is not a rash thing to do, because it is a life in which we lean on the Lord and he has promised to help us reach the end of our journey. ‘For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.’ (Hebrews 13:5-6).Jacob’s eyes were opened, and he met with God. He knew that he was unworthy as he was, and yet he was accepted. You cannot make any vow unless God has revealed himself to you. This is not about making a vow to secure a place in heaven. You can only vow because you are already saved.‘If God will be with me.’ ‘If’ in Hebrew may be conditional, but it can also be consequential: ‘As God will be with me’, I will do the following. God has shown us how our sins will be washed away, he has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us; Christ has prayed for us that we will be kept by the Father. For our part we can then safely vow to serve him all the days of our life. As God has promised all these things, then I will not be overwhelmed. Since God is bound to keep me, I will vow. Jacob doesn’t expect anything much in return from God. As thou will be with me, keep me and look after me with elementary things. He does not ask for riches. He asks for no more than God has just promised to give him.