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Ecc_5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for [he hath] no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
Ver. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it.] {See Trapp on "Deu_23:22"} It is in thy power to vow or not to vow. Vovere nusquam est praeceptum, saith Bellarmine. {a} We have no command to vow. That of David, "Vow and perform to the Lord your God," is not purum praeceptum, saith Mr Cartwright, a pure precept, but like that other, "Be angry, and sin not"; where anger is not commanded, but limited. So neither are we simply commanded to vow, but having voluntarily vowed, we may not defer to pay it; delays are taken for denials, excuses for refusals.
For he hath no pleasure in fools.] He "needs" them as little as King Achish did; {1Sa_21:15} he "abhors" them {Psa_5:5} as deceitful workers, as mockers of God. Jephthah in vovendo fuit stultus, inpraestando impius: {b} Jephthah was a fool invowing, and wicked in performing. But he that vows a thing lawful and possible, and yet defers to perform it, or seeks an evasion, is two fools for failing; since -
{a} De Monac., lib. ii. cap. 15.
{b} Jerome