Vow

Vow (נֶדֶר, neder, a technical word for the idea; εὐχή, a prayer, as sometimes rendered) defined as a religious undertaking, either,

1. Positive, to do or perform; or,

2. Negative, to abstain from doing or performing a certain thing. Vows rest on a human view of religious obligations, assuming, as they do, that a kind of recompense is to be made to God for good enjoyed, or consideration offered for good desiderated, or a gratuity presented to buy off an impending or threatened ill. They were quite in place in a system of religion which so largely consisted of doing or not doing certain outward acts, with a view of pleasing Jehovah and gaining his favor. The Israelite, who had been taught by performances of daily recurrence to consider particular ceremonies as essential to his possessing the divine favor, may easily have been led to the conviction which existed probably in the primitive ages of the world, that voluntary oblations and self-imposed sacrifices had a special value in the sight of God. When once this conviction had led to corresponding practice, it could not be otherwise than of the highest consequence that these sacred promises, which in sanctity differed little from oaths, should be religiously and scrupulously observed. Before a vow is taken there may be strong reasons why it should not be made; but when it is once, assumed, a new obligation is contracted, which has the greater force because of its voluntary nature, a new element is introduced, which strongly requires the observance of the vow, if the bonds of morality are not to be seriously relaxed. For example, a person may be of opinion that total abstinence is in itself not a virtue nor of general obligation, but he cannot doubt that "breaking the pledge," when once taken, is an act of immorality that cannot be repeated without undermining the very foundations of character; whence it obviously appears that caution should be observed, not only in keeping, but also in leading men to make, pledges, vows, and promises.