mepastormike

Today I was driving in the car and a song came on the radio by Geoff Moore called "The Vow." In this song Geoff Moore makes the distinction between a promise and a vow. This really made me think about the difference between the two. Later in the day a good friend and I were talking about marriage and the vows that are made between husband and wife. This only added to my thoughts on the difference between a promise and a vow. I looked the meaning of both within the context of Old Testament Scripture to see if there was a difference there. What I discovered was this: a promise is a spoken word of expectation... in other words whatever is spoken is expected to come about. A vow is different in that it involves an act of the will (volition) along with the spoken word. There is a choice of the will to carry out what was spoken (or promised).
Basically the difference is that a vow is a step stronger than a promise. In terms of human relationship a promise would be like an engagement where the expectation is that marriage will take place. A vow is the fulfillment of that promise carried all the way out.
I guess one could split hairs over the meaning of the two words... the old saying goes "the proof is in the pudding." Now, I have no idea what that means, other than our word should stand for something! And what we say will be lived out by what we do. In Numbers 30:2 it states, "If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." Hmmm... better not make any hasty vows!
My reading took me to 2 Kings, chapter 5. In this chapter a man named Naaman is healed of leprosy. He is told by the prophet Elisha to wash seven times in the Jordan river and his leprosy would be healed (hey, look... a promise). Naaman went away in a rage becuase he thought the idea was dumb. He was persuaded by his servants to do what Elisha had instructed him to do. Once he was cleansed Naaman returned to Elisha and declared that there was no other God in all the world.