2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin.

Today we're looking at the final two loopholes the Pharisees created: the Bluff Card and the Escape Card.

The Bluff Card was when they would make vows in the heat of the moment with big words and no follow through. They might say something like, "I swear by Heaven I'll do it!" or "By the altar, I promise you!" But they had no real intention to follow through. They were bluffing.

Does this sound familiar? You say to your spouse, "Babe, I promise I'll take you on a date soon," but you have no intention of actually planning the date. You say to your friend, "Yes, I will be praying for you," but you never actually pray. You tell someone, "I will for sure be there," but you have no plans or intentions on showing up. Or maybe you've prayed, "God, I promise if you get me out of this, I will never do it again," but you have no intent on keeping your word.

Just like a builder who promises to finish a job but never returns to the worksite, these are empty words that damage trust and weaken the foundation of relationship.

The Escape Card was even more calculated. If someone made a vow and later wanted to get out of it, they could go before a rabbi and claim ignorance. Basically, they would say, "If I had known this would happen, I would never have made that vow." The rabbi could then declare the vow annulled, as if it had never existed. So this loophole was a built in escape card: any vow could be cancelled retroactively if you could find a reason to claim "I didn't know."

Here's what's crazy: the Pharisees and religious leaders created an entire legal playbook for lying. The Nedarim was the section of Rabbinic law devoted to oaths and vows, but most of it was dedicated to instructions on how to cancel or nullify a vow. They were deliberately looking for ways to escape their words rather than live by them.

Now, we can look at these Pharisaical loopholes and think, "Man, that's crazy. How could anyone live like that?" But the truth is, we do the same things. We make promises we don't intend to keep. We look for ways out of our commitments. We claim we didn't fully understand what we were agreeing to. We create our own escape hatches.

But God's standard is clear in Scripture: "If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." It's not complicated. Mean what you say. Do what you promise. Keep your word.

Tomorrow, we'll shift from looking at the loopholes to discovering the pathway forward.

Stop making promises you don't intend to keep. Today, either follow through on a promise you've been avoiding, or apologize for a commitment you can't honor and release the other person from waiting on you.

I’m praying that the Holy Spirit gives you the strength to follow through on what you’ve promised. That your words would carry weight because they come from a heart anchored in truth. I’m believing that God will free you from the pressure to say things just to sound right, and instead fill you with the courage to live right. May you become someone whose “yes” and “no” can be trusted — not out of perfection, but because your heart is fully surrendered to Him.