Introduction
In this chapter, the Lord sets forth the results of both discipline and obedience. Obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings cursing. The result of this blessing of obedience would be that Israel would enjoy the blessings of the covenant relationship, Exodus 23:20-33 / Deuteronomy 28:1-68.
REWARD FOR OBEDIENCE
‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God. ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. ‘I will look on you with favour and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.’ Leviticus 26:1-13
If the Israelites were to be obedient to God and His laws, they must stay clear of idolatry, Leviticus 26:1 / Exodus 20:4 / 1 Corinthians 8:4.
Meyrick, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This expression to bow down unto (or toward) a pillar forbade, not only worshipping a pillar (or image), but also worshipping in the presence of it.’
For someone to make an idol, they usually begin with their imagination, they carve the image into what they think their god looks like, Jeremiah 10:3 / Jeremiah 14:22. Idolatry always leads people away from God, and so, as Leviticus begins by addressing Israel’s leaders and priests, here God ends by telling them, that these same leaders have got the responsibility of preventing Israel from creating gods out of their own imagination.
As we have read on numerous occasion in this book, God reminds them to observe His Sabbaths and have reverence for His sanctuary, Leviticus 26:2. Notice that God mentioned Sabbaths, plural.
LeTorah, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Of all the laws of the Torah, what makes the law of the Sabbatical Year so important that its violation is named as the cause of Israel’s exile? This is true because the Sabbatical Year was to teach that the whole world belongs to God. If man defies God by not observing the Sabbatical Year, he thereby regards himself as the sole proprietor of the land (or whatever he owns).’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As ‘the book of the covenant’ Exodus 20:22-33, concludes with promises and warnings, Exodus 23:20-33, so does this collection of laws contained in the Book of Leviticus.’
Notice as we go through this chapter, how many times God says, ‘I will’, however the ‘I wills’, are all dependant on them obeying God and keeping his commands. God tells them, that if they are obedient to Him and His laws, then He will richly bless the land with rain, Leviticus 26:3-5 / Deuteronomy 11:14 / Jeremiah 5:24 / Joel 2:23 / Hosea 6:3 / James 5:7, and crops, Amos 9:13.
He will also ensure that the land will provide much food, not only for the here and now but for the future, Joel 2:19 / Job 11:18. In other words, God was not only looking after them, but He was also providing hope for the future.
God is going to give them peace in the land, they will lie down and no one will make them afraid and God Himself will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through their country, Leviticus 26:6. They will pursue their enemies, and they will fall by the sword, Leviticus 26:7. Five of them will chase a hundred, and a hundred of them will chase ten thousand, and their enemies will fall by the sword, Leviticus 26:8 / Deuteronomy 32:30 / Isaiah 30:17.
God will look on them with favour and make them fruitful and increase their numbers, and He will keep His covenant with them, Leviticus 26:9 / Genesis 17:4-8 / Nehemiah 9:23. They will still be eating last year’s harvest when they will have to move it out to make room for the new, Leviticus 26:10.
God will put His dwelling place among them, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 / 2 Corinthians 7:1, and He will not abhor them, Leviticus 26:11. God will walk among them, John 1:14, and be their God, and they will be His people, Leviticus 26:12.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘These words were quoted by the apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 6:16, as a ground of the holiness required of God’s people.’
It was God who brought them out of Egypt so that they would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians, It was God who broke the bars of their yoke and enabled them to walk with heads held high, Leviticus 26:13.
Micklem, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The bars (bands in the KJV) of a yoke are the wooden pieces coming down from the yoke on each side of the animal’s head and fastened with thongs.’
Whilst the Israelites were in Egypt, they were surrounded by idolatry as the Egyptians worshipped almost everything which moved. They would have seen how much the Egyptians relied on their gods to provide for their needs and to provide protection. God wants Israel to understand that He is only the One who will provide for their needs and totally protect them. If they remain faithful to God, He will meet their every need and protect them in every way.
PUNISHMENT FOR DISOBEDIENCE
‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit. ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied. ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So, you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.’ Leviticus 26:14-39
If Israel remains faithful to God, God will bless them and protect them, however, if they become disobedient, then they will be punished, Leviticus 26:14-16. In other words, Israel can’t have their cake and eat it, they can’t live however they wish and still expect God to bless them and protect them.
As you read through these verses, I’m sure you would have noticed the word, ‘if’. This is the word which sets the terms and conditions. ‘if’ they remain faithful, all will be well, ‘if’ they become disobedient, then there will be consequences to pay for their disobedience, 1 John 1:6-10.
God tells them that if they are disobedient, they will be rebuked, then they will be judged, and then they will be destroyed and cut off from the land. If they are disobedient then a series of afflictions will follow, there will be sicknesses, Leviticus 26:16, famines, Leviticus 26:16 / Leviticus 26:26, wars and oppression by their enemies, Leviticus 26:17.
If after all this they still won’t listen to God, He will punish them for their sins seven times over, Leviticus 26:18. Notice the phrase seven times over is a common theme in this section, Leviticus 26:18 / Leviticus 26:21 / Leviticus 26:23-24 / Leviticus 26:27-28.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The sabbatical number is here proverbially used to remind the people of the covenant, Genesis 4:15 / Genesis 4:24 / Psalms 119:164 / Proverbs 24:16 / Luke 17:4.’
God will break down their stubborn pride and make the sky above them like iron and the ground beneath them like bronze, Leviticus 26:19. Their strength will be spent in vain, because their soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of their land yield their fruit, Leviticus 26:20 / Deuteronomy 11:17 / Deuteronomy 28:18 / Ezekiel 33:28 / Ezekiel 36:34-35.
If they are disobedient then more afflictions will come upon them, God will multiply their afflictions seven times over, as their sins deserve, Leviticus 26:21 / Leviticus 26:18 / Leviticus 26:27-28 / Leviticus 26:23-24. God will send wild animals against them, and they will rob them of their children, destroy their cattle and make them so few in number that their roads will be deserted, Leviticus 26:22 / Deuteronomy 32:24 / 2 Kings 17:25 / Ezekiel 5:17 / Ezekiel 14:15 / Judges 5:6-7 / Isaiah 33:8.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘God fulfilled these threatening’s at different times. He sent fiery serpents among them, Numbers 21:6, lions, 2 Kings 17:25, bears, 2 Kings 2:24, and threatened them with total desolation, so that their land should be overrun with wild beasts, Ezekiel 5:17.’
If they still refuse God’s correction and continue to be hostile toward Him, them God Himself will be hostile toward them and will afflict them for their sins seven times over, Leviticus 26:23-24 / Leviticus 26:18 / Leviticus 26:21 / Leviticus 26:27-28 / Jeremiah 2:30.
God will the sword on them to avenge the breaking of the covenant and when they withdraw into their cities, God will send a plague among them, and they will be given into enemy hands, Leviticus 26:25. When God cuts off their supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake their bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight, they will eat, but they will not be satisfied, Leviticus 26:26 / Leviticus 26:16 / 2 Kings 6:25 / Jeremiah 14:18 / Lamentations 4:9 / Ezekiel 5:12 / Hosea 4:10 / Micah 6:14 / Haggai 1:6.
If after all of this they continue to disobey God and continue to be hostile toward Him, then in anger, God will be hostile toward them, and God Himself will punish them for their sins seven times over, Leviticus 26:27-28 / Leviticus 26:18 / Leviticus 26:21 / Leviticus 26:23-24. God says they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, Leviticus 26:29 / Jeremiah 19:9.
Jamieson, in his commentary, says the following.
The cannibalism of Leviticus 26:29 was experienced in Israel no less than three times:
1. In the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 6:29 / Lamentations 4:10.
2. In the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
3. In the siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
He will destroy their high places, cut down their incense altars and pile their dead bodies on the lifeless forms of their idols, and He will abhor them, Leviticus 26:30 / 2 Chronicles 34:4.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There is no doubt that the word here denotes elevated spots dedicated to false worship, Deuteronomy 12:2, and especially, it would seem, to that of Baal, Numbers 22:41 / Joshua 13:17. Such spots were, however, employed and approved for the worship of Yahweh, not only before the building of the temple, but afterward, Judges 6:25-26 / Judges 13:16-23 / 1 Samuel 7:10 / 1 Samuel 16:5 / 1 Kings 3:2 / 1 Kings 18:30 / 2 Kings 12:3 / 1 Chronicles 21:26, etc.).’
God will turn their cities into ruins and lay waste their sanctuaries, Psalms 68:35 / Psalms 74:7, and He will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings, Leviticus 26:31 / Leviticus 1:9. God Himself will lay waste the land, so that their enemies who live there will be appalled, Leviticus 26:32. He will scatter Israel among the nations and will draw out His sword and pursue them and their land will be laid waste, and their cities will lie in ruins, Leviticus 26:33.
Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and Israel are taken captive in the country of your enemies, Leviticus 26:34. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths they lived in it, Leviticus 26:35 / 2 Chronicles 36:20-21.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘From Saul to the Babylonish captivity are numbered about four hundred and ninety years, during which period there were seventy Sabbaths of years; for 7, multiplied by 70, make 490. Now the Babylonish captivity lasted seventy years, and during that time the land of Israel rested. Therefore the land rested just as many years in the Babylonish captivity, as it should have rested Sabbaths if the Jews had observed the laws relative to the Sabbaths of the land.’
As for those of them who are left, God will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight, Leviticus 26:36. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them, Leviticus 26:36-37.
They won’t be able to stand before their enemies, Leviticus 26:37. They will perish among the nations and the land of their enemies will devour them, Leviticus 26:38 / Numbers 13:32 / Ezekiel 36:13. Those of them who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away, Leviticus 26:39.
‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ These are the decrees, the laws, and the regulations that the LORD established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.’ Leviticus 26:40-46
God is so patient and so merciful with His people, He never punishes anyone without telling them first, why they are being punished. He always provides a way out for His people in order that they may return to God and enjoy the blessings which come from Him.
If all the sicknesses, Leviticus 26:16, famines, Leviticus 26:16 / Leviticus 26:26, wars and oppression by their enemies, Leviticus 26:17, plagues, Leviticus 26:21, pestilence, Leviticus 26:25, devastation, Leviticus 26:30-33, and the terror of their enemies and captivity, Leviticus 26:33, brought Israel to their knees and humbled them, 2 Chronicles 7:14 / James 4:10. If all these things brought about a confession of sin from Israel, Leviticus 26:40-41, then God would restore them again.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning uncircumcised hearts, Leviticus 26:41.
‘The outward sign of the covenant might be preserved, but the answering grace in the heart would be wanting, Acts 7:51 / Romans 2:28-29 / Jeremiah 6:10 / Jeremiah 9:26 / Colossians 2:11.’
God will remember His covenant with Jacob, Genesis 35:1-20, Isaac, Genesis 17:19-21 / Genesis 26:1-5, and Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3 / Genesis 12:7, and He will remember the land, Leviticus 26:42. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them and Israel will pay for their sins because they rejected God’s laws and abhorred God’s decrees, Leviticus 26:43.
Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, God won’t reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking His covenant with them because He is the LORD their God, Leviticus 26:44. But for their sake God will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom He brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God, Leviticus 26:45.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘All of the blessings promised through Moses and the prophets to repentant and restored Israel find their full accomplishment in the Spiritual Israel, which is the Church of Jesus Christ, the only Israel that God now has.’
These are the decrees, the laws, and the regulations that the LORD established at Mount Sinai between Himself and the Israelites through Moses, Leviticus 26:46.