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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
PART V. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION.
1. The blessings. which should result from obedience (Lev_26:3-13).
2. The curses which should follow disobedience (Lev_26:14-39).
3. The gracious treatment which would ensue on repentance (Lev_26:40-45).
Hitherto the Book of Leviticus has consisted of ceremonial and moral injunctions, with two historical passages interposed. In the present chapter it rises in its subject and its diction from legal precepts and a legal style to prediction and the style which became a prophet. We may trace in Joel (Joe_2:22-27) an intimate acquaintance on the part of the earliest prophet of Judah with this chapter. The first promise there, as here, is that of rain, and as here it is to be "in due season," so there it is "the former and the latter rain," that is, the regular autumn and spring rains. "The land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit," appears in the prophet as, "the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength." The following clause, "your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time," as," the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil;" the next clause, "ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely," as, "I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith," and" ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied;" the clause, "I will give peace in the laud, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid," as "I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen," and" my people shall never be ashamed;" and the clause, "I will rid evil creatures [not beasts] out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land," as, "I will remove far off from you the northern," and "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you."
The blessings and the curses rise one above the other in regular gradation: on the one side, rain, abundance, peace, deliverance, victory, increase in numbers, communion with God; on the other side,
(1) horror, wasting, and the burning fever, hostile spoiling of the fields, defeat, and causeless flight;
(2) the heaven iron, and the earth brass, failure of crops and fruits in spite of labour spent upon them;
(3) wild beasts for the destruction of cattle, children, and men, desolation of the highways;
(4) the sword, pestilence, and famine;
(5) cannibalism, overthrow of their heathen idols and of God's own house and worship, destruction of their cities, utter desolation of their lands, and their captivity among the heathen. And even yet the full measure of their misery is not accomplished, for while the land enjoys her sabbaths, the captives, if unrepentant, are to fall from one misery to another, till they pine away and are consumed. Each of these grades is described as being symbolically seven times worse, that is, incomparably worse, than that which has gone before. Because these plagues would come, and in fact did come, upon them as the immediate result of physical or moral causes that could be traced, they are none the less the effect of God's wrath upon his apostate people.
Confession of sin, recognition of God's providence in all that had happened to them, humility, and acquiescence in their punishment, would restore them to their forfeited covenant relation (verses 40-45). Then God would "not abhor them to destroy them utterly," but would "remember the covenant of their fathers." Thus it was that God brought them back after the Babylonish Captivity; and thus it is that, upon their repentance, he replaces in a state of salvation Churches and individuals that have fallen away from him. In this way punishments become a blessing, and men are able to "accept of them," or rejoice in them, as the word might be rendered.
Lev_26:1
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it. The word idols (elilim) means the "nothings" which the heathen substituted for the Lord God. The graven image (here meaning a carved wooden image), the standing image (meaning a sacred pillar), and the image of stone (that is, a sculptured stone idol), are the three forms of images under which adoration was paid, whether to the true God or to a false doily. The expression, to bow down unto (or towards) it, forbids worshipping before an image as well as worshipping an image.
Lev_26:2
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. These words are repeated textually from Lev_19:30.
Lev_26:3
If ye walk in my statutes. The free will of man is recognized equally with God's controlling power.
Lev_26:4-6
These verses appear to have been in the mind, not of Joel only, as already pointed out, but of Ezekiel (Eze_34:20-31). In Leviticus we find, Then I will give you rain in due season; in Ezekiel, "And I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.'' In Leviticus, And the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit; in Ezekiel, "And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth her increase." In Leviticus, Ye shall dwell in your land safely; in Ezekiel, "They shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods." In Leviticus, And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land; in Ezekiel, "And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land … . And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid." The promise, Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, is similar to that in the prophet Amos, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed" (Amo_9:13).
Lev_26:8
And five of you shall chase an hundred. Cf. Jos_23:10, "One man of you shall chase a thousand." For examples, see Jdg_3:31; Jdg_15:15; 1Sa_14:6-16; 2Sa_23:8.
Lev_26:10
Ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. The provisions of the past year would be so abundant that they would have to be removed to make place for the new stores.
Lev_26:11
And I will set my tabernacle among you. This was fulfilled, spiritually, as shown to St. John in his vision of the new Jerusalem: "I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev_21:3). And my soul shall not abhor you. The result of God's abhorrence being his rejection of those whom he abhors (see Le Joh_20:23).
Lev_26:12
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. These words are quoted by St. Paul as a ground of the holiness required of God's people (2Co_6:16).
Lev_26:13
And I have broken the bands of your yoke. This expression, used also in the parallel passage of Ezekiel above referred to (Eze_34:27), and Jer_27:2 receives an illustration from the ancient method of harnessing oxen, still kept up in the East and South. The band means the straight piece of wood laid across the necks of the oxen, by which their heads are fastened together to keep them level with each other, and by which they are attached to the pole of the wagon. The single collars worn by horses in more northern countries have not the same oppressive effect.
Lev_26:14-17
Punishment in its first degree. Terror, consumption,—that is, wasting—and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart:—a proverbial expression for great distress (see 1Sa_2:33)—and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it (see Jer_5:17, and Mic_6:15, "Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil")… and ye shall be slain before your enemies (as took place often in their after history, see Jdg_2:14; Jdg_3:8; Jdg_4:2); they that hate you shall reign—that is, rule—over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Lev_26:18-20
Punishment in its second degree. I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; the result of no rain in a land scorched by the fiery Eastern sun. Your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the tress of the land yield their fruits. Cf. 1Ki_8:35; Hag_1:10, Hag_1:11.
Lev_26:21, Lev_26:22
Punishment in its third degree. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number. So in the case of the Assyrians transported to Palestine, "At the beginning of their dwelling there, they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them" (2Ki_17:25)—and your high ways shall be desolate. Cf. Jdg_5:6, "In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through byways."
Lev_26:23-26
Punishment in its fourth degree. I will bring a sword upon yon, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant:… I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy—that is, ye shall go into captivity … and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. Cf. Eze_5:12, "A third part of thee shall die with pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them." The famine that is to come upon them is described as making ten women bake bread in one oven,—whereas in ordinary times one oven was only sufficient for one woman's baking—and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; that is, the quantity baked will have to be weighed out in rations, before any one is allowed to take it. See 2Ki_6:25; Isa_3:1; Jer_14:18; and as illustrative of the last point, Eze_4:16, "Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment."
Lev_26:27-33
Punishment in the fifth degree. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. We find that this threat was fulfilled in Samaria (2Ki_6:28), and in Jerusalem at the time both of the earlier siege by the Chaldaeans, and of the later siege by the Romans. And I will destroy your high places. By high places is meant the tops of hills or eminences chosen for worship, whether of Jehovah (see Jdg_6:26; 1Ki_3:2; 2Ki_12:3; 1Ch_21:26), or of false gods. The high places intended hero are the spots where the "sun-images" were erected (see 2Ch_14:5; Isa_17:8; Eze_6:4)—and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols—that is, they should roll in the dust together. And I will make your cities waste—as Samaria and Jerusalem—and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation,—by the sanctuaries, which are to be desolated, is meant all the consecrated things: the holy of holies, the holy place, the court, the ark, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt sacrifice—and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours—so in Jer_6:20, "To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet" (cf. Isa_1:11-15). And I will bring the land into desolation (cf. Jer_9:11): and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it (cf. Eze_5:15). And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you. See Jer_9:16, "I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them."
Lev_26:34, Lev_26:35
The land had not participated in the sins of its inhabitants. The latter had thought that, by the neglect of the sabbatical years, they had enriched themselves by the fruits of those years which would otherwise have been wasted. The result was that they lost the land altogether for a period equal to that during which it ought to have kept sabbath, and the land "as long as she lay desolate kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years" (2Ch_36:21). From the entrance into the holy land until the Babylonish Captivity there elapsed eight hundred and sixty-three years, in which time there ought to have been kept one hundred and twenty-three sabbatical years. As only seventy are made up by the duration of the Captivity, it may be concluded that fifty-three sabbatical years were observed by the Israelites; but this conclusion is very doubtful. It is more likely that seventy, being a multiple of the sacred number seven, was regarded as sufficient to purge all previous neglects, whatever they might have been.
Lev_26:36-39
The final punishment.
Upon them that are left, that is, the surviving captives and exiles, I will send a faintness into their hearts,—so Eze_21:7, "And every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water"—… and the sound of a shaken (or driven) leaf shall chase them;… and they shall fall,… and ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands. This is the concluding threat. It is conditional in its nature, and the condition having been fulfilled, we may say with reverence that it has been accomplished. Those of the ten tribes who did not find their way to Babylon, and so became absorbed in the body which returned to Jerusalem, have been eaten up by the land of their enemies, and have pined away in their enemies' lands. Neither they nor their descendants are to be found in any part of the globe, however much investigation may employ itself in searching for them. They have been absorbed by the populations among which they were scattered.
Lev_26:40-45
God's pardon will, even yet, as always, follow upon confession of sin and genuine repentance. They must recognize not only that they have sinned, but that their sufferings have been a punishment for those sins at God's hand. This will work in them humble acquiescence in God's doings, and then he will remember his covenant with Jacob, and also his covenant with Isaac, and also his covenant with Abraham, and for the sake of the covenant of their ancestors, he will not east them away, neither will he abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break his covenant with them. Whether Jewish repentance has been or ever will be so full as to obtain this blessing, cannot be decided now. Perhaps it may be the case that all the blessings promised by Moses and by future prophets to repentant and restored Israel are to find their accomplishment in the spiritual Israel, the children of Abraham who is "the father of all them that believe" (Rom_4:11), seeing that "God is able of stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Mat_3:9).
Lev_26:46
This is the closing paragraph of the Book of Leviticus; to which another chapter has been added, in the form of an appendix, on the subject of vows.
The promises and the threatenings are to the nation, not to individuals; and the prophetical assurance is that national obedience to God shall bring about national happiness and prosperity, and that disobedience shall cause the ruin of the nation. In spite of the rough, wild times of the Judges, and of the apostasy of Saul, the heart of the nation was on the whole loyal to Jehovah till the end of the days of Solomon. And till that time there was an upward growth in the flourishing estate of the people—their wealth, their power, their prosperity, their happiness. In the latter days of Solomon, outwardly glorious as they were, decay and corruption began. King and people were alike affected by the splendid despotism which one wielded and under which the other flourished in material prosperity. In that prosperity they forgot the source of it. The king himself pushed his tolerance for foreign habits into idolatry, "His wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.… And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel" (1Ki_11:4-9). Like prince, like people; a general relaxation of moral fiber and religious zeal ensued throughout the kingdom. Its culminating point had been reached, and now there followed the rapid descent and fall which resulted from disobedience. The first step to ruin was the great schism, from the effects of which neither the northern nor the southern kingdom ever recovered. Then followed the various apostasies and punishments. In the southern kingdom, "Rehoboam forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak King of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord" (2Ch_12:1, 2Ch_12:2). Jehoram "walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab (for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife): and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.… In his days the Edomites revolted.… Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, and brake into it" (2Ch_21:6-17). In the latter days of Joash, "they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up … with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers" (2Ch_24:18-24). In the reign of Amaziah, Jerusalem was taken by Joash King of Israel, because "Amaziah sought after the gods of Edom" (2Ch_25:14-24). Ahaz "made molten images for Baalim Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria … and into the hand of the King of Israel" (2Ch_28:2-5). At the beginning of the reign of Manasseh, "the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the King of Assyria" (2Ch_33:10, 2Ch_33:11). And at last, these partial chastisements having failed to bring about reformation, came the Babylonish Captivity. "The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon" (2Ch_36:15-20). The transgressions of the northern kingdom were even greater than those of the southern kingdom, and their final punishment, therefore, fell upon them earlier. "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,… and walked in the statutes of the heathen for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers Therefore the Lord was very angry,… and removed them out of his sight" (2Ki_17:7-18). This occurred in the reign of Hoshea, and in the case of the ten tribes we find no symptoms of repentance under suffering. The two tribes produced a Daniel; and his prayer for the forgiveness of his people (Dan_9:2-19) illustrates the feelings of the better of his fellow-captives; and therefore, according to the promise of Le 26:40-42, God remembered his covenant with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and raised up Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to effect the restoration; while the ten tribes pined away in the land of their captivity. Thus Moses' prediction was fulfilled.
God deals with other nations as with Israel; but we have not the inspired record of his dealings. While Greece cultivated intellectual wisdom, she flourished; when she turned to sophistry, she perished. While Rome spread order and law throughout the globe, she grew in strength; when she submitted to the sway of arbitrary despots, she fell. What is England's mission in the world? To disseminate at once true religion and true liberty. As long as she does this, she will receive God's blessing. As soon as she fails to fulfill the purpose of her existence as a nation, she will be withdrawn from the scene, and another instrument raised up in her stead.
I. GOD'S JUDGMENTS, WHETHER REWARDS OR PUNISHMENTS, WERE EXECUTED WITH BECOMING LEISURE AND DELIBERATION. It is along the lines of natural law, as distinguished from miracle, that he proposes to execute his decisions. If the people prove obedient, then they are to have
(1) bountiful harvests;
(2) national triumph and consequent peace;
(3) riddance of the beasts of the field, so far as they would injure their crops;
(4) great increase of the population; and
(5) the enjoyment of religious ordinances.
On the other hand, if the people prove disobedient, they are to have
(1) sickness;
(2) scarcity;
(3) defeat;
(4) devastation by wild beasts;
(5) famine in its most fearful forms; and
(6) a sabbatic desolation in the Lord's land.
Now, it is to the leisurely and deliberate element in the rewards and the punishments that we direct attention. If God chose to execute his sentences speedily, if obedience got its reward immediately, if disobedience got its punishment without one moment's delay,—then men would have no room for question, and no room for moral education and decision. Such a childish regulation would doubtless prevent a large amount of evil in the world, but it would keep men children always. It is a pitiable stage of education when the child insists on seeing its reward before it obeys, and requires the immediate "slap" to prevent disobedience. If men are to be trained morally, they must be asked to take upon credit God's promises and threatenings, and decide in the interval before he is pleased to act.
This leaves room for a large amount of evil. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecc_8:11). Men may say, because God does not show quickly his hand, that he may possibly not show it at all. Hence they sin and say, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it" (Psa_94:7). The Lord's delay is interpreted as Divine indifference. This is one of the evils due to man's sinful heart exercising its freedom under a truly paternal government. Instead of God's goodness in the delay leading men to repentance, it is allowed to foster a hope that he will resign the reins of government altogether and sit indifferently by, while men do as they please. An instance of this tendency to misinterpretation is afforded by Professor Tyndall, in his 'Fragments of Science,' where he has the audacity to deduce from Mat_5:45, "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust," as the doctrine of the Master himself, that "the distribution of natural phenomena is not affected by moral or religious causes;" £ whereas the context shows that the whole arrangement is prompted by love towards his enemies, that they may be induced to become his friends. Men get easily warped in their interpretations, and miss the point, or want to miss it.
On the other hand, God's delay in making good his promises and threatenings affords an opportunity for humiliation and faith. When men believe he will be as good and as severe as he says, then they humble themselves under his mighty hand, and supplicate his forgiveness. When also, as his forgiven ones, they try to the best of their ability to obey him, then the delay of the promised blessing enables them to cultivate the "patience of hope," and thus to complete their character. If, therefore, there are drawbacks through man's sin on the one side, there are vast advantages to human character on the other attending this arrangement.
II. GOD'S JUDGMENTS, EVEN WHEN EXECUTED, HAVE NOT THE AIR OF FINALITY ABOUT THEM. Notwithstanding the special pleading of Warburton and his followers about the temporal character of the Divine judgments among the Jews, and their consequent ignorance about a future life, £ it is evident on the face of the judgments that they are not final. Little children perishing and eaten in the sieges (Mat_5:29) could not be regarded surely as a final judgment. Children suffering for their parents' sins could not be regarded as a final judgment. In truth, God's judgments among the Jews, like his judgments still, were imperfect, and designedly so. "For observe," says the Hey. Charles Wolfe, "if we found every man in this life received just what he deserved, and every evil work always brought swift punishment along with it, what should we naturally conclude? There is no future punishment in store. I see nothing wanting; every man has already received the due reward of his works; everything is already complete, and, therefore, there is nothing to be done in the next world. Or if, on the other hand, there were no punishment visited upon sin at all in this world, we might be inclined to say, Tush, God hath forgotten; he never interferes amongst us; we have no proof of his hatred of sin, or of his determination to punish it; he is gone away far from us, and has left us to follow our own wills and imaginations. So that if sentences were either perfectly executed on earth, or not executed at all, we might have some reason for saying that there was a chance of none in a future world. But now it is imperfectly executed; just so much done as to say, 'You are watched; my eye is upon you; I neither slumber nor sleep; and my vengeance slumbereth not.' And yet, at the same time, there is so little done, that a man has to look into eternity for the accomplishment."£
III. GOD'S PROMISE TO THE PENITENT IMPLIES THAT THEY ARE NOT PARDONED SIMPLY ON THE GROUND OF THEIR PENITENCE. The Lord contemplates the Jewish defection as practically certain. At the same time, he holds out the hope of the penitent people being restored to favour (Mat_5:40-46). But it is surely significant that penitence is expressly shown not to be the ground of acceptance. Doubtless it is the condition; but were it the sole ground of acceptance, as it is confidently asserted to be,£ it is not easy to see why in such a case as that now before us God would speak about remembering their fathers, and throwing the radiance, so to speak, of their obedience round about their children (Mat_5:42, Mat_5:45). It is evident the penitents, even after they have been punished, cannot stand alone. And in truth, when the whole matter of acceptance is analyzed, it is seen to rest upon a covenant of sacrifice. The sacrifices of the covenant; as we have already seen, point unmistakably to a suffering Substitute, the glory of whose merits must encircle all accepted ones. In a word, we are led straight to Jesus, the Lamb of God, by whose blood we are redeemed and received into covenant relations. "Accepted in the Beloved," we are careful to "abstain from the very appearance of evil," and in the exercise of new obedience we find a triumphant power bestowed. When we hearken to his commandments our peace flows like a river, and our righteousness becomes resistless like the waves of the sea (Isa_48:18). We find that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1Ti_4:8).—R.M.E.
I. THE QUALITIES OF THE RIGHTEOUS DESCRIBED. These are:
1. That they worship the true God.
(1) They make no idols. Graven images. Pillars to memorialize advantages supposed to be derived from false gods. Witness the votive offerings of the papists. They might not superstitiously worship such stones of memorial as Jacob set up to memorialize the blessings of Jehovah. The images of stone or "stones of picture" would probably be statues. Note: men make their idols.
(2) They respect Jehovah. He is the Maker of all things. He is himself uncreate. He is the Covenant Friend of the righteous.
2. That they worship him truly.
(1) By keeping his sabbaths. Memorials of his works of creation and redemption. .Pledges of the rest of heaven.
(2) These are: weekly—monthly—yearly—septennial—in the jubilee.
(3) By reverencing his sanctuary. The place of his presence, of his altar, of the congregation of his people.
3. They serve him obediently.
(1) Walking in his statutes. This implies the study of his Word.
(2) To keep his commandments also implies prayer for Divine grace.
II. THEIR BLESSEDNESS ASSURED. They have the promise of:
1. Plenty.
(1) The elements were to be propitious to them. Seasonable rains. These are very important. They are here mentioned as representing all benign elemental influences—light, heat, electricity,—all which are essential.
(2) The result then is abundance (Lev_26:5). Before they could have reaped and threshed out their corn, the vintage should be ready, and before they could have pressed out their wine, it would be time again to sow.
(3) This was to prefigure the abundance of grace which should mark the times of the gospel (see Amo_9:1-15 :18).
2. Security.
(1) From the hostility of the elements. No plague should invade them.
(2) From the hostility of men. No warrior should invade them.
No robber should trouble them.
(3) From the hostility of animals. Where population is reduced by wars and famines, beasts of prey prowl.
(4) How the faithfulness of God has been verified in the history of his people!
3. Victory.
(1) God puts the dread of them into their enemies. They fly before them. Witness the flight of the Syrians in the days of Elisha (2Ki_7:1-20.).
(2) He puts courage into their hearts. Witness the exploits of Gideon, of Samson, of Jonathan and his armour-bearer (1Sa_14:6, 1Sa_14:12).
4. Multiplication.
(1) This is a blessing of the covenant. It is a real strength to a nation. It is a real strength to a Church.
(2) But outside the covenant mere numbers may prove a formidable evil.
5. Divine favour.
(1) "I will have respect unto you." Contrast with this Heb_10:38.
(2) The token of the favour of God is his presence.
(a) His tabernacle was amongst them in the wilderness. What miracles of mercy were shown to them then!
(b) How glorious were the days of Solomon when the Shechinah entered the temple.
(c) His tabernacle was set among his people in the presence of Jesus (Joh_1:14). But they did not know the blessedness of their day
(d) How blessed is the mystical incarnation of Christ in the believer! (Joh_6:56; 2Co_6:16-18; 2Co_7:1).
(e) The glory of the tabernacle will culminate in the new heavens and earth (see Rev_21:3).
All this blessedness was pledged in the emancipation from the bondage of Egypt (Heb_10:13). More fully in the redemption of the gospel typified thereby.—J.A.M.
Lev_26:14-39
I. THE JUDGMENTS DENOUNCED AGAINST THEM IN THEIR LAND. For their rebellion:
1. They were to be visited with plagues.
(1) The plague of terror. This is the natural plague of a guilty conscience. The apprehension of formidable judgments.
(2) Of consumption. This term expresses all chronic diseases.
(3) Of burning ague. This describes those diseases which are more acute.
(4) All these plagues are to "consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart."
2. They were to suffer from invasion.
(1) The sword of the enemy was to consume them. How fearfully they suffered under the judges, under the kings, and afterwards!
(2) The exactions of the tyrant were to distress them. When the invaders mastered them, how grievously were they oppressed!
3. They were to encounter the anger of their God.
(1) The plague and the sword of the enemy could not otherwise have visited them.
(2) But in the source itself there is the most formidable terror. "I will set nay face against you."
4. Their obstinacy was to bring upon them aggravated evils.
(1) The land was to become unfruitful. For the heaven was to be like iron, which might reflect the glare of heat, but could distil no rain or dew.
(2) Wild beasts were to come among them. When the people become diminished by war and pestilence and famine, wild animals multiply and become formidable (see Num_21:6; 2Ki_17:25; 2Ki_2:24; Eze_5:17).
(3) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Rather let us seek his mercy.
II. THOSE DENOUNCED AGAINST THEM IN THE LANDS OF THEIR CAPTIVITY.
1. They were to be scattered amongst the heathen (Lev_26:33).
(1) Thus ten of the tribes were carried away by the Assyrians.
(2) The two remaining tribes were afterwards removed by the Babylonians.
(3) Some of these returned under Ezra and Nehemiah, and were ultimately carried away by the Romans.
2. The sword was to/follow them there.
(1) The sword of war.
(2) The sword of persecution. So they suffered from pagans, from papists, from Mohammedans.
3. They were to suffer astonishment (verses 36-39).
(1) Faintness of heart, suspicion of danger where it existed not, susceptibility to panic.
(2) Pining in terror.
(3) Perishing through the rapacity of their enemies.
4. Their sufferings were to be protracted.
(1) The land was to enjoy her sabbaths, Houbigant observes how literally this was fulfilled in the seventy years of the Babylonish Captivity. "From Saul to the Babylonish Captivity are numbered about four hundred and ninety years, during which period there were seventy sabbaths of years; for seven, multiplied by seventy, make four hundred and ninety. 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 law relative to the sabbaths of the land."
(2) The longer term of "seven times" thrice repeated (verses 21, 24, 28) is also notable. These are the "times of the Gentiles," during which Jerusalem is to be trodden down of them (Luk_21:24).
5. Meanwhile their land was to lie desolate (verses 31-35).
(1) Such has been its history, under the Romans, under the Saracens, under the Crusaders, under the Turks.
(2) Who but God could have foreseen all this? How unreasonable is unbelief!—J.A.M.
Lev_26:40-46
I. THEY WILL CONFESS THEIR SIN.
1. Their personal iniquity.
(1) They will have many things to confess, as all sinners have. They will "humble their uncircumcised heart" (see Jer_9:26; Rom_2:29).
(2) In particular they will confess their capital sin in rejecting Christ. This crime filled up the measure of their fathers.
2. The iniquity of their fathers.
(1) This was the same as their own. They will acknowledge themselves, not in pride, but in penitence, to be the children of their fathers.
(2) Instead of attempting to extenuate their sin because of the example of their fathers, they will repent for the sin of their fathers as well as for their own. This is in accordance with the principle of the visitation of the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.
3. The justice of God in their punishment.
(1) They acknowledge that they walked contrary to God (see Ezr_9:1-15; Neh_1:4; Neh_9:1, Neh_9:2, Neh_9:29; Dan_9:3, Dan_9:4).
(2) That he has therefore walked contrary to them. Afflictions do not spring out of the dust.
II. THEN GOD WILL REMEMBER HIS COVENANT. Therefore:
1. He will not destroy them utterly.
(1) His providence will be over them. What else could have preserved them now for nineteen centuries amidst untoward circumstances? They are, notwithstanding their sufferings, as numerous today as they were in the zenith of their prosperity in the days of Solomon.
(2) The remnant of them shall be saved.
(3) How tender is the compassion of God! (Hos_11:8, Hos_11:9).
2. He will reinstate them in their land.
(1) He will remember his land. For in the covenant they are promised the land "forever."
(2) Remembering the land also implies that it will recover its ancient fruitfulness (see promises, Lev_26:4, Lev_26:5, Lev_26:10).
(3) In that condition it will be the appropriate type and pledge of the heavenly country (see Isa_62:4).
3. He will make them a blessing in the earth.
(1) They will grow into a multitude.
(2) They will rejoice in spiritual blessings.
(3) The miracles of the Exodus from Egypt will be repeated.
(4) The heathen will be startled into thoughtfulness (Lev_26:45).
(5) The heathen will once more learn the way of salvation from the lips of Hebrews.
4. In all this they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
(1) This is distinctly stated (verse 42; comp. Rom_11:28).
(2) The patriarchs of the covenant are referred to in the order of ascent, viz. Jacob, Isaac, Abraham. Note: when the Jews in humility confess themselves the children of their more recent sinful fathers, God will acknowledge them as the children of their earlier faithful ancestors.
(3) It is an encouragement to faith that the memory of Divine mercy is far-reaching—everlasting.—J.A.M.
I. ITS NATURAL HISTORY. Men do not descend at once into the blind and blank idolatry with which we are familiar.
1. The first step downwards is when men take some object or construct some image which shall remind them of Deity, or stand for God, or be a sign and token of his presence, so that when they see that they shall think of him. This was the case with the "golden calf" which Aaron made. The people presented their offerings to it in connection with a "feast to the Lord" (Exo_32:5). It is too great a mental labour to realize God's presence by pure thought and meditation; men crave a visible object which shall remind them of the Supreme.
2. The next step—deep into the thick darkness—is to identify the Deity with the object which is the chosen sign of his presence; and the constant, inevitable accompaniment of this act is to multiply the number of divinities; for, as the visible images are many, the gods become many also to the popular imagination. However antecedently unlikely it may seem to us that men would commit such great folly as this, universal history compels us to believe that they have done so. Beginning with the demand for "a sign," men have "bowed down unto" and worshipped the image, the pillar, the figured stone.
3. Then follows mental, moral, spiritual degradation. The worshippers of idols have attributed to their gods their own infirmities and sins, and then their worship has reacted on their own character, and they have sunk to the lowest depths of abjectness of mind, vileness of spirit, grossness of life.
II. ITS ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS. We must not identify idolatry with those more shameless forms of it which historians and travelers have made known to us. These are its last and worst developments. But the idolatrous element is found where there is
(1) a false association of God with an object with which he has nothing to do, as (in the case referred to) where the Israelites associated Jehovah in their thoughts with an image with which he had no connection whatever; or
(2) a false trust in an object with which God is more or less connected. That was an idolatrous act on the part of the Israelites when they made sure of victory because the ark of God was in the camp (1Sa_4:3-11). God had connected himself with the ark in an especial manner; but the Jews were trusting in it rather than in him, and they leant on a broken reed.
III. ITS APPEAL TO OURSELVES. Our danger is not from the grosser forms of idolatry, nor is it in the former of the two essential elements of it; it is in the latter of these. We are liable to trust idolatrously in that with which God is connected, but which has no virtue at all in itself. We are invited, and sometimes find ourselves tempted:
1. To imagine that a priest can bless us, independently of the truth which he teaches or the spiritual help which he renders us.
2. To suppose that we are nearer to God in sacred places, irrespective of the consideration whether we realize his presence and draw nigh to his Spirit.
3. To seek sanctity, or even salvation, in sacraments apart from the reverent thought and consecrated feeling which they should suggest or excite. This is an idolatrous delusion.
IV. THE PATH OF SAFETY. This is:
1. The avoidance of temptation. We must shun those Churches and services which would seduce us from spiritual purity.
2. The acceptance of the One Divine Mediator we have in Christ our Saviour. There is "one man we can adore without idolatry—the man Christ Jesus."
3. The use of our faculties for the worship of the Invisible. We can worship him who is a Spirit "in spirit and in truth." We can realize the presence of the infinite God; we can love him whom we have not seen (1Pe_1:8); we can walk the whole path of life conscious of a Divine Companion whose hand we cannot grasp, but who "leads us all our journey through." By a living faith, "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1Jn_1:3).—C.
Lev_26:3-13
I. THE INCENTIVES WHICH GOD HELD OUT TO HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE. These were importantly spiritual, but prominently temporal. If they did but "walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments, and do them" (Lev_26:3), they might reckon on
(1) fertility in the field (Lev_26:4, Lev_26:5, Lev_26:10);
(2) sense of security from without and disturbance from within (safety and peace, Lev_26:5, Lev_26:6);
(3) victory in war (Lev_26:7, Lev_26:8);
(4) national growth (Lev_26:9);
(5) God's presence with them (Lev_26:11, Lev_26:12);
(6) his pleasure in them (Lev_26:11); and
(7) his guarantee of their liberty and self-respect (Lev_26:13).
II. THE PROMISES WHICH HE HAS MADE TO US. These are partly temporal, but principally spiritual. They include:
1. Sufficiency of worldly substance. God does not now say, "Serve me, and you shall be strong, wealthy, long-lived," but he does say, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God,… and all these things" (food, clothing, etc.) "shall be added unto you" (Mat_6:33). "Godliness has promise of the life that now is" (1Ti_4:8). Those who are his children in Christ Jesus may reckon upon all needful support from his bountiful hand.
2. Consciousness of spiritual integrity. As God made his people to be delivered from the yoke and to "go upright" (Lev_26:13), so he makes those who have returned to him, and who have escaped from the yoke of sin, to "walk in uprightness of heart." Instead of shrinking in fear, bowing down with a depressing sense of wrong-doing, we have a happy consciousness of integrity of soul. We say with the psalmist, "As for me," etc. (Psa_41:12).
3. Sense of reconciliation with God. God promises peace and a sense of safety (Lev_26:5, Lev_26:6) to those who seek his favour in Christ Jesus. Being justified by faith in him, we have peace with God; and we know that, whatever may be our circumstances, we are secure behind the shield of his almighty love.
4. Victory in the battle of life. If it be not wholly true that "our life is but a battle and a march," yet it is true that there is so much of spiritual struggle in it, from its beginning to its close, that we all understand only too well what is meant by "the battle of life." There are many foes with which to wrestle (Eph_6:12), and we need the invigorating power which only the Spirit of the Strong One can impart. If we are his, he will help us in the strife. "Our enemies will fall before us" (Lev_26:7; see 2Co_2:14 and Rom_8:37).
5. His presence with us and his pleasure in us. "God will set his tabernacle among us;" he "will walk among us" (Lev_26:11, Lev_26:12). He will be "with us always," and his sustaining presence will uphold us in the darkest hour, in the most trying scene. "His soul will not abhor us" (Lev_26:11); he will take Divine pleasure in us; we shall be his children, his guests, his friends, his heirs.
6. An everlasting heritage in him. He will be our God (Lev_26:12). The sacred page does not speak of any duration; but that which is adumbrated in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality out into the light, and we know that "him that overcometh will the Son of man make a pillar in the temple of his God, and he shall go no more out," etc. (Rev_3:12), and that "to him that overcometh will he grant to sit with him on his throne," etc. (Rev_3:21). The present and the future, the best of the one and the whole of the other, are the heritage of those who "know the will of God and do it." Surely it is the choice of the wise to "make haste and delay not to keep his commandments."—C.
Lev_26:23, Lev_26:24
I. IN LARGE MEASURE, GOD'S TREATMENT OF US IS QUITE IRRESPECTIVE OF OUR CONDUCT TOWARD HIM. He has done much for us from the promptings of his own generous and beneficent nature. As the sun gives light because it is light, regardless of the objects on which it shines, so our God, who is a Sun (Psa_84:11), is sending forth beams of truth, love, beauty, happiness, because in him is all fullness, and from that abundance there must flow blessing and bounty on every hand (see Psa_103:10, Psa_103:11; Mat_5:45).
II. IN LARGE MEASURE, GOD'S TREATMENT OF US DEPENDS ON OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD HIM.
1. Right feeling on our part is reciprocated with kind feeling on his. If we love him, he will love us and come to us (Joh_14:23).
2. Rebellious conduct on our part brings down adverse action on his part. If we" will walk contrary to him, he will walk contrary to us, and punish us for our sins." The greater part of this chapter (Lev_26:14-39) is a terrible admonition that, if we provoke God by our willful disobedience, we must expect to find his hand against us in all the paths of life, our growing iniquity meeting with his multiplying wrath and darkening retribution.
3. Repentant action on our part is met by returning favour on his (Jer_3:22; Joe_2:12-14; Isa_44:22; Isa_55:7). Let the prodigal son arise to return, and, "while yet a great way off," the heavenly Father will run to meet and to welcome him (Luk_15:1-32).
III. GOD'S GOODNESS TO US WILL SEEM TO US TO VARY ACCORDING TO THE RECTITUDE OF OUR SOULS TOWARD HIM. As men seem to us to be just or unjust, kind or unkind, according to the position we occupy toward them, so also does the Father of spirits. "All the paths of the Lord are" (and are seen to be) "mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies" (Psa_25:10). But the ways of the Lord will seem "contrary" to the rebellious. With the merciful man God shows himself merciful; with the froward he shows himself froward (Psa_18:26). The guilty will exclaim against the inequality of God's dealings (Eze_33:17). He will seem unjust because they are unholy, because their spirit is false and wrong (Mat_20:15). Those who fear God and love his Son their Saviour, join in the psalm of the Church on earth, "The Lord is righteous in all his ways,… his tender mercies are over all his works" (Psa_145:1-21); they anticipate the strain of the Church in heaven, "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints" (Rev_15:3).—C.
Lev_26:14-39
I. THAT GOD PUNISHES IT WITH VARIOUS EVILS. (Lev_26:14-18.) God always says to us, "If ye will not do my commandments, I will set my face against you." To the Israelites he threatened specifically:
(1) bodily sickness;
(2) unprofitable labour;
(3) defeat in battle;
(4) subjection to a hated rule;
(5) ignominious terror and flight.
If we sin we must expect to suffer in mind, body, or estate. Guilt and misery are necessarily conjoined. Sin deserves to suffer: there needs no further explanation of suffering than that God's holy and righteous Law has been transgressed. Yet, while the Divine Lawgiver visits sin with retribution because it is right that it should receive this mark of his holy disapproval, it is also true—
II. THAT GOD'S PUNISHMENT IS MEANT TO BE REMEDIAL. "If ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me" (Lev_26:18). Then it is clear that these providential visitations would be meant to lead to a better spirit, to a disposition to hearken and to obey. God, when he punishes, not only does an act of righteous retribution, which his position as Supreme Judge demands of him, but he also does that which he desires shall lead to penitence and restoration. He smites us in one member that he may heal us altogether. lie takes away a little that he may give very largely, lie sends passing pain that he may give enduring joy. God's retributions are his" corrections," his paternal chastisements, his strong but kind admonitions. By them he lays his hand upon us and says to us, in tones we cannot fail to understand, "Repent and return, and be restored." But we learn from these verses—
III. THAT MAN TOO OFTEN REFUSES TO HEED THE DIVINE CORRECTION. "If ye will not yet for all this hearken" (Lev_26:18); "if ye will not hearken unto me" (Lev_26:21); "if ye will not be reformed by me by these things" (Lev_26:23). Often men do listen and learn and obey when God comes to them in sickness or in sorrow; but only too often they do not. They continue in or revert to their evil course, they fall again into crime, into vice, into unconcern, into indecision.
IV. THAT GOD LAYS A HEAVIER HAND ON PERSISTENT AND OBDURATE IMPENITENCE. He gave to his people fair and full warning of what they were to expect at his hand. They knew that obduracy on their part would entail gathering and growing evils, leading on and down to uttermost destruction. There would come the enmity of the elements, with consequent disaster in the field (Lev_26:19, Lev_26:20); desolation and bereavement (Lev_26:22); pestilence and famine (Lev_26:25, Lev_26:26); revolting and unnatural cruelties wrought among themselves (Lev_26:28, Lev_26:29); exile and dispersion (Lev_26:33); terror of soul (Lev_26:36, Lev_26:37); national destruction and impending extinction (Lev_26:38, Lev_26:39). These solemn and fearful threatenings are, no doubt, directed against Israel, the specially instructed people. As God "exalted that land unto heaven" in privilege and opportunity, so he "brought it down to hell" in condemnation and doom. But when we remember with what retribution God visited the sins of the antediluvian world, of the cities of the plain, the Canaanites, the great cities of Babylon and Nineveh, and when we recall the sufferings and humiliations he has brought down on lands and cities in more modern times, we may conclude that those nations which will not learn when God speaks to them in wrath and in "his high displeasure" may look forward to a time of gathering disaster and final ruin.
God's retributive dealings with nations have their counterpart in his action toward individual lives. Men who sin and suffer, and who will not learn by the things they suffer, may take to heart the truth that God's manifested wrath will reach them here or will overtake them hereafter; they may well wish that it may arrive soon rather than late, for as time passes and as sin indurates and blinds the soul, there is the less likelih