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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 26:1 - 26:13
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Blessings Promised to the Obedient
v. 1. Ye shall make you no idols, literally, nothingnesses, vain, empty deities of your own imagination, nor graven image, one carved or chiseled from wood and stone, neither rear you up a standing image, a pillar of commemoration used for idolatrous purposes; neither shall ye set up any image of stone, a stone shaped or hewn to represent some real or imagined creature, in your land to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord, your God.
v. 2. Ye shall keep My Sabbaths, as the days set a part for His special worship, and reverence My Sanctuary, stand in awe of the place where the holy God revealed Himself to them. I am the Lord. These two verses, containing substantially the entire Law of God as applied to the Jews in particular, serve admirably as a basis of the following promises and warnings.
v. 3. If ye walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, both the general precepts of the natural law and the special ordinances pertaining to the children of Israel, and do them,
v. 4. then I will give you rain in due season, the showers at the two periods of the year when the land needed moisture for fruitfulness, Deu_11:14, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. The extraordinary extent of the blessings is shown next.
v. 5. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time. Threshing in Palestine was done on the great open floors, beginning with the harvest, in April; the grapes were usually ripe in September; and sowing for the new crop began at the end of October or the beginning of November. And ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely, without cares and worries about the necessaries of life.
v. 6. And I will give peace in the land, perfect security, and ye shall lie down, in peaceful settlement, like a herd which is safe from the attacks of beasts of prey, and none shall make you afraid. And I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land, because the enemies that might venture an attack would be driven back triumphantly from their borders.
v. 7. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword, since the Israelites would be rendered invincible by the Lord.
v. 8. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, a proverbial expression for the absolute certainty of victory for Israel's arms, Deu_23:20; Isa_30:17; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. These promises were abundantly fulfilled, as the history of Israel and Judah shows,e. g. in the case of Gideon.
v. 9. For I will have respect unto you, turning His face upon them in goodness and mercy, and make you fruitful and multiply you, giving increase upon increase, blessings which were properly appreciated in those days, and establish My covenant with you, which had promised such unusual blessings, Gen_17:4-6.
v. 10. And ye shall eat old store, grain of last year's crop, and bring forth the old because of the new, since the old would not even he consumed by the time the new harvest would be filling the granaries.
v. 11. And I will set My Tabernacle among you, as the visible sign of His merciful presence; and My soul shall not abhor you.
v. 12. And I will walk among you, in gracious communion through the worship offered to Him, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people. Cf Deu_23:15.
v. 13. I am the Lord, your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt that ye should not be their bondmen, held in shameful slavery by a heathen nation; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. The deliverance from Egypt was a proof and pledge of the fulfillment of God's promises, and the fellowship which the children of Israel enjoyed in Him was symbolic of the perfect communion which the children of God have entered upon with Him through the redemption of Christ. If we Christians believe and trust in God with all our heart, and walk in the ways of His commandments, then He will remain with us with His Word and Sacraments. Therefore we should also love and trust in Him and gladly perform the demands of His holy will.