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Leviticus 26:3 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

3 If ye walk H3212 in my statutes, H2708 and keep H8104 my commandments, H4687 and do H6213 them;

Cross Reference

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 STRONG

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken H8085 diligently H8085 unto the voice H6963 of the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 to observe H8104 and to do H6213 all his commandments H4687 which I command H6680 thee this day, H3117 that the LORD H3068 thy God H430 will set H5414 thee on high H5945 above all nations H1471 of the earth: H776 And all these blessings H1293 shall come H935 on thee, and overtake H5381 thee, if thou shalt hearken H8085 unto the voice H6963 of the LORD H3068 thy God. H430 Blessed H1288 shalt thou be in the city, H5892 and blessed H1288 shalt thou be in the field. H7704 Blessed H1288 shall be the fruit H6529 of thy body, H990 and the fruit H6529 of thy ground, H127 and the fruit H6529 of thy cattle, H929 the increase H7698 of thy kine, H504 and the flocks H6251 of thy sheep. H6629 Blessed H1288 shall be thy basket H2935 and thy store. H4863 Blessed H1288 shalt thou be when thou comest in, H935 and blessed H1288 shalt thou be when thou goest out. H3318 The LORD H3068 shall cause H5414 thine enemies H341 that rise up H6965 against thee to be smitten H5062 before thy face: H6440 they shall come out H3318 against thee one H259 way, H1870 and flee H5127 before H6440 thee seven H7651 ways. H1870 The LORD H3068 shall command H6680 the blessing H1293 upon thee in thy storehouses, H618 and in all that thou settest H4916 thine hand H3027 unto; and he shall bless H1288 thee in the land H776 which the LORD H3068 thy God H430 giveth H5414 thee. The LORD H3068 shall establish H6965 thee an holy H6918 people H5971 unto himself, as he hath sworn H7650 unto thee, if thou shalt keep H8104 the commandments H4687 of the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 and walk H1980 in his ways. H1870 And all people H5971 of the earth H776 shall see H7200 that thou art called H7121 by the name H8034 of the LORD; H3068 and they shall be afraid H3372 of thee. And the LORD H3068 shall make thee plenteous H3498 in goods, H2896 in the fruit H6529 of thy body, H990 and in the fruit H6529 of thy cattle, H929 and in the fruit H6529 of thy ground, H127 in the land H127 which the LORD H3068 sware H7650 unto thy fathers H1 to give H5414 thee. The LORD H3068 shall open H6605 unto thee his good H2896 treasure, H214 the heaven H8064 to give H5414 the rain H4306 unto thy land H776 in his season, H6256 and to bless H1288 all the work H4639 of thine hand: H3027 and thou shalt lend H3867 unto many H7227 nations, H1471 and thou shalt not borrow. H3867 And the LORD H3068 shall make H5414 thee the head, H7218 and not the tail; H2180 and thou shalt be above only, H4605 and thou shalt not be beneath; H4295 if that thou hearken H8085 unto the commandments H4687 of the LORD H3068 thy God, H430 which I command H6680 thee this day, H3117 to observe H8104 and to do H6213 them: And thou shalt not go aside H5493 from any of the words H1697 which I command H6680 thee this day, H3117 to the right hand, H3225 or to the left, H8040 to go H3212 after H310 other H312 gods H430 to serve H5647 them.

Deuteronomy 11:13-15 STRONG

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken H8085 diligently H8085 unto my commandments H4687 which I command H6680 you this day, H3117 to love H157 the LORD H3068 your God, H430 and to serve H5647 him with all your heart H3824 and with all your soul, H5315 That I will give H5414 you the rain H4306 of your land H776 in his due season, H6256 the first rain H3138 and the latter rain, H4456 that thou mayest gather H622 in thy corn, H1715 and thy wine, H8492 and thine oil. H3323 And I will send H5414 grass H6212 in thy fields H7704 for thy cattle, H929 that thou mayest eat H398 and be full. H7646

Leviticus 18:4-5 STRONG

Ye shall do H6213 my judgments, H4941 and keep H8104 mine ordinances, H2708 to walk H3212 therein: I am the LORD H3068 your God. H430 Ye shall therefore keep H8104 my statutes, H2708 and my judgments: H4941 which H834 if a man H120 do, H6213 he shall live H2425 in them: I am the LORD. H3068

Deuteronomy 7:12 STRONG

Wherefore it shall come to pass, if H6118 ye hearken H8085 to these judgments, H4941 and keep, H8104 and do H6213 them, that the LORD H3068 thy God H430 shall keep H8104 unto thee the covenant H1285 and the mercy H2617 which he sware H7650 unto thy fathers: H1

Joshua 23:14-15 STRONG

And, behold, this day H3117 I am going H1980 the way H1870 of all the earth: H776 and ye know H3045 in all your hearts H3824 and in all your souls, H5315 that not one H259 thing H1697 hath failed H5307 of all the good H2896 things H1697 which the LORD H3068 your God H430 spake H1696 concerning you; all are come to pass H935 unto you, and not one H259 thing H1697 hath failed H5307 thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good H2896 things H1697 are come H935 upon you, which the LORD H3068 your God H430 promised H1696 you; so shall the LORD H3068 bring H935 upon you all evil H7451 things, H1697 until he have destroyed H8045 you from off this good H2896 land H127 which the LORD H3068 your God H430 hath given H5414 you.

Judges 2:1-2 STRONG

And an angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 came up H5927 from Gilgal H1537 to Bochim, H1066 and said, H559 I made you to go up H5927 out of Egypt, H4714 and have brought H935 you unto the land H776 which I sware H7650 unto your fathers; H1 and I said, H559 I will never H5769 break H6565 my covenant H1285 with you. And ye shall make H3772 no league H1285 with the inhabitants H3427 of this land; H776 ye shall throw down H5422 their altars: H4196 but ye have not obeyed H8085 my voice: H6963 why have ye done H6213 this?

Psalms 81:12-16 STRONG

So I gave them up H7971 unto their own hearts' H3820 lust: H8307 and they walked H3212 in their own counsels. H4156 Oh H3863 that my people H5971 had hearkened H8085 unto me, and Israel H3478 had walked H1980 in my ways! H1870 I should soon H4592 have subdued H3665 their enemies, H341 and turned H7725 my hand H3027 against their adversaries. H6862 The haters H8130 of the LORD H3068 should have submitted H3584 themselves unto him: but their time H6256 should have endured for ever. H5769 He should have fed H398 them also with the finest H2459 of the wheat: H2406 and with honey H1706 out of the rock H6697 should I have satisfied H7646 thee.

Isaiah 1:19 STRONG

If ye be willing H14 and obedient, H8085 ye shall eat H398 the good H2898 of the land: H776

Isaiah 48:18-19 STRONG

O that H3863 thou hadst hearkened H7181 to my commandments! H4687 then had thy peace H7965 been as a river, H5104 and thy righteousness H6666 as the waves H1530 of the sea: H3220 Thy seed H2233 also had been as the sand, H2344 and the offspring H6631 of thy bowels H4578 like the gravel H4579 thereof; his name H8034 should not have been cut off H3772 nor destroyed H8045 from before H6440 me.

Matthew 7:24-25 STRONG

Therefore G3767 whosoever G3956 G3748 heareth G191 these G5128 sayings G3056 of mine, G3450 and G2532 doeth G4160 them, G846 I will liken G3666 him G846 unto a wise G5429 man, G435 which G3748 built G3618 his G846 house G3614 upon G1909 a rock: G4073 And G2532 the rain G1028 descended, G2597 and G2532 the floods G4215 came, G2064 and G2532 the winds G417 blew, G4154 and G2532 beat upon G4363 that G1565 house; G3614 and G2532 it fell G4098 not: G3756 for G1063 it was founded G2311 upon G1909 a rock. G4073

Romans 2:7-10 STRONG

To them who by G3303 G2596 patient continuance G5281 in well G18 doing G2041 seek G2212 for glory G1391 and G2532 honour G5092 and G2532 immortality, G861 eternal G166 life: G2222 But G1161 unto them that are contentious, G1537 G2052 and G2532 do not obey G544 G3303 the truth, G225 but G1161 obey G3982 unrighteousness, G93 indignation G2372 and G2532 wrath, G3709 Tribulation G2347 and G2532 anguish, G4730 upon G1909 every G3956 soul G5590 of man G444 that doeth G2716 evil, G2556 of the Jew G2453 first, G4412 and G5037 also G2532 of the Gentile; G1672 But G1161 G2532 glory, G1391 honour, G5092 and G2532 peace, G1515 to every man G3956 that worketh G2038 good, G18 to the Jew G2453 first, G4412 and G5037 also G2532 to the Gentile: G1672

Revelation 22:14 STRONG

Blessed G3107 are they that do G4160 his G846 commandments, G1785 that G2443 they G846 may have G2071 right G1849 to G1909 the tree G3586 of life, G2222 and G2532 may enter G1525 in through the gates G4440 into G1519 the city. G4172

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 26

Commentary on Leviticus 26 Matthew Henry Commentary


Chapter 26

This chapter is a solemn conclusion of the main body of the levitical law. The precepts that follow in this and the following book either relate to some particular matters or are repetitions and explications of the foregoing institutions. Now this chapter contains a general enforcement of all those laws by promises of reward in case of obedience on the one hand, and threatenings of punishment for disobedience on the other hand, the former to work upon hope, the latter on fear, those two handles of the soul, by which it is taken hold of and managed. Here is,

  • I. A repetition of two or three of the principal of the commandments (v. 1, 2).
  • II. An inviting promise of all good things, if they would but keep God's commandments (v. 3-13).
  • III. A terrible threatening of ruining judgments which would be brought upon them if they were refractory and disobedient (v. 14-39).
  • IV. A gracious promise of the return of mercy to those of them that would repent and reform (v. 40, etc.). Deu. 28 is parallel to this.

Lev 26:1-13

Here is,

  • I. The inculcating of those precepts of the law which were of the greatest consequence, and by which were of the greatest consequence, and by which especially their obedience would be tried, v. 1, 2. They are the abstract of the second and fourth commandments, which, as they are by much the largest in the decalogue, so they are most frequently insisted on in other parts of the law. As, when a master has given many things in charge to his servant, he concludes with the repetition of those things which were of the greatest importance, and which the servant was most in danger of neglecting, bidding him, whatever he did, be sure to remember those, so here God by Moses, after many precepts, closes all with a special charge to observe these two great commandments.
    • 1. "Be sure you never worship images, nor ever make any sort of images or pictures for a religious use,' v. 1. No sin was more provoking to God than this, and yet there was none that they were more addicted to, and which afterwards proved of more pernicious consequence to them. Next to God's being, unity, and universal influence, it is necessary that we know and believe that he is an infinite Spirit; and therefore to represent him by an image in the making of it, to confine him to an image in the consecrating of it, and to worship him by an image in bowing down to it, changes his truth into a lie and his glory into shame, as much as any thing.
    • 2. "Be sure you keep up a great veneration for sabbaths and religious assemblies,' v. 2. As nothing tends more to corrupt religion than the use of images in devotion, so nothing contributes more to the support of it than keeping the sabbaths and reverencing the sanctuary. These make up very much of the instrumental part of religion, by which the essentials of it are kept up. Therefore we find in the prophets that, next to the sin of idolatry, there is no sin for which the Jews are more frequently reproved and threatened than the profanation of the sabbath day.
  • II. Great encouragements given them to live in constant obedience to all God's commandments, largely and strongly assuring them that if they did so they should be a happy people, and should be blessed with all the good things they could desire. Human governments enforce their laws with penalties to be inflicted for the breach of them; but God will be known as the rewarder of those that seek and serve him. Let us take a view of these great and precious promises, which, though they relate chiefly to the life which now is, and to the public national concerns of that people, were typical of the spiritual blessings entailed by the covenant of grace upon all believers through Christ.
    • 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. They should have seasonable rain, neither too little nor too much, but what was requisite for their land, which was watered with the dew of heaven (Deu. 11:10, 11), that it might yield its increase, v. 4. The dependence which the fruitfulness of the earth beneath has upon the influences of heaven above is a sensible intimation to us that every good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the Father of lights. It is promised that the earth should produce its fruits in such great abundance that they would be kept in full employment, during both the harvest and the vintage, to gather it in, v. 5. Before they had reaped their corn and threshed it, the vintage would be ready; and, before they had finished their vintage, it would be high time to begin their sowing. Long harvests are often with us the consequences of bad weather, but with them they should be the effects of a great increase. This signified the abundance of grace which should be poured out in gospel times, when the ploughman should overtake the reaper (Amos 9:13), and a great harvest of souls should be gathered in to Christ. The plenty should be so great that they should bring forth the old to be given away to the poor because of the new, to make room for it in their barns, which yet they would not pull down to build greater, as that rich fool (Lu. 12:18), for God gave them this abundance to be laid out, not be hoarded up from one year to another. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, Prov. 11:26. That promise (Mal. 3:10), I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it, explains this, v. 10. And that which crowns this blessing of plenty is (v. 5), You shall eat your bread to the full, which intimates that they should have, not only abundance, but content and satisfaction in it. They should have enough, and should know when they had enough. Thus the meek shall eat and be satisfied, Ps. 22:26.
    • 2. Peace under the divine protection; "You shall dwell in your land safely (v. 5); both really save, and safe in your own apprehensions; you shall lie down to rest in the power and promise of God, and not only none shall hurt you, but none shall so much as make you afraid,' v. 6. See Ps. 4:8. They should not be infested with wild beasts, these should be rid out of the land, or, as it is promised (Job 5:23), should be at peace with them. Nor should they be terrified with the alarms of war: Neither shall the sword go through your land. This holy security is promised to all the faithful, Ps. 91:1, etc. Those must needs dwell in safety that dwell in God, Job 9:18, 19.
    • 3. Victory and success in their wars abroad, while they had peace and tranquility at home, v. 7, 8. They are assured that the hand of God should so signally appear with them in their conquests that no disproportion of numbers should make against them: Five of you shall have courage to attack, and strength to chase and defeat, a hundred, as Jonathan did (1 Sa. 14:12), experiencing the truth of his own maxim (v. 6), that it is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few.
    • 4. The increase of their people: I will make you fruitful and multiply you, v. 9. Thus the promise made to Abraham must be fulfilled, that his seed should be as the dust of the earth; and much more numerous they would have been if they had by their sin cut themselves short. It is promised to the gospel church that it shall be fruitful, Jn. 15:16.
    • 5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all good: I will have respect unto you, v. 9. If the eye of our faith be unto God, the eye of his favour will be unto us. More is implied than is expressed in that promise, My soul shall not abhor you (v. 11), as there is in that threatening, My soul shall have no pleasure in him, Heb. 10:38. Though there was that among them which might justly have alienated him from them, yet, if they would closely adhere to his institutions, he would not abhor them.
    • 6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances: I will set my tabernacle among you, v. 11. It was their honour and advantage that God's tabernacle was lately erected among them; but here he lets them know that the continuance and establishment of it depended upon their good behaviour. The tabernacle that was now set should be settled if they would be obedient, else not. Note, The way to have God's ordinances fixed among us, as a nail in a sure place, is to cleave closely to the institution of them. It is added (v. 12), "I will walk among you, with delight and satisfaction, as a man in his garden; I will keep up communion with you as a man walking with his friend.' This seems to be alluded to, Rev. 2:1, where Christ is said to walk in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
    • 7. The grace of the covenant, as the fountain and foundation, the sweetness and security, of all these blessings: I will establish my covenant with you, v. 9. Let them perform their part of the covenant, and God would not fail to perform his. All covenant-blessings are summed up in the covenant-relation (v. 12): I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and they are all grounded upon their redemption: I am your God, because I brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, v. 13. Having purchased them, he would own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off. He broke their yoke, and made them go upright, that is, their deliverance out of Egypt put them in a state both of ease and honour, that, being delivered out of the hands of their enemies, they might serve God without fear, each walking in his uprightness. When Israel rejected Christ, and was therefore rejected by him, their back is said to be bowed down always under the burden of their guilt, which was heavier than that of their bondage in Egypt, Rom. 11:10.

Lev 26:14-39

After God had set the blessing before them (the life and good which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient), he here sets the curse before them, the death and evil which would make them as miserable if they were disobedient. Let them not think themselves so deeply rooted as that God's power could not ruin them, nor so highly favoured as that his justice would not ruin them if they revolted from him and rebelled against him; no You only have I known, therefore I will punish you soonest and sorest. Amos 3:2. Observe,

  • I. How their sin is described, which would bring all this misery upon them. Not sins of ignorance and infirmity; God had provided sacrifices for those. Not the sins they repented of and forsook; but the sins that were presumptuously committed, and obstinately persisted in. Two things would certainly bring this ruin upon them:-
    • 1. A contempt of God's commandments (v. 14): "If you will not hearken to me speaking to you by the law, nor do all these commandments, that is, desire and endeavour to do them, and, wherein you miss it, make use of the prescribed remedies.' Thus their sin is supposed to begin in mere carelessness, and neglect, and omission. These are bad enough, but they make way for worse; for the people are brought in (v. 15) as,
      • (1.) Despising God's statutes, both the duties enjoined and the authority enjoining them, thinking meanly of the law and the Law-maker. Note, Those are hastening apace to their own ruin who begin to think it below them to be religious.
      • (2.) Abhorring his judgments, their very souls abhorring them. Note, Those that begin to despise religion will come by degrees to loathe it; and mean thoughts of it will ripen into ill thoughts of it; those that turn from it will turn against it, and their hearts will rise at it.
      • (3.) Breaking his covenant. Though every breach of the commandment does not amount to a breach of the covenant (we were undone if it did), yet, when men have come to such a pitch of impiety as to despise and abhor the commandment, the next step will be to disown God, and all relation to him. Those that reject the precept will come at last to renounce the covenant. Observe, It is God's covenant which they break: he made it, but they break it. Note, If a covenant be made and kept between God and man, God must have all the honour; but, if ever it be broken, man must bear all the blame: on him shall this breach be.
    • 2. A contempt of his corrections. Even their disobedience would not have been their destruction if they had not been obstinate and impenitent in it, notwithstanding the methods God took to reclaim them. Their contempt of God's word would not have brought them to ruin, if they had not added to that a contempt of his rod, which should have brought them to repentance. Three ways this is expressed:-
      • (1.) "If you will not for all this hearken to me, v. 18, 21, 27. If you will not learn obedience by the things which you suffer, but be as deaf to the loud alarms of God's judgments as you have been to the close reasonings of his word and the secret whispers of your own consciences, you are obstinate indeed.'
      • (2.) "If you walk contrary to me, v. 21, 23, 27. All sinners walk contrary to God, to his truths, laws, and counsels; but those especially that are incorrigible under his judgments. The design of the rod is to humble them, and soften them, and bring them to repentance; but, instead of this, their hearts are more hardened and exasperated against God, and in their distress they trespass yet more against him, 2 Chr. 28:22. This is walking contrary to God. Some read it, "If you walk at all adventures with me, carelessly and presumptuously, as if you heeded not either what you do, whether it be right or wrong, or what God does with you, whether it be for you or against you, blundering on in wilful ignorance.'
      • (3.) If you will not be reformed by these things. God's design in punishing is to reform, by giving men sensible convictions of the evil of sin, and obliging them to seek unto him for relief: this is the primary intention; but those that will not be reformed by the judgments of God must expect to be ruined by them. Those have a great deal to answer for that have been long and often under God's correcting hand, and yet go on frowardly in a sinful way; sick and in pain, and yet not reformed; crossed and impoverished, and yet not reformed; broken with breach upon breach, yet not returning to the Lord, Amos 4:6, etc.
  • II. How the misery is described which their sin would bring upon them, under two heads:-
    • 1. God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery.
      • (1.) I will set my face against you (v. 17), that is, "I will set myself against you, set myself to ruin you.' These proud sinners God will resist, and face those down that confront his authority. Or the face is put for the anger: "I will show myself highly displeased at you.'
      • (2.) I will walk contrary to you (v. 24, 28); with the forward he will wrestle, Ps. 18:26 [margin]. When God in his providence thwarts the designs of a people, which they thought well laid, crosses their purposes, breaks their measures, blasts their endeavours, and disappoints their expectations, then he walks contrary to them. Note, There is nothing got by striving with God Almighty, for he will break either the heart or the neck of those that contend with him, will bring them either to repentance or ruin. "I will walk at all adventures with you,' so some read; "all covenant loving-kindness shall be forgotten, and I will leave you to common providence.' Note, Those that cast off God deserve that he should cast them off.
      • (3.) As they continued obstinate, the judgments should increase yet more upon them. If the first sensible tokens of God's displeasures do not attain their end, to humble and reform them, then (v. 18), I will punish you seven times more, and again (v. 21), I will bring seven times more plagues, and (v. 24), I will punish you yet seven times, and (v. 28), I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. Note, If less judgments do not do their work, God will send greater; for, when he judges, he will overcome. If true repentance do not stay process, it will go on till execution be taken out. Those that are obstinate and incorrigible, when they have weathered one storm must expect another more violent; and, how severely soever they are punished, till they are in hell they must still say, "There is worse behind,' unless they repent. If the founder have hitherto melted in vain (Jer. 6:29), the furnace will be heated seven times hotter (a proverbial expression, used Dan. 3:19), and again and again seven times hotter; and who among us can dwell with such devouring fire? God does not begin with the sorest judgments, to show that he is patient, and delights not in the death of sinners; but, if they repent not, he will proceed to the sorest, to show that he is righteous, and that he will not be mocked or set at defiance.
      • (4.) Their misery is completed in that threatening: My soul shall abhor you, v. 30. That man is as miserable as he can be whom God abhors; for his resentments are just and effective. Thus if any man draw back, as these are supposed to do, God's soul shall have no pleasure in him (Heb. 10:38), and he will spue them out of his mouth, Rev. 3:16. It is spoken of as strange, and yet too true, Hath thy soul loathed Zion? Jer. 14:19.
    • 2. The whole creation would be at war with them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them; for he hath many arrows in his quiver. The threatenings here are very particular, because really they were prophecies, and he that foresaw all their rebellions knew they would prove so; see Deu. 31:16, 29. This long roll of threatening shows that evil pursues sinners. We have here,
      • (1.) Temporal judgments threatened.
        • [1.] Diseases of body, which should be epidemical: I will appoint over you, as task-masters, to rule you with rigour, terror, consumption, and the burning ague, v. 16. What we translate terror, some think, signifies a particular disease, probably (says the learned bishop Patrick) the falling sickness, which is terror indeed: all chronical diseases are included in the consumption, and all acute diseases in the burning ague or fever. These consume the eyes, and cause sorrow both to those that are visited with them and to their friends and relations. Note, All diseases are God's servants; they do what he appoints them, and are often used as scourges wherewith he chastises a provoking people. The pestilence is threatened (v. 25) to meet them, when they are gathered together in their cities for fear of the sword. The greater the concourse of people is, the greater desolation does the pestilence make; and, when it gets among the soldiers that should defend a place, it is of most fatal consequence.
        • [2.] Famine and scarcity of bread, which should be brought upon them several ways; as,
          • First, By plunder (v. 16): Your enemies shall eat it up, and carry it off as the Midianites did, Jdg. 6:5, 6.
          • Secondly, By unseasonable weather, especially the want of rain (v. 19): I will make your heaven as iron, letting fall no rain, but reflecting heat, and then the earth would of course be as dry and hard as brass, and their labour in ploughing and sowing would be in vain (v. 20); for the increase of the earth depends upon God's good providence more than upon man's good husbandry. This should be the breaking of the staff of bread (v. 26), which life leans upon, and is supported by, on which perhaps they had leaned more than upon God's blessing. There should be so great a dearth of corn that, whereas every family used to fill an oven of their own with household bread, now ten families should have to fill but one over, which would bring themselves and their children and servants to short allowance, so that they should eat and not be satisfied. The less they had the more craving should their appetites be.
          • Thirdly, By the besieging of their cities, which would reduce them to such an extremity that they should eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, v. 29.
        • [3.] War, and the prevailing of their enemies over them: "You shall be slain before your enemies, v. 17. Your choice men shall die in battle, and those that hate you shall reign over you, and justly, since you are not willing that the God that loved you should reign over you;' 2 Chr. 12:8. Miserable is that people whose enemies are their rulers and have got dominion over them, or whose rulers have become their enemies and under-hand seek the ruin of their interests. Thus God would break the pride of their power, v. 19. God had given them power over the nations; but when they, instead of being thankful for that power, and improving it for the service of God's kingdom, grew proud of it, and perverted the intentions of it, it was just with God to break it. Thus God would bring a sword upon them to avenge the quarrel of his covenant, v. 25. Note, God has a just quarrel with those that break covenant with him, for he will not be mocked by the treachery of perfidious men; and one way or other he will avenge this quarrel upon those that play at fast and loose with him.
        • [4.] Wild beasts, lions, bears, and wolves, which should increase upon them, and tear in pieces all that come in their way (v. 22), as we read of two bears that in an instant killed forty-two children, 2 Ki. 2:24. This is one of the four sore judgments threatened Eze. 14:21, which plainly refers to this chapter. Man was made to have dominion over the creatures, and, though many of them are stronger than he, yet none of them could have hurt him, nay, all of them would have served him, if he had not first shaken off God's dominion, and so lost his own; and now the creatures are in rebellion against him that is in rebellion against his Maker, and, when the Lord of those hosts pleases, they are the executioners of his wrath and the ministers of his justice.
        • [5.] Captivity, or dispersion: I will scatter you among the heathen (v. 33), in your enemies' land, v. 34. Never were any people so incorporated and united among themselves as they were; but for their sin God would scatter them, so that they should be lost among the heathen, from whom God had graciously distinguished them, but with whom they had wickedly mingled themselves. Yet, when they were scattered, divine justice had not done with them, but would draw out a sword after them, which would find them out, and follow them wherever they were. God's judgments, as they cannot be outfaced, so they cannot be outrun.
        • [6.] The utter ruin and desolation of their land, which should be so remarkable that their very enemies themselves, who had helped it forward, should in the review be astonished at it, v. 32.
          • First, Their cities should be waste, forsaken, uninhabited, and all the buildings destroyed; those that escaped the desolations of war should fall to decay of themselves.
          • Secondly, Their sanctuaries should be a desolation, that is, their synagogues where they met for religious worship every sabbath, as well as their tabernacle where they met thrice a year.
          • Thirdly, The country itself should be desolate, not tilled or husbanded (v. 34, 35); then the land should enjoy its sabbaths, because they had not religiously observed the sabbatical years which God appointed them. They tilled their ground when God would have them let it rest; justly therefore were they driven out of it; and the expression intimates that the ground itself was pleased and easy when it was rid of the burden of such sinners, under which it had groaned, Rom. 8:20, etc. The captivity in Babylon lasted seventy years, and so long the land enjoyed her sabbaths, as is said (2 Chr. 36:21) with reference to this.
        • [7.] The destruction of their idols, though rather a mercy than a judgment, yet, being a necessary piece of justice, is here mentioned, to show what would be the sin that would bring all these miseries upon them: I will destroy your high places, v. 30. Those that will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God shall be parted from them by his judgments; since they would not destroy their high places, God would. And, to upbraid them with the unreasonable fondness they had shown for their idols, it is foretold that their carcases should be cast upon the carcases of their idols. Those that are wedded to their lusts will sooner or later have enough of them. Their idols would not be able to help either themselves or their worshippers; but, those that made them being like them, they should both perish alike, and fall together as blind into the ditch.
      • (2.) Spiritual judgments are here threatened. These should seize the mind; for he that made the mind can, when he pleases, make his sword approach to it. It is here threatened,
        • [1.] That they should find no acceptance with God: I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours, v. 31. Though the judgments of God upon them did not separate them and their sins, yet they extorted incense from them; but in vain-even their incense was an abomination, Isa. 1:13.
        • [2.] That they should have no courage in their wars, but should be quite dispirited and disheartened. They should not only fear and flee (v. 17), but fear and fall, when none pursued, v. 36. A guilty conscience would be their continual terror, so that not only the sound of a trumpet, but the very sound of a leaf, should chase them. Note, Those that cast off the fear of God expose themselves to the fear of every thing else, Prov. 28:1. Their very fears should dash them one against another, v. 37, 38. And those that had increased one another's guilt would now increase one another's fears.
        • [3.] That they should have no hope of the forgiveness of their sins (v. 39): They shall pine away in their iniquity, and how should they then live? Eze. 33:10. Note, It is a righteous thing with God to leave those to despair of pardon that have presumed to sin; and it is owing to free grace if we are not abandoned to pine away in the iniquity we were born in and have lived in.

Lev 26:40-46

Here the chapter concludes with gracious promises of the return of God's favour to them upon their repentance, that they might not (unless it were their own fault) pine away in their iniquity. Behold, with wonder, the riches of God's mercy to a people that had obstinately stood it out against the judgments of God, and would never think of surrendering till they were reduced to the last extremity. Yet turn to strong-hold, you prisoners of hope, Zec. 9:12. As bad as things are, they may be mended. Yet there is hope in Israel. Observe,

  • I. How the repentance which would qualify them for this mercy is described, v. 40, 41. The instances of it are three:-
    • 1. Confession, by which they must give glory to God, and take shame to themselves. There must be a confession of sin, their own and their fathers', which they must lament the guilt of because they feel the smart of it; that thus they may cut off the entail of wrath. They must in their confession put sin under its worst character, as walking contrary to God; this is the sinfulness of sin, the worst thing in it, and which in our repentance we should especially bewail. There must also be a confession of wrath; they must overlook the instruments of their trouble and the second causes, and confess that God has walked contrary to them, and so dealt with them according to their sins. Such a confession as this we find made by Daniel just before the dawning of the day of their deliverance (ch. 9), and the like, Ezra 9 and Neh. 9.
    • 2. Remorse and godly sorrow for sin: If their uncircumcised heart be humbled. An impenitent, unbelieving, unhumbled heart, is called an uncircumcised heart, the heart of a Gentile that is a stranger to God, rather than the heart of an Israelite in covenant with him. True circumcision is of the heart (Rom. 2:29), without which the circumcision of the flesh avails nothing, Jer. 9:26. Now in repentance this uncircumcised heart was humbled, that is, it was truly broken and contrite for sin. Note, A humble heart under humbling providences prepares for deliverance and true comfort.
    • 3. Submission to the justice of God in all his dealings; if they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity (v. 41 and again v. 43), that is, if they justify God and condemn themselves, patiently bear the punishment as that which they have well deserved, and carefully answer the ends o it as that which God has well designed, accept it as a kindness, take it as physic, and improve it, then they are penitents indeed.
  • II. How the mercy which they should obtain upon their repentance is described.
    • 1. They should not be abandoned: Though they have despised my judgments, yet, for all that, I will not cast them away, v. 43, 44. He speaks as a tender Father that cannot find in his heart to disinherit a son that has been very provoking. How shall I do it? Hos. 11:8, 9. Till he had laid the foundations of a church for himself in the Gentile world, the Jewish church was not quite forsaken, nor cast away.
    • 2. They should be remembered: I will remember the land with favour, which is grounded upon the promise before, I will remember my covenant (v. 42), which is repeated, v. 45. God is said to remember the covenant when he performs the promises of it, purely for his faithfulness' sake; not because there is any thing in us to recommend us to his favour, but because he will be as good as his word. This is the church's plea. Ps. 74:20, Have respect unto the covenant. He will remember the constitution of the covenant, which is such as leaves room for repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance; and the Mediator of the covenant, who was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was sent, when the fulness of time came, in remembrance of that holy covenant. The word covenant is thrice repeated, to intimate that God is ever mindful of it and would have us to be so. The persons also with whom the covenant was made are mentioned in an unusual manner, per modum ascensus-in the ascending line, beginning with Jacob, to lead them gradually to the most ancient promise, which was made to the father of the faithful: thus (Mic. 7:20) he is said to perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham. He will for their sakes (v. 45), not their merit's sake, but their benefit's sake, remember the covenant of their ancestors, and upon that score show kindness to them, though most unworthy; they are therefore said to be, as touching the election, beloved for the fathers' sake, Rom. 11:28. Note, When those that have walked contrary to God in a way of sin return to him by sincere repentance, though he has walked contrary to them in a way of judgment he will return to them in a way of special mercy, pursuant to the covenant of redemption and grace. None are so ready to repent as God is to forgive upon repentance, through Christ, who is given for a covenant.

Lastly, These are said to be the laws which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel, v. 46. His communion with his church is kept up by his law. He manifests not only his dominion over them, but his favour to them, by giving them his law; and they manifest not only their holy fear, but their holy love, by the observance of it; and thus it is made between them, rather as a covenant than a law; for he draws with the cords of a man.