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Texts -- Leviticus 26:1-42 (NET)

Context
Exhortation to Obedience
26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols , so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar , and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God . 26:2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary . I am the Lord .
The Benefits of Obedience
26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments , 26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit . 26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes , and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so you will eat your bread until you are satisfied , and you will live securely in your land . 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. I will remove harmful animals from the land , and no sword of war will pass through your land . 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword . 26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred , and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand , and your enemies will fall before you by the sword . 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful , multiply you, and maintain my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new . 26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle in your midst and I will not abhor you . 26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people . 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt , from being their slaves , and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright .
The Consequences of Disobedience
26:14 “‘If , however, you do not obey me and keep all these commandments 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep all my commandments and you break my covenant 26:16 I for my part will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever , which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life . You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. 26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies , those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you. 26:18 “‘If , in spite of all these things , you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins . 26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze . 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain , your land will not give its yield , and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit . 26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction seven times according to your sins . 26:22 I will send the wild animals against you and they will bereave you of your children , annihilate your cattle , and diminish your population so that your roads will become deserted . 26:23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you seven times on account of your sins . 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword , a covenant vengeance . Although you will gather together into your cities , I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands . 26:26 When I break off your supply of bread , ten women will bake your bread in one oven ; they will ration your bread by weight , and you will eat and not be satisfied . 26:27 “‘If in spite of this you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, 26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins . 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters . 26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars , and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols . I will abhor you . 26:31 I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate , and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas . 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled . 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste . 26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies ; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths . 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you lived on it. 26:36 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies . The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer . 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword , though there is no pursuer , and there will be no one to take a stand for you before your enemies . 26:38 You will perish among the nations ; the land of your enemies will consume you.
Restoration through Confession and Repentance
26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies , and they will also rot away because of their ancestors ’ iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when they confess their iniquity and their ancestors ’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, by which they also walked in hostility against me 26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies ), and then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquity , 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham , and I will remember the land .

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Motivations For Obedience

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Abram asked God to strengthen his faith. In response Yahweh promised to give the patriarch innumerable descendants. This led Abram to request some further assurance that God would indeed do what He promised. God graciously ob...
  • 4:19-23 Moses did not return immediately to Egypt when he arrived back in Midian following his encounter with God at Horeb (v. 19). God spoke to him again in Midian and sent him back to Egypt assuring His servant that everyon...
  • As mentioned, Leviticus contains revelation that was particularly appropriate for the priests. While ritual and legal matters predominate, Moses wove them into the historical narratives so as one reads Exodus, Leviticus, and ...
  • "Though the covenant arrangement up to this point clearly specified the need for Israel, the vassal, to appear before her Lord on stated occasions and singled out first Moses and then the priesthood as mediators in this encou...
  • "At first sight the book of Leviticus might appear to be a haphazard, even repetitious arrangement of enactments involving the future life in Canaan of the Israelite people. Closer examination will reveal, however, that quite...
  • Leviticus continues revelation concerning the second of three elements necessary for any nation to exist, namely, a people (Gen. 12:10--Exod. 19), their law (Exod. 20--Num. 10:10), and their land (Num. 10:11--Josh. 24).Leviti...
  • "This chapter contains a selected list of creatures that divides each type of creature into various classes of purity. According to the final verse in the chapter, the decisive question was whether a class of animals was uncl...
  • The sacrifices and offerings that Moses described thus far in the law were not sufficient to cleanse all the defilement that the sins of the people created. Much sinfulness still needed covering. Therefore God appointed a yea...
  • The second major division of Leviticus deals with how the Israelites were to express their worship of Yahweh in their private lives."The first sixteen chapters of Leviticus are concerned primarily with establishment and maint...
  • We move from public regulations in chapter 16 to intimate regulations in chapter 18 with chapter 17 providing the transition. In contrast to the first sixteen chapters, chapter 17 says very little about the role of the priest...
  • The Israelites were to observe the year of jubilee (lit. blowing the ram's horn) every fiftieth year, the year following seven seven-year periods.285On the Day of Atonement of that year a priest was to blow the ram's horn (sh...
  • Two fundamental commandments, one negative and one positive, introduce this section of blessings (vv. 1-2)."In terms reminiscent of the inauguration of the covenant at Sinai (Ex. 21:1-4), Yahweh speaks of His uniqueness and e...
  • The benefits of faithful obedience to the law of God would be fruitful harvests (vv. 4-5, 10), and security and peace (v. 6) including victory in battle (vv. 7-8) and numerical growth as a nation (v. 9; cf. Gen. 17:7). The ob...
  • These punishments would come on the Israelites not for individual errors and sins but for a settled contempt for the whole covenant. They manifested such contempt in presumptuous and obstinate rebellion against the law (vv. 1...
  • In this section God explained that His discipline for disobedience would be to produce repentance and return to Himself by the Israelites.26:34-39 The length of the Babylonian captivity was 70 years because the Israelites fai...
  • The blessings and curses (ch. 26) were in a sense God's vows to His people. This chapter deals with His people's vows to Him. Another connection between these chapters is that in times of divine discipline (26:14-33) people t...
  • Genesis reveals how people can have a relationship with God. This comes through trust in God and obedience to Him. Faith is the key word in Genesis. God proves Himself faithful in this book.Exodus reveals that God is also sov...
  • The covenant to which Moses referred (v. 2) is not the Abrahamic but the Mosaic Covenant. What follows is an upgrade of the Mosaic Covenant for the new generation about to enter the Promised Land. The "fathers"(v. 3) were the...
  • Having recited what God had done for the Israelites, Moses now called on them to respond and make a commitment to Him."The structure of the passage reveals an enveloping pattern in which injunctions to obey God (vv. 12-13; 20...
  • Israel's JudgesJudgeScriptureIsrael's OppressorsLength in YearsNation(s)King(s)OppressionJudgeshipPeaceOthniel3:7-11MesopotamiaCushan-rishathaim8(ca. 1358-1350 B.C.)40(ca. 1350-1310 B.C.)Ehud3:12-30Moab (with Ammon & Amal...
  • This great prayer centers on the Mosaic Covenant. That is its heart. Solomon introduced seven petitions with a backward look emphasizing God's faithfulness (vv. 23-26). He concluded with a forward look stressing God's mercy (...
  • Again God raised up a prophet to announce what He would do. Evidently Ahab's apostasy had been going on for 14 years before God raised up His prophetic challenge.173Normally God gives sinners an opportunity to judge themselve...
  • Aram's cessation of hostilities resumed after some time (v. 24; cf. v. 23), perhaps between 845 and 841 B.C.43The famine in Samaria resulted from the siege that was a punishment from the Lord for Israel's apostasy (cf. Lev. 2...
  • Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2 Chron. 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them was the repair o...
  • God had warned his people Israel that disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant might result in exile from the Promised Land if that disobedience was wide-spread and prolonged (cf. Lev. 26:14, 33; Deut. 28:36, 48, 63). This is real...
  • 32:3-4 David's failure to confess his sin immediately resulted in internal grief and external weakness for him. God oppressed him severely with discipline (cf. Heb. 12:6). Consequently David felt drained of energy. Evidently ...
  • 13:3 This caution applies to transparent sharing as well as verbose communication. Both can bring ruin to the speaker.13:4 The "soul"stands for the whole person (cf. Matt. 16:24-27; Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9; 9:56; Rom. 13:1; 1 Thes...
  • Israel was guilty of forsaking her God and, as a result, she had become broken and desolate.1:2-3 God Himself charged the Israelites with their sin. He called the heavens and earth to listen (cf. Deut. 30:19; 32:1). His peopl...
  • In contrast to Ahaz, who refused to listen to and obey God, the Lord would raise up a faithful king who would be born and reign in the future (the Millennium). This pericope climaxes the present section (7:1-9:7) dealing with...
  • There are several thematic connections between this chapter and chapter 28.298The general structure of the chapter is chiastic."AContemporary events: Egypt no help (1-7)BComing human events: the refusal of the word, the way o...
  • God not only will be faithful to His promises in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness (63:1-65:16), but He will demonstrate His ability and desire to provide righteousness for sinful humankind by creating new heavens and a new ea...
  • This vision may have come to Jeremiah immediately after the preceding one or at some other time.1:13 The Lord next directed Jeremiah to view a boiling pot (cauldron used for cooking or washing, Heb. sir) that was tipped so th...
  • 3:1 God posed the question to His people of what happens in a divorce. The answer to His rhetorical question is, no, a husband who divorces his wife, if she goes to live with another man, will not return to her.92The Mosaic L...
  • "The sermon ends (if these verses, still in prose, should be taken with ch. 7) on a note which takes away the last shreds of comfort for those whose hopes or memories are bound up with Jerusalem."1838:1 When the invasion from...
  • Trust in religious ritual is just as wrong as trust in human achievements."Just as the knowledge of God is more important than wisdom, power, or might, even so faith that springs from the heart is more important than any outw...
  • Most scholars believe this lament dates from the time when Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon after three years of submission (about 602 B.C.; cf. 2 Kings 24:1-2).225"The second part of God's reply is remarkable, saying in ef...
  • 14:1 A message came to Jeremiah from Yahweh concerning some droughts (Heb. plural) that overtook Judah.241Droughts were a punishment for covenant violation in Israel (cf. Lev. 26:18-19; Deut. 28:23-24).14:2 Judah was in mourn...
  • This is another section that contains one of Jeremiah's "confessions."Evidently there were several separate plots against the prophet's life (cf. 11:18-23; 12:1-6). People hated him because he brought bad news and called them...
  • This message to the people involved another symbolic act (cf. 13:1-11). This incident may have occurred between 609 and 605 B.C.19:1 Yahweh told Jeremiah to take some of Judah's elders and senior priests and to go and purchas...
  • 30:18 Yahweh promised to restore Israel's tribal fortunes (cf. Num. 24:5-6), to have compassion on His peoples' towns and homes, and to rebuild Jerusalem and the royal palace there.30:19 Thanksgiving and merrymaking would mar...
  • Jeremiah wrote almost as much about Babylon's future as he did about the futures of all the other nations in his other oracles combined. The length of this oracle reflects the great importance of Babylon in his ministry as we...
  • This section contains five pictures of Jerusalem's condition.302:11-12 Jeremiah had exhausted his capacity for weeping and sorrowing over the destruction of his people; he felt drained emotionally. He observed small children ...
  • This last pericope is a prayer to the Lord.2:20 Jeremiah responded to this call to prayer by asking the Lord to consider who was suffering so greatly that women were cannibalizing their own newborn children to stay alive in t...
  • Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chs. 8 and 11) the Lord carried t...
  • Evidently Ezekiel's verbal explanation of this drama came at the very end of the drama, at the time of the real destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was no longer silent then.5:5-6 The Lord explained that the center of the drama...
  • ". . . the focus of chap. 6 is on the individual responsibility of the people and prepares the way for the subsequent spoken messages."1216:1-2 The Lord directed Ezekiel to pronounce an oracle of judgment against "the mountai...
  • This chapter, like the previous one, probably contains several separate oracles. Together they make up a lamentation. Here the nature of the coming judgment of Jerusalem and Judah receives primary emphasis."There are six part...
  • 11:14-15 The Lord then replied that many of the Jews in Jerusalem were saying that the Judahites who had gone into captivity were the ones that God was judging. They believed that the Jews left in Jerusalem were the remnant t...
  • 14:6 The Lord called His people to change their minds (repent, Heb. shub), turn away from the idols in their hearts, and abandon them.14:7-8 Anyone in Israel, including immigrants (Heb. ger, sojourners, resident aliens), who ...
  • This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem's destruction (cf. Jer. 7:16; 15:1-4).14:12-14 The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem's ...
  • 16:60-61 Yet the Lord promised to remember and stand by His promises in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3). He would establish a new, everlasting covenant with His people in the future (cf. 11:18-20; 36: 26-28; 37:26-28; Is...
  • The Lord's history lesson for these elders described Israel in four successive periods: in Egypt (vv. 5-9), in the wilderness (vv. 10-26), in the Promised Land (vv. 27-29), and in the present time (vv. 30-38).281What the Lord...
  • 20:10-12 So the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness. At Mount Sinai He gave them statutes and ordinances that would result in their welfare if they obeyed them, namely, the Mosaic Law. He also gave th...
  • It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
  • 37:15-17 The Lord also commanded Ezekiel to take two sticks (cf. Zech. 11:7-14). He was to write on one of them "For Judah and for the sons of Israel, Judah's companions."He was to write on the other stick "For Joseph and for...
  • The Lord used Hosea's family members as signs to communicate His message of coming judgment on Israel.1:2 At the beginning of Hosea's ministry, Yahweh commanded him to take a wife of harlotry and to have children of harlotry....
  • The emphasis in this message is on the fact that God would renew His love for Israel and would restore their "marriage"relationship.2:14 Following Israel's decision to return to Yahweh after her punishment (v. 7), the Lord pr...
  • The Lord brought a legal charge against the Israelites for breaking the Mosaic Covenant. Again the literary form of this section is a legal confrontation (Heb. rib, cf. 2:2). The Lord stated His charges against Israel in 4:1-...
  • This warning confronted the tribe of Ephraim, or perhaps all Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.5:8 Blowing trumpets in cities announced the coming of an invader. Throughout Israel's towns the sentries would blow alarm...
  • This pericope condemns Israel's foreign policy.7:8 Ephraim had mixed itself with the pagan nations, like unleavened dough mixed with leaven. She had done this by making alliances with neighbor nations as well as by importing ...
  • 13:15 With the removal of God's compassion (v. 14), Israel's prosperity would end. Hosea described that change like a hot eastern desert wind sweeping over Israel and drying up all its water sources. Israel had flourished amo...
  • This verse summarizes the message that Amos received from the Lord. Amos reported that Yahweh roared from Zion, as a lion roars before it devours its prey or as thunder precedes a severe storm (cf. 3:4, 8; Jer. 25:30; Hos. 5:...
  • 4:6 The Lord had brought famine throughout the land to warn His people about their disobedience and His displeasure, but this judgment did not move them to repent (cf. 1 Kings 8:37). Famine was one of the curses that God said...
  • 9:13 In contrast to the images of judgment that Amos had painted throughout this book, days were coming when these terrible conditions would be reversed. The land would become so productive that farmers planting seed for the ...
  • Micah ministered to the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom. He predicted the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and warned the Judeans that God would discipline them too for their sins. As in al...
  • 6:13 Because of these sins the Lord promised to make His people sick, downtrodden, and desolate.6:14 They would continue to eat, but their food would not bring them satisfaction (cf. Lev. 26:26). Their excessive accumulation ...
  • 1:7 In view of the inevitability of coming judgment for idolatry, it was appropriate for the Judeans to be quiet before sovereign Yahweh (cf. Hab. 2:20)."This is a call to the people of Judah to cease every manner of oppositi...
  • 1:1 Yahweh sent a message to Zerubbabel and Joshua through the prophet Haggai, though it went to all the Israelites too (vv. 2, 4). Zerubbabel was the political governor (overseer) of the Persian province of Judah who had led...
  • 1:7-8 Again the Lord called the people to reflect thoughtfully on what they were doing (cf. v. 5). He urged them to go to the mountains where trees grew abundantly, to cut them down, and to continue rebuilding the temple (cf....
  • Chapter 8 not only contains two major messages from the Lord (vv. 1-17, 18-23) but 10 minor messages, "a decalogueof divine words,"155that make up the two major ones. "Thus says the Lord"introduces each of these minor message...
  • Whereas the emphasis in Malachi's argument shifts at this point somewhat from the sins of the priests to their possible fate, there is a continuing emphasis on their sins. In the preceding section (1:6-14) the cultic activity...
  • From a discussion of discipline Jesus proceeded to stress the importance of forgiveness. Sometimes zealous disciples spend too much time studying church discipline and too little time studying the importance of forgiveness.18...
  • Stephen concluded his defense by indicting his accusers. They had brought charges against him, but now he brought more serious charges against them.In his first speech to the Sanhedrin, Peter had been quite brief and forthrig...
  • The Corinthians had a tendency to respond to Paul's teachings by first resisting them and then going overboard in applying them inappropriately. They had done this in dealing with the incestuous man (1 Cor. 5). Consequently P...
  • Paul proceeded to deal with a significant group of antagonists that the Philippians faced.3:2 Jesus and other prophets used the term "dogs"to refer to opponents of God's truth (Matt. 7:6; cf. Deut. 23:18; 1 Sam. 17:43; 24:14;...
  • There are a number of contrasts between the 144,000 and this great multitude. The number of the first group is not only smaller but definite whereas the number of the second group is larger and indefinite. People from the 12 ...
  • 21:2 In the same vision, John next saw a city descending out of heaven from God (cf. v. 10; 3:12; Heb. 11:13-16). It was holy in contrast to the former Jerusalem (cf. 11:8; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 4:5; 27:53). As the old Jerusalem w...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Lev. 26:10"Ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.' Lev. 26:10.This is one of the blessings promised to obedience. No doubt it, like the other elements of that prosperity' which is the blessing of ...
  • Lev. 26:13I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.'--Lev. 26:13.The history of Israel is...
  • It begins with solemnly laying before God His own great name, as the mightiest plea with Him, and the strongest encouragement to the suppliant. That commencement is no mere proper invocation, conventionally regarded as the ri...
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