Leviticus 26:20

26:14-39 After God has set the blessing before them which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient, he here sets the curse before them, the evils which would make them miserable, if they were disobedient. Two things would bring ruin. 1. A contempt of God's commandments. They that reject the precept, will come at last to renounce the covenant. 2. A contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery. And also, The whole creation would be at war with them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them. The threatenings here are very particular, they were prophecies, and He that foresaw all their rebellions, knew they would prove so. TEMPORAL judgments are threatened. Those who will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God, shall be parted from them by judgments. Those wedded to their lusts, will have enough of them. SPIRITUAL judgments are threatened, which should seize the mind. They should find no acceptance with God. A guilty conscience would be their continual terror. It is righteous with God to leave those to despair of pardon, who presume to sin; and it is owing to free grace, if we are not left to pine away in the iniquity we were born in, and have lived in.

And your strength shall be spent in vain,.... In endeavouring to till the ground, to plough, or sow, or to dig about the vines or olives, and prune them: for your land shall not yield its increase; produce corn, and bring forth grass, the one for the use of men, the other for the use of the cattle, and therefore both must starve: neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits; such as vines, olives, figs, pomegranates, &c. which were very plentiful in the land of Judea, and on which they much lived, and on which their more comfortable subsistence at least depended, see Habakkuk 3:17; all this is the reverse of Leviticus 26:4.

(20) And your strength shall be spent in vain. —That is, with the heaven over them as metal, their labour expended in ploughing, digging, and sowing will be perfectly useless. Your land shall not yield her increase, as no amount of human labour will make up for the want of rain. In Deuteronomy 11:17, where the same punishment is threatened, and the same phrase is used, the Authorised Version unnecessarily obliterates the identity of the words in the original by rendering them “the land yield not her fruit.”

First stage of the aggravated judgments. - If they did not hearken אלּה עד, "up to these" (the punishments named in Leviticus 26:16 , Leviticus 26:17 ), that is to say, if they persisted in their disobedience even when the judgments reached to this height, God would add a sevenfold chastisement on account of their sins, would punish them seven times more severely, and break down their strong pride by fearful drought. Seven, as the number of perfection in the works of God, denotes the strengthening of the chastisement, even to the height of its full measure (cf. Proverbs 24:16 ). עז גּאון, lit., the eminence or pride of strength, includes everything upon which a nation rests its might; then the pride and haughtiness which rely upon earthly might and its auxiliaries ( Ezekiel 30:6 , Ezekiel 30:18 ; Ezekiel 33:28 ); here it signifies the pride of a nation, puffed up by the fruitfulness and rich produce of its land. God would make their heaven (the sky of their land) like iron and their earth like brass, i.e., as hard and dry as metal, so that not a drop of rain and dew would fall from heaven to moisten the earth, and not a plant could grow out of the earth (cf. Deuteronomy 28:23 ); and when the land was cultivated, the people would exhaust their strength for nought. תּמם, consumi.

13 . Speak thou also ] And thou (emph.), speak thou ( Exodus 27:20 ). Verily ] cf. on Exodus 12:15 (‘surely’). ye shall keep my Sabbaths ] the sabbaths sacred to me. Note exactly the same words in H, Leviticus 19:3 ; Leviticus 19:30 ; Leviticus 26:2 : ‘my sabbaths,’ also, often in Ezek. ( Ezekiel 20:12-13 ; Ezekiel 20:16 ; Ezekiel 20:20-21 ; Ezekiel 20:24 , Ezekiel 22:8 ; Ezekiel 22:26 , Ezekiel 23:38 , Ezekiel 44:24 ); only besides in Isaiah 56:4 †. a sign , &c.] The sabbath, as a day observed weekly in honour of Jehovah, and kept sacred to Him, is a constantly recurring memorial of Israel’s dedication to Him, and of the covenant-relation subsisting between them. Comp. Ezekiel 20:12 (cited below). throughout your generations ] See on Exodus 12:14 . So v. 16. that men may know (Heb. simply to know : so Psalm 67:2 Heb.) &c.] that all the world may recognize, by means of the sabbath, that it is Jehovah who ‘sanctifies’ Israel, or provides it with the means of becoming a holy people. ‘I am Jehovah which sanctify [better, ‘which sancti fieth ’] you (him, them)’ is one of the dominant thoughts of H ( Leviticus 20:8 ; Leviticus 21:15 (cf. v. 8), Leviticus 21:23 , Leviticus 22:9 ; Leviticus 22:16 ; Leviticus 22:32 ). Comp. Ezekiel 20:12 ‘I gave them my Sabbaths , to be a sign between me and them, that men might know [Heb. to know ] that I am Jehovah, which sanctifieth them’ (similarly v. 20); also, for the last clause, Ezekiel 37:12 .

The word occurs in the same sense Leviticus 8:15 (of the altar, as here), Leviticus 14:49 (of a leprous house), Leviticus 14:52 , Numbers 19:19 (RV. purify ); Ezekiel 43:20 ; Ezekiel 43:22 (twice), 23 (all of the altar, Ezekiel 45:18 (of the sanctuary); Psalm 51:7 ( purge )†; and in the reflexive conj., Numbers 8:21 ; Numbers 19:12 (twice), Numbers 19:13 , Numbers 19:20 , Numbers 31:19-20 ; Numbers 31:23 †. by thy making (marg.) atonement for it ] on account of its being regarded as infected with sin. For other cases of ‘atonement’ being made for a material object—regarded either as affected by the natural impurity of human workmanship, or as tainted by contact with a sinful people—see (of the altar of burnt-offering) Lev Exo 8:15 (the execution of the present injunction), Ezekiel 43:20 ; Ezekiel 43:26 , Leviticus 16:18 ; Leviticus 16:20 ; Leviticus 16:33 ; (of the altar of incense) ch. Exodus 30:10 b; (of the sanctuary) Ezekiel 45:20 , Leviticus 16:16 ; Leviticus 16:20 ; Leviticus 16:33 ; (of a leprous house) Leviticus 14:53 ( DB. iv. 131b). thou shalt anoint it ] Cf. Lev Exo 8:11 (in the insertion referred to on v. 7 above, between the words corresponding to v. 7a and v. 7b here). See on Exodus 30:26-29 (at the end). 36, 37. The altar to be fitted for sacred uses by atonement being made for it: the ceremony to be repeated, like the installation-ceremony, every day for seven days.

[Reformed Biblical] 19 Leviticus 14:20 Leviticus 14:21 Leviticus 14:22 Leviticus 14:23 Leviticus 14:24 Leviticus 14:25 Leviticus 14:26 Leviticus 14:27 Leviticus 14:28 Leviticus 14:29 Leviticus 14:30 Leviticus 14:31 Leviticus 14:32 Leviticus 14:33 Leviticus 14:34 Leviticus 14:35 Leviticus 14:36 ## That they empty the house, i.e. the possessors of the house. It is observable here, that neither the people nor the household stuff were polluted till the leprosy was disco vered and declared by the priest, to show what great difference God makes between sins of ignorance, and sins against knowledge and conscience. Leviticus 14:37 ## In the walls of the house this was an extraordinary judgment of God peculiar to this people, either as a punishment of their sins, which were much more si nful and inexcusable than the sins of other nations; or as a special mean and help to repentance, which God afforded to them above other people; or as a document of the mischievous nature of sin, typified by leprosy, which did not only destroy persons, but their habitations also: see Zec_5:4. ## With hollow strakes, such as were in the bodies of leprous persons, Lev_13:3. Leviticus 14:38 Leviticus 14:39 Leviticus 14:40 Where they used to cast dirt and filthy things. Leviticus 14:41 The mortar or other rubbish. Levitic

[Reformed Biblical] Leviticus 26:7 Leviticus 26:8 ## Five of you, i.e. a small number; a certain number for an uncertain. Leviticus 26:9 i.e. Actually perform all that I have promised you in my covenant made with you, Leviticus 26:10 ## Bring forth the old, or, cast out , throw them away, as having no occasion to spend them, or give them to the poor, or even to your cattle, that you may make way for the new corn, which also is so plentiful, that of itself will fill up your barns. Leviticus 26:11 As I have placed it, so I will continue it among you, and not remove it from you, as once I did upon your miscarriage, Exo_33:7. Leviticus 26:12 ## I will walk among you, as I have hitherto done, both by my pillar of cloud and fire, and by my tabernacle, which have walked or gone along with you in all your journeys, and stayed among you in all your stations, to protect, conduct, instruct, and comfort you. ## Ye shall be my people; I will own you for that peculiar people which I have singled out of the mass of mankind, to bless you here, and to save you hereafter. Leviticus 26:13 With heads lifted up, not pressed down with a yoke. It notes their liberty, security, confidence, and glory. See Exo_14:8 Num_33:3. Leviticus 26:14 Leviticus 26:15 i.e. Break your part or conditions of that covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from the blessings promised on my part. Leviticus 26:16 ## I will even appoint over you; I will give them powe