Leviticus 26:27

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 if ye for all this will not hearken unto me,.... To his commands, and to his prophets sent unto them time after time, and all his corrections and chastisements being ineffectual to reform them, and make them obedient to him: but walk contrary unto me; See Gill on Leviticus 26:21.

Verses 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 ( 2 Kings 6:28 ), and in Jerusalem at the time both of the earlier siege by the Chaldaeans, and of the later siege by the Romans (see Lamentations 2:20 ; Lamentations 4:10 ; Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' 5:09, 3; and the terrible case of Mary daughter of Eleazar. Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.' 6:03, 4). 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 Judges 6:26 ; 1 Kings 3:2 ; 2 Kings 12:3 ; 1 Chronicles 21:26 ), or of false gods. The high places intended here are the spots where the "sun-images" were erected (see 2 Chronicles 14:5 ; Isaiah 17:8 ; Ezekiel 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 Jeremiah 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. Isaiah 1:11-15 ). And I will bring the land into desolation (cf. Jeremiah 9:11 ): and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it (cf. Ezekiel 5:15 ). And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you. See Jeremiah 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." Leviticus 26:27

The fifth warning. For Leviticus 26:29 see 2 Kings 6:28-29 ; Jeremiah 19:8-9 ; Lamentations 2:20 ; Lamentations 4:10 ; Ezekiel 5:10 , for Leviticus 26:30 see 2 Chronicles 34:3 ; Ezekiel 6:4 ; Jeremiah 14:19 , for Leviticus 26:31 see 2 Kings 25:9 ; Psalm 74:6-7 : for Leviticus 26:32-33 see Deuteronomy 28:37 ; Psalm 44:11 ; Jeremiah 9:16 ; Jeremiah 18:16 ; Ezekiel 5:1-17 ; Jeremiah 4:7 ; Ezekiel 9:6 ; Ezekiel 12:15 ; Zechariah 7:14 .

26. ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, &c.—The bread used in families is usually baked by women, and at home. But sometimes also, in times of scarcity, it is baked in public ovens for want of fuel; and the scarcity predicted here would be so great, that one oven would be sufficient to bake as much as ten women used in ordinary occasions to provide for family use; and even this scanty portion of bread would be distributed by weight (Eze 4:16).

(27) And if he will not for all this hearken unto me. —Better, And if, notwithstanding these, ye will not hearken unto me, that is, if in spite of these awful punishments they persist in rebellion against God. With this reiterated formula the fifth warning is introduced ( Leviticus 26:27-33 ), which threatens the total destruction of the land and the people in the midst of the most appalling horrors.

Fourth and severest stage. - If they should still persist in their opposition, God would chastise them with wrathful meeting, yea, punish them so severely in His wrath, that they would be compelled to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, i.e., to slay their own children and eat them in the extremity of their hunger, - a fact which literally occurred in Samaria in the period of the Syrians ( 2 Kings 6:28-29 ), and in Jerusalem in that of the Chaldeans ( Lamentations 2:20 ; Lamentations 4:10 ), and in the Roman war of extermination under Titus (Josephus bell. jud. v. 10, 3) in the most appalling manner. Eating the flesh of their own children is mentioned first, as indicating the extremity of the misery and wretchedness in which the people would perish; and after this, the judgment, by which the nation would be brought to this extremity, is more minutely described in its four principal features: viz., (1) the destruction of all idolatrous abominations ( Leviticus 26:30 ); (2) the overthrow of the towns and sanctuaries ( Leviticus 26:31 ); (3) the devastation of the land, to the amazement of the enemies who dwelt therein ( Leviticus 26:32 ); and (4) the dispersion of the people among the heathen ( Leviticus 26:33 ).

The "high places" are altars erected upon heights and mountains in the land, upon which sacrifices were offered both to Jehovah in an unlawful way and also to heathen deities. חמּנים, sun-pillars, are idols of the Canaanitish nature-worship, either simple pillars dedicated to Baal, or idolatrous statues of the sun-god (cf. Movers Phnizier i. pp. 343ff.). "And I give your carcases upon the carcases of your idols." גּלּלים, lit., clods, from גּלל to roll, a contemptuous expression for idols. With the idols the idolaters also were to perish, and defile with their corpses the images, which had also become corpses as it were, through their overthrow and destruction. For the further execution of this threat, see Ezekiel 6:4 . This will be your lot, for "My soul rejects you." By virtue of the inward character of His holy nature, Jehovah must abhor and reject the sinner.

And if for this ye hearken not unto me, I will punish you sevenfold more for your sins, and I will break the arrogance of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as bronze, and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield its produce; and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring sevenfold more plagues upon you according to your sins. And I will send the beasts of the field among you, that they may rob you of your children, and cut off your cattle, and make you few in number; and your streets shall be desolate. And if ye will not be disciplined by me through these, but walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will smite you, even I, sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that avengeth with the vengeance of the covenant, and ye shall be gathered together into your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and shall deliver you the bread again by weight; and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if for this ye hearken not to me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven-fold for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.