1‘You must not mold [gods] for yourselves or carve them with your hands. Nor may you set up stone pillars in your land to worship, for I am Jehovah your God. 2You must keep My Sabbaths and respect My Holy Places, for I am Jehovah. 3‘If you follow My rules and keep My Commandments and obey them, 4I will give you rain in its season, the ground will produce its fruitage, and the trees of your fields will bear fruit. 5Then your threshing time will run through your fruit-picking time, and your fruit-picking time will run into your [planting] time. You will eat all the bread you want, and you will live on your land in safety, for there will be no wars in your land… 6I will bring peace to your land, so you can go to sleep and not fear anyone. I will also destroy all the bad animals in your land, 7and you will chase your enemies and they will be slaughtered before you. 8Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase tens of thousands. Then your enemies will be cut down before you with swords. 9‘I will watch over you, make you grow and multiply, and keep My Sacred Agreement with you. 10Then you may eat that which is old and very old, or throw out the old to make way for the new. 11‘I will pitch My Tent among you, and in My heart there will be no hatred of you. 12So I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. 13I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves. It was I who broke the shackles of your [slavery] and paraded you away before [everyone]! 14‘However, if you choose not to listen to Me and obey My rules… 15if you disobey them and your lives come to hate My decisions… if you don’t keep all My Commandments and if you break My Sacred Agreement, 16these are the things that I must do to you: ‘I will bring uprisings among you and make you uncomfortable. You will develop rashes, skin discoloring, fever, loss of eyesight, and your lives will be shortened. When you plant seeds, it won’t do any good, because your enemies will eat them. 17For, if I set My face against you, you will fall before your enemies. Those who hate you will chase you, and you will run… even when no one is behind you! 18‘And if you still refuse to listen to Me, then I must discipline you seven times more for your sins, 19because I must break down your haughtiness and pride. I will turn your sky into iron and your ground into brass. 20All your hard work will be wasted, for the seeds in your ground won’t produce, and the trees in your fields won’t bear fruit. 21‘And after that, if you continue to walk a crooked path and you aren’t willing to obey Me, I will bring seven plagues upon you for your sins. 22I will send wild animals into the land, and they will eat you and kill your cattle. You will decrease in numbers, and your [land] will become empty. 23‘And if that doesn’t straighten you out and you continue to walk a crooked path with Me, 24then My Breath will become crooked and I will walk a crooked path among you, causing Me to strike you seven times for your sins. 25For, I will bring swords against you to avenge the Sacred Agreement. You will run to your cities for safety, but I will send death to you, and you will be handed over to your enemies. 26I will bring a famine of bread among you, so it will take ten women to bake your loaves in just one oven. Then they will weigh out portions of bread for you to eat, but you will still be hungry. 27‘And if you still don’t obey Me, but continue to walk a crooked path with Me, 28then I will walk among you with an angry mind, and I must discipline you seven times as much for your sins, 29so you will have to eat the flesh of your sons and daughters. 30I will wipe away your stone columns, and totally destroy the wooden [images] that you’ll make with your hands. Then I will lay your dead bodies on the remains of your idols, and My soul will hate you. 31‘I will destroy your cities, empty your holy places, and [never again] smell the odor of your sacrifices. 32Then I will empty your land, and your enemies who live there will be amazed; 33and I will scatter you among the nations… you will be attacked with swords and destroyed, and your land and your cities will be emptied! 34‘But the ground will enjoy its Sabbaths during all the time that it is empty… 35while you are living in the land of your enemies! Yes, that’s when the land will enjoy its Sabbaths… during all the time that it’s empty! For, it will keep the Sabbaths that weren’t kept when you lived there. 36‘And in your hearts, I will put all that you have left into bondage, there in the land of your enemies, so that even the sound of shaking leaves will chase you, and you will run as though you’re running from a war, and fall when no one is chasing you. 37Brothers won’t have any regard for their brothers, as in war. And although no one will be chasing you, you won’t be able [to be saved from] your enemies. 38You will die among the ethnics, and the country of your enemies will swallow you up. 39Then those who remain will perish because of their sins and the sins of their fathers… they will just waste away in the land of their enemies. 40‘However, if they confess their sins and the sins of their fathers, and [admit] that they have sinned and neglected Me, and that they have walked a crooked path before Me, 41and [admit that] this is the reason why I walked among them with a crooked mind and destroyed them, [and sent them] into the land of their enemies… yes, when their uncircumcised hearts become ashamed, and they repent of their sins, 42then I will remember the Sacred Agreement that I made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 43I will also remember their land, and that land will still be waiting for them. For by then, the land will have enjoyed her Sabbaths, during the time they had deserted it. ‘However, they must acknowledge their sins, because they neglected My decisions and they hated My Laws in their [hearts]. 44But despite this, I didn’t fail to [keep an eye] on them while they were in the land of their enemies, nor did I hate them and void the Sacred Agreement that I made with them, for I am Jehovah their God. 45‘Then I will remember the Sacred Agreement [that I made with them] when I brought them out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery before that nation, to be their God. For I am Jehovah. 46‘These are My decisions, My rules, and the Law that Jehovah Himself gave to the children of Israel from Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.’
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 OF IDOLATRY. (
Lev 26:1-
Lev 26:2)
Ye shall make you no idols--Idolatry had been previously forbidden (
Exod 20:4-
Exod 20:5), but the law was repeated here with reference to some particular forms of it that were very prevalent among the neighboring nations.
a standing image--that is, "upright pillar."
image of stone--that is, an obelisk, inscribed with hieroglyphical and superstitious characters; the former denoting the common and smaller pillars of the Syrians or Canaanites; the latter, pointing to the large and elaborate obelisks which the Egyptians worshipped as guardian divinities, or used as stones of adoration to stimulate religious worship. The Israelites were enjoined to beware of them.
2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary--Very frequently, in this Book of the Law, the Sabbath and the sanctuary are mentioned as antidotes to idolatry.
3 A BLESSING TO THE OBEDIENT. (
Lev 26:3-
Lev 26:13)
If ye walk in my statutes--In that covenant into which God graciously entered with the people of Israel, He promised to bestow upon them a variety of blessings, so long as they continued obedient to Him as their Almighty Ruler; and in their subsequent history that people found every promise amply fulfilled, in the enjoyment of plenty, peace, a populous country, and victory over all enemies.
4 I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase--Rain seldom fell in Judea except at two seasons--the former rain at the end of autumn, the seedtime; and the latter rain in spring, before the beginning of harvest (
Jer 5:24).
5 your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, &c.--The barley harvest in Judea was about the middle of April; the wheat harvest about six weeks after, or in the beginning of June. After the harvest came the vintage, and fruit gathering towards the latter end of July. Moses led the Hebrews to believe that, provided they were faithful to God, there would be no idle time between the harvest and vintage, so great would be the increase. (See
Amos 9:13). This promise would be very animating to a people who had come from a country where, for three months, they were pent up without being able to walk abroad because the fields were under water.
10 ye shall eat old store--Their stock of old corn would be still unexhausted and large when the next harvest brought a new supply.
13 I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright--a metaphorical expression to denote their emancipation from Egyptian slavery.
14 A CURSE TO THE DISOBEDIENT. (Lev. 26:14-39)
But if ye will not hearken unto me, &c.--In proportion to the great and manifold privileges bestowed upon the Israelites would be the extent of their national criminality and the severity of their national punishments if they disobeyed.
16 I will even appoint over you terror--the falling sickness [PATRICK].
consumption, and the burning ague--Some consider these as symptoms of the same disease--consumption followed by the shivering, burning, and sweating fits that are the usual concomitants of that malady. According to the Septuagint, "ague" is "the jaundice," which disorders the eyes and produces great depression of spirits. Others, however, consider the word as referring to a scorching wind; no certain explanation can be given.
18 if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more--that is, with far more severe and protracted calamities.
19 I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass--No figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and long-continued famine.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you--This was one of the four judgments threatened (
Ezek 14:21; see also
2Kgs 2:4).
your highways shall be desolate--Trade and commerce will be destroyed--freedom and safety will be gone--neither stranger nor native will be found on the roads (
Isa 33:8). This is an exact picture of the present state of the Holy Land, which has long lain in a state of desolation, brought on by the sins of the ancient Jews.
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 (
Ezek 4:16).
29 ye shall eat the flesh of your sons--The revolting picture was actually exhibited at the siege of Samaria, at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (
Lam 4:10), and at the destruction of that city by the Romans. (See on
Deut 28:53).
30 I will destroy your high places--Consecrated enclosures on the tops of mountains, or on little hillocks, raised for practising the rites of idolatry.
cut down your images--According to some, those images were made in the form of chariots (
2Kgs 23:11); according to others, they were of a conical form, like small pyramids. Reared in honor of the sun, they were usually placed on a very high situation, to enable the worshippers to have a better view of the rising sun. They were forbidden to the Israelites, and when set up, ordered to be destroyed.
cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, &c.--Like the statues of idols, which, when broken, lie neglected and contemned, the Jews during the sieges and subsequent captivity often wanted the rites of sepulture.
31 I will make your cities waste--This destruction of its numerous and flourishing cities, which was brought upon Judea through the sins of Israel, took place by the forced removal of the people during, and long after, the captivity. But it is realized to a far greater extent now.
bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours--the tabernacle and temple, as is evident from the tenor of the subsequent clause, in which God announces that He will not accept or regard their sacrifices.
33 I will scatter you among the heathen, &c.--as was done when the elite of the nation were removed into Assyria and placed in various parts of the kingdom.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, &c.--A long arrear of sabbatic years had accumulated through the avarice and apostasy of the Israelites, who had deprived their land of its appointed season of rest. The number of those sabbatic years seems to have been seventy, as determined by the duration of the captivity. This early prediction is very remarkable, considering that the usual policy of the Assyrian conquerors was to send colonies to cultivate and inhabit their newly acquired provinces.
38 the land of your enemies shall eat you up, &c.--On the removal of the ten tribes into captivity, they never returned, and all traces of them were lost.
40 If they shall confess their iniquity, &c.--This passage holds out the gracious promise of divine forgiveness and favor on their repentance, and their happy restoration to their land, in memory of the covenant made with their fathers (Rom. 2:1-29).
46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws--It has been thought by some that the last chapter was originally placed after the twenty-fifth [ADAM CLARKE], while others consider that the next chapter was added as an appendix, in consequence of many people being influenced by the promises and threats of the preceding one, to resolve that they would dedicate themselves and their possessions to the service of God [CALMET].