1Ye shall not make to yourselves vain things, and carving, and a pillar ye shall not set up to you, and a stone of imagery ye shall not give in your land, to worship upon it: for I Jehovah your God. 2Ye shall watch my Sabbaths, and ye shall fear my holy place: I Jehovah. 3If ye shall go in my laws and watch my commands, and do them: 4And I gave your rains in their times, and the land gave its produce, and the tree of the field shall give its fruit: 5And the threshing time to you reached the vintage, and the vintage shall reach the sowing: and ye ate your bread to satisfying, and ye dwelt in confidence upon your land. 6And I gave peace in the land and ye lay down and not being terrified: and I caused the evil beast to cease out of the land, and the sword shall not pass through in your land. 7And ye chased your enemies, and they fell before you to the sword. 8And five from you chased a hundred, and a hundred from you chased ten thousand: and your enemies fell before you to the sword. 9And I turned to you and I made you fruitful, and I multiplied you, and I set up my covenant with you. 10And ye ate of the old, being dry, and ye shall bring forth the old from before the new. 11And I gave my dwelling in the midst of you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I walked in the midst of you, and I was to you for God, and ye shall be to me for a people. 13I Jehovah your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from being servants to them, and I will break the rod of your yoke, and I will cause you to go erect 14And if ye will not hear to me, and will not do all these commands; 15And if ye shall reject my laws. and if your soul shall abhor my judgments so as not to do all my commands, to your breaking my covenant: 16Surely I will do this to you, and I appointed over you terror, consumption, and burning fever, destroying the eyes and consuming the soul: and ye sowed in vain your seed, and your enemies shall eat it. 17And I gave my face against you, and ye were slain before your enemies: and they hating you ruled over you, and ye fled and none pursued you. 18And if yet these ye will not hear to me, I added to chastise you seven times for your sins. 19And I broke the pride of your strength: and I gave your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20And your strength shall be exhausted to no purpose: and your land shall not give its produce, and the tree of the land shall not give its fruit 21And if ye shall go hostile with me, and shall not be willing to hear to me, and I added upon you seven blows for your sins. 22And I sent upon you the beast of the field, and it bereaved you of children, and cut off your cattle, and, diminished you, and your ways were laid waste. 23And if by these ye will not be admonished by me, and ye went hostile with me; 24And I went also hostile with you, and I struck you, also I, seven for your sins. 25And I brought upon you the sword to avenge vengeance of the covenant: and ye were gathered into your cities and I sent death in the midst of you, and ye were given into the hand of the enemy. 26In my breaking to you the rod of bread, and ten women baked your bread in one oven, and they returned your bread by weight: and ye ate, and ye shall not be satisfied. 27And if by this ye shall not hear to me, and ye went hostile with me; 28And I went hostile with you in anger; and I chastised you, I also, seven for your sins. 29And ye ate the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30And I laid waste your high places, and I cut off your images, and I gave your carcasses upon the carcasses of your blocks, and my soul abhorred you. 31And I gave your cities a desert, and I laid waste your holy places, and I will not smell upon the odor of your sweetness. 32And I laid the land waste, and your enemies were astonished at it, they dwelling upon it 33And I will scatter you among the nations, and I drew out after you a sword: and your land was a desert, and your cities shall be a desolation. 34Then shall the land delight with its Sabbaths, all the days of its desolation, and ye in the land of your enemies: then shall the land rest and delight with its Sabbaths. 35All the days of its desolation shall it rest, which it did not rest in your Sabbaths, in your dwelling upon it 36And they remaining of you, and I brought timidity into their heart in the land of their enemies; and the voice of a driven leaf pursued them, and they fled, fleeing the sword; and they fell, and none pursued. 37And they faltered each upon his brother, as from before the sword, and none pursued: and there shall be to you no power of standing before your enemies. 38And ye were destroyed in the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39And they being left of you, shall pine away in their sin in the land of your enemies, and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, and the transgression which they dealt treacherously against me, and also that they went hostile with me; 41I also will go hostile with them, and I brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled, and then they shall be satisfied with their iniquity; 42And I remembered my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaak, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43And the land shall be left of them, and shall delight with its Sabbaths in its desolation from them: and they shall be satisfied because of their iniquity, and because they rejected my judgments, and my laws their soul abhorred. 44And yet also this in their being in the land of their enemies, I did not reject them, and I did not abhor them, to cut them off, and to break my covenant with them: for I Jehovah their God. 45And I remembered for them the covenant of their beginnings, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the nations to be to them for God: I Jehovah. 46These the laws, and judgments, and precepts, which Jehovah gave between him, and between the sons of Israel, in 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].
