Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Leviticus 26:14-38
The Cursings (Leviticus 26:14).
In the ancient second millennium covenants the cursings were regularly more than the blessings, and so it is here. The devastating consequence of disobedience and unfaithfulness is now laid out in all its detail. We have here a foretaste of the history of Israel, for Moses was a prophet. But this was not just prophecy, they were the words of someone who was aware of the troubles and problems that could come on an unprotected nation, and who recognised what God could bring on them from the lessons of history. Moses was well aware of those. He would have both seen and heard about such things during his upbringing. It was enlightened awareness, not the trickery of an oracle which could claim to be right whatever happened.
“But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments; and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;”
Here is the picture of the one who will be cursed. He does not obey God. He does not love His word. It is not that he does not believe. Like the devils he believes and trembles. It is that he does not have responsive faith. He does not hear God's voice and respond to it, he does not do what God requires in His commands. He chooses to reject God's statutes and live his own life. He does not like what God demands, thus he turns from it and breaks the covenant. He does not live as God requires.
“I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.”
To such a person God will react with the very opposite of His blessings. Note that God says that He will be directly active in it. It may not seem like that, but that will be how it will be. He will be against them. He will put them through hard and difficult times, He will make them afraid with wasting disease and fever, their eyes will suffer, their inner hearts will be full of grief. When they sow their seed it will be in vain. It is the enemy who will eat of it. In every way times will be hard.
Sometimes such things happen to us as a test, to see whether we will be faithful or not, and to chasten us and purify us so that our love and response to Him becomes stronger (Hebrews 12:5). But we need to be aware that if we claim to be His people, then disobedience to his will can result in what goes beyond chastening to a harshness of judgment that will bring us to deep repentance. As we discover at the end of the chapter this would be His purpose for Israel. But the way would first be very hard.
“And I will set my face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies: they that hate you shall rule over you; and you shall flee when no one pursues you.”
For He will set His face against them, and when their enemies come they will be unable to combat them. They will be smitten before them. They will come under the rulership of tyrants who do not seek their good. And things will be so bad that they will even run away when there is nothing really to be afraid of. Their nerve will have gone. They will be without faith.
This picture is not of the outside world but of the supposed people of God. We need to be afraid when we do not look to God in obedience, for then we face a long track downwards. God is not mocked. The lampstand can be taken out of its place. Many of the lands which first flourished under the Gospel are now trodden down under Islam. They did not believe it could happen, but it did, for they had lost their true faith.
“And if you will not yet for these things hearken to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.”
And if they still do not listen to Him then their chastisement will increase sevenfold. Instead of sevenfold divine blessing there will be sevenfold divine chastisement.
“And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as bronze, and your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.”
He will break the pride of their power. They would be so sure of their power and ability to withstand. They would be so sure of their leaders, so confident in themselves. But God will break that in which they trust, that of which they are so proud (compare Isaiah 22:8).
And the heavens would be like iron. There would be no rain from them, no response. And the earth would be like bronze, hard and unyielding. All their efforts to produce grain and fruit would be in vain. The land would not yield its increase. The trees would not yield their fruit.
As the history tells us this would take a long time. But it would happen again and again over hundreds of years until every particle was fulfilled. The mills of God may only grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. And the sad thing was that they did not always realise that it had happened or would happen until it was too late. They thought that things would be fine.
There is no man or blessed nation which is not vulnerable to God's judgment in the light of continual disobedience and apathy.
“And if you walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins, and I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.”
And if they still disobeyed Him and would not listen, the plagues and troubles that came on them would increase seven times because their sins had increased seven times. And he would send among them lions, and leopards, and bears who would seize their children, destroy their cattle, and even attack them so that their numbers decreased (compare 2 Kings 17:25). Their ways would be desolate.
“And if by these things you will not be reformed to me, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins.”
And if they still would not listen and be reformed, but continued to walk in the opposite direction to His will, then He would walk in the opposition to them and smite them another seven times for their sins. With the previous warning this made seven times seven. The number seven of blessing was being turned against them and becoming the number seven of doom.
“And I will bring a sword on you, which will execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you shall be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.”
And if they still would not listen a powerful enemy would come against them, one who would smite with the sword and execute against them the vengeance of the covenant. Note the phrase ‘vengeance of the covenant'. This covenant which was intended to be such a blessing to them would become the instrument of their judgment. God's goodness spurned becomes a terrible weapon against men.
“When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.”
Not only would the sword slay, but also famine. Their staff of bread, that food that they relied on and leaned on, would be broken. There would be so little that one small oven would be sufficient for ten women to bake in. Indeed the food would be rationed and handed out by weighing it, as in a siege, and there would never be enough. They would eat and not be satisfied.
“ And if you will not for all this hearken to me, but walk contrary to me; then I will walk contrary to you in wrath; and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins.”
And if they still would not listen but continued to walk contrary to Him, His anger would be roused and He would walk even more contrary to them. They would be chastised seven times for their sins. Divine retribution would come on them.
“And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat.”
For they would come to such a state that they would eat their own children because their hunger had become so desperate. This may refer to the final stages of a long siege when men are desperate enough even for cannibalism (compare Jeremiah 19:9), or it may be referring to their offering their children in sacrifice to Molech. For to ‘eat flesh' regularly means to kill someone (Psalms 27:2; Micah 3:3; compare (Psalms 14:4; Psalms 53:4). This latter would tie in with the next verse.
“And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies on the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.”
We see here examples of their disobedience. They would be offering incense at high places where altars had been built, and worshipping before sun-images. So God would destroy their high places and would cut down their sun-images and then toss their own bodies on to the bodies of their idols. And because of their idolatry God would have an aversion against them. Compare Ezekiel 6:6. As a priest Ezekiel would know Leviticus by heart.
“And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.”
The land would be invaded, their cities laid waste, their holy place become a desolation, and God would not regard their offerings. The land will be so desolated that even their enemies will be astonished at it.
“And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.”
Just as Israel were to scatter the Canaanites among the nations, so would be done to Israel. They in their turn would be scattered among the nations, and their land would be desolated, and their cities laid waste. Compare Deuteronomy 4:27; Deuteronomy 28:64.
“Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate, and you are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy its sabbaths.”
For one way or another God would ensure that His land enjoyed its sabbaths, and if Israel would not ensure it voluntarily, then He would bring it about compulsorily. If Israel failed to observe God's sabbatical years, then God Himself would require them of them. For every year in which they had failed to give the land its rest, and more, God would give the land its rest. It would be deserted, and what would grow would grow of itself. There would be no sowing, no reaping, only continual desolation. (Compare 2 Chronicles 36:21). Later Jeremiah would declare that the time would be ‘seventy years' (Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10). Not the recurrence of seven intensified. Daniel would speak of seventy sevens (Daniel 9).
“As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when you dwelt on it.”
What they sowed in sin, they would reap in judgment. The desolated land would have the rest that they had failed to give it. If they refused to obey God he would bring His purpose about in His own way. Man's disobedience cannot thwart God, it can only bring problems on himself.
“And as for those who are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies: and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursues. And they shall stumble one on another, as it were before the sword, when none pursues: and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.”
And the judgment will still continue to follow the remnant who survive. They will be faint in heart. Even the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will alarm them. Their state will be such that they will imagine fears even when there are none. They will run even when there is no enemy, pursued by their own fears. They will fall over one another in their desperation to escape from their illusions. They will be without the strength to stand up to their enemies. They will be possessed with imaginary terrors.
“And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.”
For they will perish among the nations, and the land to which they have gone will eat them up. This was the fate that was to come on the expelled Canaanites (Exodus 23:28; Exodus 33:2; Exodus 34:11; Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 4:38; Deuteronomy 9:3; Deuteronomy 11:23; Deuteronomy 18:12), and if they behaved like the Canaanites it would come on them too. Compare also Numbers 13:32. What they had feared will actually happen.