Leviticus 26:1-46

Leviticus

*Worship the *LORD in the Beauty of *Holiness

Leviticus

Gordon Churchyard

This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words in boxes are from the Bible, except for the words in brackets (…).

Chapter 26

More commands, promises and punishments

v1 ‘You must not make *idols for yourselves in the land (the country called *Canaan). You must not make an image (of a false god) or a column that you *worship. You must not get down onto your knees in front of a stone with a special shape. (Remember), I am the *LORD your God.

v2 Always remember (to rest and to *worship me on) my *Sabbath days. Give honour to my house. I am the *LORD.

v3 Do the things that I have told you to do. Obey all my commands.

v4 Then I will send you rain in its (proper) season. The ground will give you its crops and the trees in the fields (will give you) their fruits.

v5 You will beat the corn, in order to clean it, until you gather the *grapes. You will gather *grapes until it is time to plant (seeds). So you will have plenty of food to eat and you will live safely in your land.

v6 I will give you peace in your land. Then you will lie down and you will not be afraid. I will remove wild animals from your land. (People with) swords will not come into your land.

v7 You will chase your enemies and you will kill them with (your) *swords.

v8 Five (5) of you will chase a hundred (100) men. A hundred (100) of you will chase ten thousand (10 000) men. You will kill your enemies with (your) *swords.

v9 Then I will be kind to you and you will have many children. I will increase the numbers of your people. I will do what I have promised to do for you.

v10 You will have enough food from your crops to last for a whole year. When you gather the new harvest, you will have to throw the old harvest away!

v11 I will put my house among you and I will not hate you.

v12 I will walk round among you. I will be your God and you will be my people.

v13 I am the *LORD (who is) your God. I brought you out of (the country called) Egypt. So, you are not now the *Egyptians’ slaves. It was as if I broke the wooden bars from your shoulders. And so now you can stand up straight.

v14 But if you do not obey me, (I will punish you). Also, you must do all that I order you to do.

v15 But perhaps you will hate my laws and rules and you will neglect to obey all my commands. (If you do such things) you will be opposing my *covenant.

v16 This is how I will punish you. Suddenly, I will send terror to you. This will include bad diseases. People’s bodies will become too hot. Your eyes will not be able to see well. You will not want to eat your food. You will not harvest any crops after you sow your seeds. Your enemies will eat them.

v17 My face will be against you, so that your enemies will defeat you. People who hate you will rule over you. You will run away, even if nobody chases you.

v18 If after all this, you still do not obey me, you will suffer my punishment. (I will punish you) 7 times for your *sins.

v19 I will destroy your proud attitude. The sky will be like iron for you and the ground (will be) like metal.

v20 You will use your strength but you will get nothing for it. The land will not give (you) its crops. The trees on the land will not give (you) their fruits.

v21 If you continue to be against me, I will send you (more) trouble. If you do not obey me, (your trouble will be) 7 times greater because of your *sins.

v22 I will send wild animals that are loose against you. They will rob your children from you. They will kill your cows. They will make you very few in number. Your roads will be empty (because nobody will go on them).

v23 If after all these things, you will not accept my discipline (then I will continue to punish you). If you continue to fight against me, v24 then even I (your God) will fight against you. I, even I, will hit you hard 7 times for your *sins.

v25 I will bring (people with) *swords against you to satisfy my anger. This is the anger that my *covenant (with you contains). When you gather in your cities, I will send a bad disease among you. Also, your enemies will overcome you.

v26 I will stop your supply of bread. Then 10 women will bake your bread in one oven. They will distribute your bread by weight. You will eat, but (the food) will not satisfy you.

v27 If after all this, you still will not obey me (then more bad things will happen). If you continue to fight against me, v28 I will fight against you in an angry manner. You will suffer my punishment for your *sins 7 times.

v29 You will eat the bodies of your sons and you will eat the bodies of your daughters.

v30 I will destroy your high places (where you *worship false gods). I will ruin the *altars where you burn *incense. I will make a pile of your dead bodies on the dead images of your *idols. I myself will hate you.

v31 I will ruin your cities. I will make empty the places where you *worship (me). I will not find any delight in the pleasant smells when you burn things for me.

v32 I will make your land empty. When your enemies come to live in it, the state of it will give them a shock.

v33 I will chase you away with my *sword and I will scatter you among the nations. Your land will be empty and I will have destroyed your cities.

v34 Then the land will enjoy its *Sabbath Years during all the time that it is empty. You will be in the country of your enemies, so your land will rest. And then it will enjoy its *Sabbath Years.

v35 All the time that it is empty, (your land) will have rest. It did not have this rest during the *Sabbath Years when you worked on it.

v36 Some of you will remain alive, but I will take away their courage in the country of their enemies. The sound of a leaf that blows (in the wind) will chase them away! They will run away as if (someone with) a *sword chased them. They will fall down although nobody is chasing them.

v37 They will fall over each other, as if they were running away from a (man with a) *sword. (They will do this) although nobody is chasing them. You will not be able to stand up in front of your enemies.

v38 You will die among the nations. Your enemies’ country will eat you. (In other words, you will die there.)

v39 Those among you who remain alive will die in your enemies’ countries. (This will be) because of their own *sins. They will also die because of their fathers’ *sins, which I will add to theirs.

v40 But (my people) may confess their *sins and the *sins of their fathers. Their *sins are the bad things that they did against me. Really, they fought against me.

v41 But by then I will have fought against them. I will have brought them into the country of their enemies. Their hearts will be like the hearts of people who do not belong to me. But they may make their hearts humble and they may do the right things.

v42 Then I will remember my promises to Jacob. I will remember my promises to Isaac. I will remember my promises to Abraham. Also I will remember the land.

v43 But the land will be without (its people). It will enjoy its *Sabbaths while it is empty without them. The people did not like my rules and they hated my laws. But they will pay for their *sins (when the land rests).

v44 Although they have done all this, I will not hate them so much as to destroy their (families) completely. When they are in the country of their enemies, I will not destroy my promises to them. I will not hate them that much. I am the *LORD (who is) their God.

v45 I will remember my promises because (I love my people). I made those promises to their families when I brought them out of (the country called) Egypt. All the nations saw (what I did. I did it) to be their God. I am the *LORD.’

v46 These are the rules, laws and commands that the *LORD established between himself and (his people) the *Israelites. He did it at the mountain called Sinai through Moses.

Notes

Verses 1-2 An idol is an image that people *worship. People made stones with special shapes that they *worshipped. Verse 1 repeats Leviticus 19:4 and the second (2nd) of the 10 commands in Exodus 20:4-6. The 4 words for *idols in this verse include every type of false god. Verse 2 repeats the fourth (4th) of the 10 commands, Exodus 20:8-11 and Leviticus 19:30. All this emphasises that the *LORD God is the greatest God. He is the only real God. His people must *worship him and only him.

Verses 3-10 People beat corn in order to clean it, so that it stores well. They would start to beat the corn in April. And they started to gather the *grapes in October. So here, the *Israelites would beat their corn from April until October. This was a very long time to carry out that work. It did not usually take them so long to do it. But here, the reason for all this work was good news! It was because the harvest was so plentiful.

People use *grapes to make wine. Wine was important. Water often contained something that gave people diseases. But wine was safer to drink. So the promise was for plenty of bread and wine. They would even throw some of it away at the end of a year! But they had to obey God first. They would also be able to protect themselves against enemies. A *sword is a long knife that soldiers used. The wild animals were probably dangerous animals, for example lions and bears.

Verses 11-13 God reminds them about these things.

• Who he is.

• What he has done for them.

God also promises that he will live among them. His house was later the building called the temple, which Solomon built in Jerusalem. This temple was the building where the *Israelites *worshipped God.

People used to put wooden bars on animals when they had heavy work to do. And people sometimes did this to prisoners and slaves too. But here the word seems to be a word picture. In Egypt, the *Israelites had to work hard like slaves. But God made them free! The wooden bars did not still push them down. They did not still have to do heavy work for other people. ‘Stand up straight’ means that they could walk easily.

Verses 14-17 God had promised to help and to protect his people if they obeyed him. But if not, God promised that he would punish the people. ‘My face will be against you’ means this. God will consider his people to be his enemies, not his friends. The people’s bodies become too hot because they are ill.

Verses 18-20 The proud attitude here is not a good thing, but a bad thing. It made them feel as if they did not need God. So the sky would be like iron. That word picture means that there would be no rain. The ground would be as hard as metal. The people could not dig in it. So there would be few crops or fruits. There are several references to ‘7 times’ in this chapter. It probably means ‘very much more’.

Verses 21-26 If the people continued not to obey God, worse things would happen.

• Wild animals would kill their children. These animals would include lions and bears. They lived near Jericho when David was king, 1 Samuel 17:34-36 and 2 Kings 17:25.

• Their enemies would kill them. These enemies lived in the countries round *Judah and *Israel. There are examples in Judges 2:11-15; 2 Kings 17:18-20 and Isaiah 10:5-11.

• There would be bad diseases that would make people die. The diseases would kill many people. Also, their enemies would kill them.

• There would not be much food. One oven would contain bread for 10 families. That is not enough to satisfy their hunger. So they would remain hungry.

Verses 27-33 If they continued not to obey God, even worse things would happen!

• They would have so little food that they would even eat their children. There are examples in 2 Kings 6:28-29 and Lamentations 2:20.

• God would destroy their high places. These were places usually at the top of hills, where people *worshipped their false gods. They burned *sacrifices to these gods on the *altars.

• God would also empty the places where they *worshipped him. He also would empty their land. Even their enemies would be surprised to see this.

• The *Israelites would have to live in other countries. God would scatter them with his *sword. ‘God’s sword’ means the *swords of the enemies that God sent against his people.

Verses 34-35 The land should have rested during the *Sabbath Years. (See Leviticus 25:1-7.) ‘Rested’ means that people did not work on the land. The *Sabbath Years should have happened every 7^th year. But when the *Israelites were in *exile, the land would get its rest! ‘*Exile’ means away from home, where God had scattered his people.

Verses 36-39 The ‘country will eat you’ is an *Hebrew way to say this. ‘You will die in the country’. Exodus 20:5 says that God will punish people and their *descendants. That is why God adds their fathers’ *sins to their *sins.

Verses 40-42 ‘Fathers’ here means fathers, grandfathers, and earlier members of the same family. ‘Hearts’ really means ‘minds’. The *Israelites believed that you thought with your heart. The *Hebrew words for hearts in verse 41 include a description of the attitude of their hearts. So our translation says, ‘Their hearts are like the hearts of people who do not belong to me.’ We could say, ‘Their hearts did not behave as *Israelites should behave.’ The promises or *covenants that God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are in Something to do number 3.

Verses 43-45 The people did not obey God’s laws. Therefore the land did not rest on the *Sabbath Years. But now it can rest! But although the people *sinned, God promised not to destroy their families completely. God’s people, the *Israelites, would continue to exist. In the end, he would again rescue them and he would bring them back to their own country.

Verse 46 This verse probably refers to the whole Book of Leviticus.

Something to do

1. Study the 10 commands in Exodus 20:1-17. Compare Exodus 20:5 with Leviticus 26:39.

2. Read Isaiah chapter 11, which describes some of the New Earth to us. The New Earth will be where God lives among his people.

3. Study the *covenants that God made with:

• Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 15:1-21.

• Isaac, Genesis 26:24.

• Jacob, Genesis 35:9-15.

worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
holiness ~ the quality of somebody who is holy, or very, very good.

holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy. Or, a description of something that belongs to God.
idol ~ an image that people worship; a false god.

worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
Canaan ~ the old name for the countries afterwards called Israel and Judah.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
grapes ~ fruits that people use to make wine.
sword ~ a long knife that soldiers used.
Egyptians ~ people who come from Egypt; Egypt is a country in north Africa.
covenant ~ the special promise or agreement that God made with the Jews.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
sin ~ to do wrong things; not to obey God’s rules. Or, the things we do when we sin. Evil thoughts, words and deeds are all sin, whether we do them on purpose or not.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.

incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
sacrifice ~ something that people burned on an altar for God; or to burn on an altar for God. People also gave sacrifices to false gods.

altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.

incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
exile ~ the time when the Israelites had to live in Babylon.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
exile ~ the time when the Israelites had to live in Babylon.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.

Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.

Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.

LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.

Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.

Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
descendant ~ members of your family who live after you live.