_A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490._ A general enforcement of the preceding laws, by promises of reward, and threats of punishment: Wherein is, (1,) _ A repetition of some principal commandments, Leviticus 26:1; Leviticus 26:2._ (2,) _ A promise of all good to the obedient, Leviticus 26:3._ (3,) _ A threaten... [ Continue Reading ]
The substance of their religious laws are here recapitulated in two chief articles, on which all the rest very much depended; and God, by Moses, inculcates upon them, 1st, A careful abhorrence of all _idolatrous_ worship, especially that of image-worship of every kind, which had often been forbidden... [ Continue Reading ]
_If ye walk in my statutes_, &c. In reward of their obedience, God promises them temporal prosperity in every instance that could render a nation happy. And, first, he assures them they should have fruitful seasons, here expressed by _giving them rain in due time_ Because, in Canaan and Syria, they... [ Continue Reading ]
_Threshing shall reach unto the vintage_, &c. That is, you shall have such plenty of corn, that before you shall have reaped and threshed it out, the vintage will be ready; and before you shall have pressed out your wine it will be time to sow again. Thus they should scarcely have time enough to rec... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will give peace in the land_, &c. As God promises to bless them with plenty, so also to protect them in the secure enjoyment of it. _None shall make you afraid_ You shall be kept from the invasions of enemies from abroad, and from the annoyance of man and beast at home. A very beautiful and strik... [ Continue Reading ]
_Five of you shall chase a hundred_ A proverbial expression, signifying that a small number of them should be an over-match for many of their enemies. _I will establish my covenant_ Will actually perform all that I have promised in my covenant made with you.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will set my tabernacle among you_ To crown all their blessings, God promises that his special presence, whereof the tabernacle was a symbol, should abide with them. _I will walk among you_ As I have hitherto done, both by my pillar of cloud and fire, and by my tabernacle, which have walked or gon... [ Continue Reading ]
_If ye will not hearken_, &c. If, notwithstanding these great promises, which were designed to work upon their gratitude and obedience, they should generally become transgressors of his laws, God threatens that they should be visited with as extraordinary plagues; with poverty and vexation at home,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Break my covenant_ That is, your part of the covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from giving you the blessings promised on my part.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will appoint over you terror_ The original _word_, בהלה, _behalah_, properly signifies a sudden and grievous consternation, and may be intended to denote that slavish fear, pusillanimity, and dejection which are consequent on the loss of confidence in God, and the testimony of a good conscience.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The pride of your power_ That is, your strength, of which you are proud, your numerous and united forces, your kingdom, yea, your ark and sanctuary. _I will make your heaven as iron_ The heavens shall yield you no rain, nor the earth, fruits. _Your strength shall be spent in vain_ In ploughing, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_If ye walk contrary to me_ Hebrews קרי, _keri_, from קרה, _karah_, it happened. _If ye walk with me by accident_, or _chance_, or, _as it happens._ The ancient versions, however, favour our translation: according to which rendering, the word implies contumacy, or continuing to rebel against God aft... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will walk contrary to you_ Hebrews _I will walk with you by chance;_ an Hebraism, importing that God would seem to leave their affairs in apparent disorder, as if they were no more the objects of his providential care. To those who regard not the operation of God's hands, he appears unconcerned a... [ Continue Reading ]
_To avenge the quarrel of my covenant_ That is, my quarrel with you for your breach of your covenant made with me. _When you are gathered_ Hebrews _And ye shall be gathered into your cities_, &c.; that is, you shall not dare to abide in the country, but shall be forced to flee from the sword of your... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I have broken the staff of your bread_ By sending a famine, or scarcity of bread, which is the staff and support of man's present life. _Ten women_ That is, ten or many families, for the women took care for the bread and food of all the family. _By weight_ This is a sign and consequence both o... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will walk contrary to you in fury_, &c. Your obstinate contempt of my laws shall be punished with new and more grievous plagues; which was fulfilled in their captivity in the days of _Manasseh, Jehoiakim_, and _Zedekiah._ For these latter calamities were at least seven times greater, both for ext... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons_ Through extreme hunger. This is the very utmost calamity that could come upon a people. See it described at large, and in the most lively colours, Deuteronomy 28:53. It was fulfilled, first in the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 6:29; next in the siege of Jerusalem be... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your high places_ In which you will sacrifice after the manner of the heathen. And _cut down your images_ חמניכם, _chamanechem;_ some would translate this, _your temples of the sun;_ from חמה, _chammah, heat, or the sun._ But although they worshipped the host of heaven, 2 Kings Leviticus 17:16; and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your sanctuaries into desolation_ The sanctuary of God, though but one, is expressed in the plural number here, as it is also Psalms 73:17; and Psalms 84:7; Jeremiah 51:51; and Ezekiel 28:18; because there were divers apartments in it, each of which was a _sanctuary_, or _holy place._ God vouchsafe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your enemies which dwell therein_ Having driven you out, and possessed your places; _shall be astonished at it_ A strong expression, to denote the dreadfulness of their calamity, at which their very enemies should stand amazed. _A sword after you_ The sword shall follow you into strange lands, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_The land shall enjoy her sabbaths_ It shall enjoy those sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you, through covetousness, would not give it: a most seasonable warning this. Jeremiah complains, that in his time they had contemned the ordinance of God respecting the septennial sabbaths, and had... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them_ A very significant phrase, importing that they should sink into a state of the most slavish fear and despicable cowardice.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall pine away_ Shall languish out the remainder of their days in bitter grief, and sad reflections upon the miseries which their own and their fathers' complicated guilt has brought upon them; and hereby shall be consumed and melt away.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If they accept of_ The meaning is, if they sincerely acknowledge the righteousness of God and their own wickedness, and patiently submit to his correcting hand; if, with David, they are ready to say, _It is good for us that we are afflicted, that we may learn God's statutes_ And yield obedience to... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will remember my covenant_ So as to make good all that I have promised in it. For words of knowledge or remembrance, in Scripture, commonly denote affection and kindness. _I will remember the land_ Which now seems to be forgotten and despised, as if I had never chosen it to be the peculiar place... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I am the Lord their God_ Therefore neither the desperateness of their condition, nor the greatness of their sins, shall cause me wholly to make void my covenant with them and their ancestors, but I will in due time remember them for good, and for my covenant's sake return to them in mercy. From... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the statutes_, &c. This may reasonably refer to the whole body of laws contained in the preceding history from Exodus 20. And then the sense will be, that from that period to this, we have a complete detail of all the laws, with the promises and threatenings annexed to them, that were at... [ Continue Reading ]