I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 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. You shall eat, and not be satisfied.
“ ‘If you in spite of this won’t listen to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in wrath. I will also chastise you seven times for your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings. I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies that dwell in it will be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it didn’t have in your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
“ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues. They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues. You will have no power to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations. The land of your enemies will eat you up. Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them.
“ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me, I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’ ”
These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv26, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46 One oven shall be sufficient for ten families.
One oven shall be sufficient for ten families.
That is, the strength, whereby the life is sustained, Ezek. 4:16 and 5:16.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43 Lev 26:25 And I will bring a sword upon…
Lev 26:25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of [my] covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
Ver. 25. I will bring a sword.] God "makes peace and creates evil," i.e., war. called evil per antonomasiam. Whencesoever the sword comes, it is "bathed in heaven." {Isa 34:5}
Read full note →
The quarrel of my covenant.] For breach whereof Jerusalem is long since laid waste, those seven golden candlesticks are broken in pieces. Bohemia lies still a bleeding, which was the seat of the first open and authorised Reformation. And what may we think will become of us all, who, "like men have transgressed the covenant," {Hos 6:7} or as Junius reads it, not tanquam homines, but tanquam hominis, &c. We have made no more of breaking covenant, than if therein we had had to do with dust and ashes like ourselves, and not with the great God; who is therefore whetting his sword, and furbishing it for slaughter. Quod Deus avertat!
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45 The quarrel of my covenant, i.e. my quarrel with…
The quarrel of my covenant, i.e. my quarrel with you for your breach of your faith and covenant made with me.
Into the hand of the enemy; because those few that shall be left of the pestilence will be unable to defend you in your cities or strong holds.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v40 Here the chapter concludes with gracious promises of the…
Here the chapter concludes with gracious promises of the return of God's favour to them upon their repentance, that they might not (unless it were their own fault) pine away in their iniquity. Behold, with wonder, the riches of God's mercy to a people that had obstinately stood it out against the judgments of God, and would never think of surrendering till they were reduced to the last extremity. Yet turn to strong-hold, you prisoners of hope, Zac 9:12. As bad as things are, they may be mended. Yet there is hope in Israel. Observe,
I. How the repentance which would qualify them for this mercy is described, Lev 26:40, Lev 26:41. The instances of it are three: - 1. Confession, by which they must give glory to God, and take shame to themselves. There must be a confession of sin, their own and their fathers', which they must lament the guilt of because they feel the smart of it; that thus they may cut off the entail of wrath. They must in their confession put sin under its worst character, as walking contrary to God; this is the sinfulness of sin, the worst thing in it, and which in our repentance we should especially bewail. There must also be a confession of wrath; they must overlook the instruments of their trouble and the second causes, and confess that God has walked contrary to them, and so dealt with them according to their sins. Such a confession as this we find made by Daniel just before the dawning of the day of their deliverance (ch. 9), and the like, Ezr 9:1-15 and Neh 9:2. Remorse and godly sorrow for sin: If their uncircumcised heart be humbled. An impenitent, unbelieving, unhumbled heart, is called an uncircumcised heart, the heart of a Gentile that is a stranger to God, rather than the heart of an Israelite in covenant with him. True circumcision is of the heart (Rom 2:29), without which the circumcision of the flesh avails nothing, Jer 9:26. Now in repentance this uncircumcised heart was humbled, that is, it was truly broken and contrite for sin. Note, A humble heart under humbling providences prepares for deliverance and true comfort. 3. Submission to the justice of God in all his dealings; if they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity (Lev 26:41 and again Lev 26:43), that is, if they justify God and condemn themselves, patiently bear the punishment as that which they have well deserved, and carefully answer the ends o it as that which God has well designed, accept it as a kindness, take it as physic, and improve it, then they are penitents indeed.
Read full note →
II. How the mercy which they should obtain upon their repentance is described. 1. They should not be abandoned: Though they have despised my judgments, yet, for all that, I will not cast them away, Lev 26:43, Lev 26:44. He speaks as a tender Father that cannot find in his heart to disinherit a son that has been very provoking. How shall I do it? Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9. Till he had laid the foundations of a church for himself in the Gentile world, the Jewish church was not quite forsaken, nor cast away. 2. They should be remembered: I will remember the land with favour, which is grounded upon the promise before, I will remember my covenant (Lev 26:42), which is repeated, Lev 26:45. God is said to remember the covenant when he performs the promises of it, purely for his faithfulness' sake; not because there is any thing in us to recommend us to his favour, but because he will be as good as his word. This is the church's plea. Psa 74:20, Have respect unto the covenant. He will remember the constitution of the covenant, which is such as leaves room for repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance; and the Mediator of the covenant, who was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was sent, when the fulness of time came, in remembrance of that holy covenant. The word covenant is thrice repeated, to intimate that God is ever mindful of it and would have us to be so. The persons also with whom the covenant was made are mentioned in an unusual manner, per modum ascensus - in the ascending line, beginning with Jacob, to lead them gradually to the most ancient promise, which was made to the father of the faithful: thus (Mic 7:20) he is said to perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham. He will for their sakes (Lev 26:45), not their merit's sake, but their benefit's sake, remember the covenant of their ancestors, and upon that score show kindness to them, though most unworthy; they are therefore said to be, as touching the election, beloved for the fathers' sake, Rom 11:28. Note, When those that have walked contrary to God in a way of sin return to him by sincere repentance, though he has walked contrary to them in a way of judgment he will return to them in a way of special mercy, pursuant to the covenant of redemption and grace. None are so ready to repent as God is to forgive upon repentance, through Christ, who is given for a covenant.
Lastly, These are said to be the laws which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel, Lev 26:46. His communion with his church is kept up by his law. He manifests not only his dominion over them, but his favour to them, by giving them his law; and they manifest not only their holy fear, but their holy love, by the observance of it; and thus it is made between them, rather as a covenant than a law; for he draws with the cords of a man.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv25–45 And when I have broken the staff of your…
And when I have broken the staff of your bread,.... Brought a famine, at least a scarcity of provisions upon them, deprived them of bread, the staff of life, by which it is supported; or however made it very scarce among them, so that they had hardly a sufficiency to sustain nature, and perhaps the blessing of nourishment withheld from that; see Isa 3:1,
ten women shall bake your bread in one oven; for want of wood, according to Jarchi; or rather through scarcity of bread corn, they should have so little to bake every week, that one oven would be sufficient for ten families, which in a time of plenty each made use of one for themselves; and so Aben Ezra says, it was a custom in Israel for every family to bake in an oven by themselves, which they ate the whole week. Ten is a certain number for an uncertain, and denotes many, as in Zac 8:23. Making and baking bread was the work of women in the eastern countries, as we find it was particularly among the Persians (n), and continues to this day among the Moors and Arabs (o):
Read full note →
and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; there being not enough for everyone to eat what they pleased, but were obliged to a rationed allowance, therefore everyone in the family should have their share delivered to him by weight; see Eze 4:16,
and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied; not having enough to eat to satisfaction; or what they did eat, God would withhold a blessing from it for their nourishment, the reverse of Lev 26:5.
(n) Herodot. Polymnia, sive. l. 4. c. 187. (o) Shaw's Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46 The quarrel of my covenant - That is, my…
The quarrel of my covenant - That is, my quarrel with you for your breach of your covenant made with me.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26, 29, 34, 38, 44, 46 Verse 26. Ten women shall bake your bread in…
Verse 26. Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven] Though in general every family in the East bakes its own bread, yet there are some public bakehouses where the bread of several families is baked at a certain price. Moses here foretells that the desolation should be so great and the want so pressing that there should be many idle hands to be employed, many mouths to be fed, and very little for each: Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 39, 41, 42, 44, 46 Lev 26:25. To avenge the quarrel of my covenant…
Lev 26:25. 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 enemies into your fortified towns, and leave your villages a prey to them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45 Bread; or that which supports you. You shall be…
Bread; or that which supports you. You shall be deprived of the necessaries of life. --- One oven shall be used by 10 families, so little bread shall be baked, and even that little shall be delivered out by weight. I will also deprive it of its nutritive qualities, so that it shall not satisfy your craving appetite. (Calmet) See Psalm civ. 16., and Isaias iii. 1.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 38, 40, 46 ten women shall bake your bread in one oven,…
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 (Eze 4:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46 25. Avenge the quarrel of my covenant — Literally,…
25. Avenge the quarrel of my covenant — Literally, avenging the covenant of vengeance. The R.V., “Execute the vengeance of the covenant.” This was a punishment inflicted for breaking the covenant, and it was graduated, in severity, to the richness of covenant blessings forfeited by apostasy. “It may be reverently said that God does not deal carelessly with his own covenants. He does not throw them away, and take no further heed of their operation. In the sense of looking after his word and observing its issues he may be described in Old Testament language as a ‘jealous God.’” — Joseph Parker. The Abrahamic covenant is here personified as a friend of God claiming vindication against the neglect and abuse of godless men. Sin changes the covenant of grace into the covenant of vengeance, and the love of the Saviour into “the wrath of the Lamb.” Rev_6:16.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 43, 46 25. execute the vengeance of the covenant] exact retribution…
25. execute the vengeance of the covenant] exact retribution from you for disregarding My covenant with you.
ye shall be gathered together within your cities] for shelter. Cp. Jer_4:5; Jer_35:11.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 (25) That shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.—Better,…
(25) That shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.—Better, that shall avenge my covenant, that is, the sword, which shall avenge the breach of the Divine covenant; a war, which will devastate them because of their rebellion against the covenant God. Hence the Chaldee Versions render it, “that shall avenge on you the vengeance for that ye have transgressed against the words of the law.”
And when ye are gathered together within your cities.—When, completely defeated in the battlefield, the Israelites escape from the avenging sword into their fortified cities, they will then become a prey to pestilence, so that the surviving remnant will prefer to deliver themselves over into the hands of the relentless enemy. (Comp. Jer_21:6-9; Eze_5:12; Eze_7:15.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv27, 34, 36, 40, 46 Vers. 27-33. Punishment in the fifth degree. Ye shall…
Vers. 27-33. Punishment in the fifth degree. Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. We find that this threat was fulfilled in Samaria, (2Ki_6:28) and in Jerusalem at the time both of the earlier siege by the Chaldaeans, and of the later siege by the Romans (see Lam_2:20 Lam_4:10; Josephus, "Bell. Jud:," 5:9, 3; and the terrible case of Mary daughter of Eleazar. Josephus, "Bell. Jud:" 6:3, 4). And I will destroy your high places. By high places is meant the tops of hills or eminences chosen for worship, whether of Jehovah, (see Jud_1:6:26 1Ki_3:2 2Ki_12:3 1Ch_21:26) or of false gods. The high places intended hero are the spots where the "sun-images" were erected (see 2Ch_14:5 Isa_17:8 Eze_6:4) and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols that is, they should roll in the dust together. And I will make your cities waste as Samaria and Jerusalemand bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, by the sanctuaries, which are to be desolated, is meant all the consecrated things: the holy of holies, the holy place, the court, the ark, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt sacrificeand I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours so in Jer_6:20, "To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet". (cf. Isa_1:11-15) And I will bring the land into desolation: (cf. Jer_9:11) and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. (cf. Eze_5:15)
And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you. See Jer_9:16, "I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v27 Then I will walk contrary unto you.
Lev_26:27-39
Then I will walk contrary unto you.
Read full note →
Gods determination to punish sinners
I. As affecting supposition stated. If ye will not, &c. The Lord here supposes that His people may commit three grievous sins:
1. The sin of disobedience. If ye will not hearken unto Me. Hence observe--
(1) That the Lord in His Word speaks to us (Heb_8:12).
(2) That whatever the Lord says in His Word it is our bounden duty to hear (Heb_3:7; 1Th_5:20; Jam_1:19).
(3) That we are too apt to turn a deaf ear to Him (Exo_5:2; Psa_12:4).
2. The sin of incorrigibleness. If for all this ye will not hearken. Note here--
(1) That afflictions sometimes have the nature of punishments (Jer_13:21).
(2) That punishment is the natural and necessary consequence of transgression.
(3) That in the punishment which God inflicts He seeks our reformation (2Ch_18:22).
(4) That our depravity in too many cases frustrates His designs (Zep_3:2).
3. The sin of perverseness. If ye walk contrary to Me. Observe again--
(1) That the Lords pleasure is, we should walk with Him (Mic_6:8).
(2) That we walk with the Lord when we walk in His way (2Ki_20:3; Ecc_12:13).
(3) That walking otherwise than He has commanded is to show a perverse and untoward heart.
II. An awful consequence declared. I will walk contrary also to you in fury. Thus we see that--
1. Conformable to our character will be our end. If God should deal thus with us
(1) We shall lose the blessing which He imparts to> His obedient followers (Lev_26:4-12).
(2) Our expectations will issue in disappointment and vexation (Hos_8:7); and
(3) Like chaff before the wind we shall speedily be carried to destruction (Psa_1:4-5).
2. Enforcement of these considerations: we see--
(1) That a religion consisting of mere notions will never saw a man.
(2) That men are not at liberty, as some suppose, to live as they please.
(3) That God takes notice of the ways of all.
(4) That if He displays His anger we should be anxious to find out the cause; and
(5) That if any one perish he will have no one to blame for it but himself (Isa_3:11). (Wm. Sleigh.)
Desolation threatened to Israel
I. How horrifying the miseries which may befall a privileged people. The miseries of penury and siege (Lev_26:29); of captivity and slaughter (Lev_26:33); of anguish and derision (Lev_26:36); of pitiless misery and disaster (Lev_26:39).
1. None are so secure in grace and privilege that they can disregard the possibility of a fall.
2. None are so rich in sacred favours as to be beyond danger of their total loss.
3. None are so honoured by Gods selecting and distinguishing grace but they may lapse into alienation and desolation.
II. How amazing the disasters which may devastate a beautiful country. Canaan was a wealthy land, a scene of loveliness, abundance, and delight. Yet on it came the disasters of depopulation (Lev_26:31), sterility (Lev_26:32), desertion (Lev_26:35)--even enemies abandoning it.
1. National plenty and prosperity are conditional upon national righteousness and piety.
2. National greatness and glory have been withered by the anger of an insulted God.
3. National strength and safety are only guaranteed as religion is fostered by the laws of a country, and in the habits and lives of its people.
III. How piteous the profanation which may despoil a nations sanctities! Canaan was the scene of Jehovahs sanctuary: the Temple rose on Zion; and the land sent up her tribes to the celebration of sacred feasts and to the holy worship of God. Yet all her sanctuaries were brought unto desolation (Lev_26:31), all the fragrance of her sacrifices became loathsome to Jehovah (Lev_26:31), and her desecrated Sabbaths were avenged in the bleak silence and loneliness which fell on hallowed scenes (Lev_26:34).
1. Religious favours, if abused, may be utterly withdrawn from us.
2. God loathes the offerings once delightful to Him, when the offerers love is estranged.
3. Holy scenes and holy days become a barren mockery if a trifling spirit alienate the sacred Presence: Ichabod! (W. H. Jellie.)
Verse 40-45. If they shall confess their iniquity.
Gods promises to penitents
I. What is that repentance which God requires?
1. That we acknowledge our guilt. Our fathers sins as well as our own are first grounds of national humiliation. Our own sins are the chief burden of personal contrition. But sin should be viewed in its true light, as walking contrary to God (Psa_51:4).
2. That we justify God in His judgments. If we have dared to walk contrary to Him, is not He justified in walking contrary to us? Whatever inflictions He imposes we have reason to own it as less than our deserts (Ezr_9:13), and that His judgments are just (Rev_16:7).
3. That we be thankful for His dealings by which He has humbled our uncircumcised hearts. Only real contrition can produce this. It realises mercy in judgment, and love in affliction.
II. The connection between our repentance and Gods mercy. Repentance is void of merit. Even obedience is destitute of merit; when we have done all we could we are unprofitable servants. The acknowledgment of a debt is a very different thing from a discharge of that debt. A condemned criminal may be sorry for his offences, but that sorrow does not obliterate his crime, still less entitle him to rewards. Yet there is connection between repentance and pardon, and meekness in the exercise of mercy towards the penitent--
1. On Gods part. For repentance glorifies God (Jos_7:19).
2. On the part of the penitents. It incites to loathing of the sin, and to adoration of Divine grace. So God insists on the condition, If they be humbled, then will I pardon. For then God can do it consistently with His honour, and they will make a suitable improvement of the mercy vouchsafed them.
III. The ground and measure of that mercy which penitents may expect. Gods covenant with their ancestors was the basis and warrant of His mercy to Israel (Lev_26:42; Lev_26:44-45). His covenant with us in Christ is our hope and guarantee.
1. Be thankful that you are yet within reach of mercy.
2. Have especial respect unto the covenant of grace. It is to that God looks, and to that should we look also. It is the only basis on which mercy and redemption are possible. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The bow in the cloud
I. That the way was left open for the rebellious to return.
1. It was the way of reflection.
2. It was the way of confession.
3. It was the way of humiliation.
They were not to return proudly, feeling they had not been rewarded according to their iniquities. The way is still open for the vilest to return; for, the New Testament teaches that these are the steps in the ladder of life, out of sin to holiness, from earth to heaven, from self to God, viz.: Repentance, conversion, consecration.
II. That if the rebellious returned to the lord in his own appointed way he would graciously receive them.
1. He would do so for the sake of their fathers. He would remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2. He would do so for the sake of His name. For I am the Lord. He had purposed, as well as promised, to deal mercifully with them.
3. He would do so for the sake of the land. He had selected Canaan as the arena where He would specially display His glory to men, and He would not allow it to lie waste for ever.
4. He would do it for the sake of His covenant. I will remember My covenant. The Lord does not make a covenant and then tear it rashly to pieces; if broken by man He will speedily renew, nor allow the irregularities and irreligion of men to thwart His beneficent arrangements. Here, indeed, was a resplendent bow of many colours, beaming with the beautiful light of the mild and merciful countenance of the Most High. What encouragement for sinful men to return to the Lord, for He will have mercy upon them, and abundantly pardon. The Levitical law closes with offers of mercy, the last words of the law are words of entreaty and promise. (W. H. Jellie.)
Gains of a good ancestry
I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors.
I. The vows and prayers of a goodly parentage exercise influence upon the divine plans. That covenant is thrice referred to as determining Gods arrangements (Lev_26:42; Lev_26:44-45). Note Jobs prayers for his children (Job_1:5; cf. with verse 10), Made a hedge about Job and about his house.
II. Over long intervals the influence of parental covenants extend. This covenant with Abraham was made 1900 years B.C. (Gen_15:13-14). It is now 1900 years A.D., yet the word stands, They are beloved for the fathers sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Rom_11:28-29). God is at work, though He seems to wait. In due season ye shall reap if ye faint not. Praying soul, anxious heart, clinging to the promises--Hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy cries, and counts thy tears, God shall lift up thy head.
III. How grand the link between a parents piety and the childrens destiny!
1. Live and pray for your descendants.
2. Value the sacred benefits even though as yet unrealised, of a godly ancestry.
3. Rest in the unfailing pledge of God to reward piety and prayer. (W. H. Jellie.)
The advantage of submission
It is recorded of Edward I., that, being angry with a servant of his in the sport of hawking, he threatened him sharply. The gentleman answered, It was well there was a river between them. Hereat the king, more incensed, spurred his horse into the depth of the river, not without extreme danger of his life, the water being deep and the banks too steep and high for his ascending, Yet, at last recovering land, with his sword drawn, he pursued the servant, who rode as fast from him. But finding himself too ill-horsed to outride the angry king, he reined, lighted, and, on his knees, exposed his neck to the blow of the kings sword. The king no sooner saw this but he put up his sword and would not touch him. A dangerous water could not withhold him from violence; yet his servants submission did soon pacify him. While man flies stubbornly from God, He that rides upon the wings of the wind posts after him with sword of vengeance drawn. But when in dust and ashes he humbles himself, and stands to His mercy, the wrath of God is soon appeased..
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv30, 40 "And all the tithe of the land, whether of…
THE LAW OF THE TITHE
Lev_26:30-33
Read full note →
"And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lords: it is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof. And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed."
Last of all these exclusions from the vow is mentioned the tithe. "Whether of the seed of the land, or of the herd, or of the flock," it is declared to be "holy unto the Lord; it is the Lords." That because of this it cannot be given to the Lord by a special vow, although not formally stated, is self-evident. No man can give away what belongs to another, or give God what He has already. In Num_18:21 it is said that this tenth should be given "unto the children of Levi for the service of the tent of meeting."
Most extraordinary is the contention of Wellhausen and others, that since in Deuteronomy no tithe is mentioned other than of the product of the land, therefore, because of the mention here also of a tithe of the herd and the flock, we must infer that we have here a late interpolation into the "priest code," marking a time when now the exactions of the priestly caste had been extended to the utmost limit. This is not the place to go into the question of the relation of the law of Deuteronomy to that which we have here; but we should rather, with Dillmann, from the same premisses argue the exact opposite, namely, that we have here the very earliest form of the tithe law. For that an ordinance so extending the rights of the priestly class should have been "smuggled" into the Sinaitic laws after the days of Nehemiah, as Wellhausen, Reuss, and Kuenen suppose, is simply "unthinkable"; while, on the other hand, when we find already in Gen_28:22 Jacob promising unto the Lord the tenth of all that He should give him, at a time when he was living the life of a nomad herdsman, it is inconceivable that he should have meant "all, excepting the increase of the flocks and herds," which were his chief possession.
The truth is that the dedication of a tithe, in various forms, as an acknowledgment of dependence upon and reverence to God, is one of the most widely-spread and best-attested practices of the most remote antiquity. We read of it among the Romans, the Greeks, the ancient Pelasgians, the Carthaginians, and the Phoenicians; and in the Pentateuch, in full accord with all this, we find not only Jacob, as in the passage cited, but, at a yet earlier time, Abraham, more than four hundred years before Moses, giving tithes to Melchizedek. The law, in the exact form in which we have it here, is therefore in perfect harmony with all that we know of the customs both of the Hebrews and surrounding peoples, from a time even much earlier than that of the Exodus.
Very naturally the reference to the tithe, as thus from of old belonging to the Lord, and therefore incapable of being vowed, gives occasion to other regulations respecting it. Like unclean animals, houses, and lands which had been vowed, so also the tithe, or any part of it, might be redeemed by the individual for his own use, upon payment of the usual mulct of one-fifth additional to its assessed value. So also it is further ordered, with special regard to the tithe of the herd and the flock, "that whatsoever passeth under the rod," i.e., whatever is counted, as the manner was, by being made to pass into or out of the fold under the herdsmans staff, "the tenth" - that is, every tenth animal as in its turn it comes-"shall be holy to theLord." The owner was not to search whether the animal thus selected was good or bad, nor change it, so as to give the Lord a poorer animal, and keep a better one for himself; and if he broke this law, then, as in the case of the unclean beast vowed, as the penalty he was to forfeit to the sanctuary both the original and its attempted substitute, and also lose the right of redemption.
A very practical question emerges just here, as to the continued obligation of this law of the tithe. Although we hear nothing of the tithe in the first Christian centuries, it began to be advocated in the fourth century by Jerome, Augustine, and others, and, as is well known, the system of ecclesiastical tithing soon became established as the law of the Church. Although the system by no means disappeared with the Reformation, but passed from the Roman into the Reformed Churches, yet the modern spirit has become more and more adverse to the mediaeval system, till, with the progressive hostility in society to all connection of the Church and the State, and in the Church the development of a sometimes exaggerated voluntaryism, tithing as a system seems likely to disappear altogether, as it has already from the most of Christendom.
But in consequence of this, and the total severance of the Church from the State, in the United States and the Dominion of Canada, the necessity of securing adequate provision for the maintenance and extension of the Church, is more and more directing the attention of those concerned in the practical economics of the Church, to this venerable institution of the tithe as the solution of many difficulties. Among such there are many who, while quite opposed to any enforcement of a law of tithing for the benefit of the Church by the civil power, nevertheless earnestly maintain that the law of the tithe, as we have it here, is of permanent obligation and binding on the conscience of every Christian. What is the truth in the matter? in particular, what is the teaching of the New Testament?
In attempting to settle for ourselves this question, it is to be observed, in order to clear thinking on this subject, that in the law of the tithe as here declared there are two elements-the one moral, the other legal, -which should be carefully distinguished. First and fundamental is the principle that it is our duty to set apart to God a certain fixed proportion of our income. The other and-technically speaking-positive element in the law is that which declares that the proportion to be given to the Lord is precisely one tenth. Now, of these two, the first principle is distinctly recognised and reaffirmed in the New Testament as of continued validity in this dispensation; while, on the other hand, as to the precise proportion of our income to be thus set apart for the Lord, the New Testament writers are everywhere silent.
As regards the first principle, the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, orders that "on the first day of the week"-the day of the primitive Christian worship-"everyone shall lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." He adds that he had given the same command also to the Churches of Galatia. {1Co_16:1-2} This most clearly gives apostolic sanction to the fundamental principle of the tithe, namely, that a definite portion of our income should be set apart for God. While, on the other hand, neither in this connection, where a mention of the law of the tithe might naturally have been expected, if it had been still binding as to the letter, nor in any other place does either the Apostle Paul or any other New Testament writer intimate that the Levitical law, requiring the precise proportion of a tenth, was still in force; -a fact which is the more noteworthy that so much is said of the duty of Christian benevolence.
To this general statement with regard to the testimony of the New Testament on this subject, the words of our Lord to the Pharisees, {Mat_23:23} regarding their tithing of "mint and anise and cummin"-"these ye ought to have done"-cannot be taken as an exception, or as proving that the law is binding for this dispensation; for the simple reason that the present dispensation had not at that time yet begun, and those to whom He spoke were still under the Levitical law, the authority of which He there reaffirms. From these facts we conclude that the law of these verses, in so far as it requires the setting apart to God of a certain definite proportion of our income, is doubtless of continued and lasting obligation; but that, in so far as it requires from all alike the exact proportion of one tenth, it is binding on the conscience no longer.
Nor is it difficult to see why the New Testament should not lay down this or any other precise proportion of giving to income, as a universal law. It is only according to the characteristic usage of the New Testament law to leave to the individual conscience very much regarding the details of worship and conduct, which under the Levitical law was regulated by specific rules; which the Apostle Paul explains {Gal_4:1-5} by reference to the fact that the earlier method was intended for and adapted to a lower and more immature stage of religious development; even as a child, during his minority, is kept under guardians and stewards, from whose authority, when he comes of age, he is free.
But, still further, it seems to be often forgotten by those who argue for the present and permanent obligation of this law, that it was here for the first time formally appointed by God as a binding law, in connection with a certain divinely instituted system of theocratic government, which, if carried out, would, as we have seen, effectively prevent excessive accumulations of wealth in the hands of individuals, and thus secure for the Israelites, in a degree the world has never seen, an equal distribution of property. In such a system it is evident that it would be possible to exact a certain fixed and definite proportion of income for sacred purposes, with the certainty that the requirement would work with perfect justice and fairness to all. But with us, social and economic conditions are so very different, wealth is so very unequally distributed, that no such law as that of the tithe could be made to work otherwise than unequally and unfairly. To the very poor it must often be a heavy burden; to the very rich, a proportion so small as to be a practical exemption. While, for the former, the law, if insisted on, would sometimes require a poor man to take bread out of the mouth of wife and children, it would still leave the millionaire with thousands to spend on needless luxuries. The latter might often more easily give nine tenths of his income than the former could give one twentieth.
It is thus no surprising thing that the inspired men who laid the foundations of the New Testament Church did not reaffirm the law of the tithe as to the letter. And yet, on the other hand, let us not forget that the law of the tithe, as regards the moral element of the law, is still in force. It forbids the Christian to leave, as so often, the amount he will give for the Lords work, to impulse and caprice. Statedly and conscientiously he is to "lay by him in store as the Lord hath prospered him." If any ask how much should the proportion be, one might say that by fair inference the tenth might safely be taken as an average minimum of giving, counting rich and poor together. But the New Testament {2Co_8:7; 2Co_8:9} answers after a different and most characteristic manner: "See that ye abound in this grace For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich." Let there be but regular and systematic giving to the Lords work, under the law of a fixed proportion of gifts to income, and under the holy inspiration of this sacred remembrance of the grace of our Lord, and then the Lords treasury will never be empty, nor the Lord be robbed of His tithe.
And so hereupon the book of Leviticus closes with the formal declaration- referring, no doubt, strictly speaking, to the regulations of this lastchapter-that "these are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai." The words as explicitly assert Mosaic origin and authority for these last laws of the book, as the opening words asserted the same for the law of the offerings with which it begins. The significance of these repeated declarations respecting the origin and authority of the laws contained in this book has been repeatedly pointed out, and nothing further need be added here.
To sum up all:-what the Lord, in this book of Leviticus, has said, was not for Israel alone. The supreme lesson of this law is for men now, for the Church of the New Testament as well. For the individual and for the nation, HOLINESS, consisting in full consecration of body and soul to the Lord, and separation from all that defileth, is the Divine ideal, to the attainment of which Jew and Gentile alike are called. And the only way of its attainment is through the atoning Sacrifice, and the mediation of the High Priest appointed of God; and the only evidence of its attainment is a joyful obedience, hearty and unreserved, to all the commandments of God. For us all it stands written: "YE SHALL BE HOLY; FOR I, JEHOVAH, YOUR GOD, AM HOLY."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v34 The Effects of these Visitations and the Restoration of…
The Effects of these Visitations and the Restoration of the Covenant
v. 34. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her Sabbaths. It is here implied that Israel, in its revolt against Jehovah and His commandments, would omit the observance of the sabbatical years, and that the land, suffering under the oppression of this greed, would feel the relief brought about by the deportation of the owners.
Read full note →
v. 35. As long as it lieth desolate, it shall rest, because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye blood upon it.
v. 36. And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, filling their hearts with a cowardly fear, with the despondency of an unreasonable terror; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth, victims more of their own terror than of any harm done to them by their enemies,
v. 37. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
v. 38. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. Cf Numbers 13-32; Eze 36:13.
v. 39. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands, So long as they remain in their unrepentant attitude toward God; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them; for if the children follow in the footsteps of their sinful parents, the sins of the latter are visited upon them also. But now the mercy of the Lord comes into the foreground Again.
v. 40. If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, the guilt which they brought upon themselves by their misdeeds, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me, an open confession being necessary to show the sincerity of their repentance;
v. 41. and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies, thereby freely acknowledging that they were suffering a well-deserved punishment; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity,
v. 42. then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, with all the blessings promised therein; and I will remember the land, turn back to it with thoughts of love and kindness.
v. 43. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them, being free from the oppression of a population that disregarded the will of the Lord; and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity, bowing their backs to the Lord’s chastening rod; because, even because they despised My judgments, and because their soul abhorred My statutes.
v. 44. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, when it seems that they are absolutely forsaken by God, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, for that had not been the purpose of His punishment in the first place, and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord, their God, who always has mercy upon the repentant sinner.
v. 45. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen. I am the Lord. In this way the punishment of the Lord would finally result in blessing the people, in bringing them back to the fellowship of the covenant which He had never repudiated.
v. 46. These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. The history of Israel, as foreshadowed in this Chapter, is an example of warning to all men. Unto those that are disobedient to the truth the Lord will render tribulation and anguish, Rom 2:8-9. He will in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2Th 1:8-9. But His mercy is always ready to turn to those that come to Him with a sorrowful and repentant heart.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43, 44, 46 I will bring a sword on you
I will bring a sword on you
Here the word "sword" represents an army or an attack from an army. AT: "I will bring an enemy army against you" or "I will cause an enemy army to attack you" (See: Metonymy)
Read full note →
that will execute vengeance
"that will punish you"
for breaking the covenant
"for disobeying the covenant" or "because you disobey the covenant"
You will be gathered together
This can be stated in active form. AT: "You will gather together" or "You will hide" (See: Active or Passive)
you will be delivered into the hand of your enemy
Here "into the hand" means "into the control" and refers to defeat by their enemy. This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will deliver you into the hand of your enemy" or "I will allow your enemy to control you" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
When I cut off your food supply
Destroying the food that people have stored or stopping people from being able to get it is spoken of as cutting off the supply of food. AT: "When I destroy the food you have stored" or "When I stop you from being able to get food" (See: Metaphor)
ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven
This implies that there will be so little flour that one small oven will be able to hold all the bread that many women can put into it.
they will distribute your bread by weight
This means there will be so little food that they will have to measure how much each person gets.
translationWords
avenge
covenant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv29, 30, 34, 36, 40, 41, 42 26:29 Starvation would so pervade the land that when…
26:29 Starvation would so pervade the land that when a child died of hunger, he or she would be eaten, in pagan fashion, by the others in the family (Deut 28:53-57; see 2 Kgs 6:24-31; Lam 2:20; cp. 2 Kgs 3:27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.