261 'Ye do not make to yourselves idols; and graven image or standing image ye do not set up to yourselves; and a stone of imagery ye do not put in your land, to bow yourselves to it; for I 'am' Jehovah your God. 2 'My sabbaths ye do keep, and My sanctuary ye do reverence; I 'am' Jehovah. 3 'If in My statutes ye walk, and My commands ye keep, and have done them, 4 then I have given your rains in their season, and the land hath given her produce, and the tree of the field doth give its fruit; 5 and reached to you hath the threshing, the gathering, and the gathering doth reach the sowing-'time'; and ye have eaten your bread to satiety, and have dwelt confidently in your land. 6 'And I have given peace in the land, and ye have lain down, and there is none causing trembling; and I have caused evil beasts to cease out of the land, and the sword doth not pass over into your land. 7 'And ye have pursued your enemies, and they have fallen before you by the sword; 8 and five of you have pursued a hundred, and a hundred of you do pursue a myriad; and your enemies have fallen before you by the sword. 9 'And I have turned unto you, and have made you fruitful, and have multiplied you, and have established My covenant with you; 10 and ye have eaten old 'store', and the old because of the new ye bring out. 11 'And I have given My tabernacle in your midst, and My soul doth not loathe you; 12 and I have walked habitually in your midst, and have become your God, and ye—ye are become My people; 13 I 'am' Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, from being their servants; and I break the bars of your yoke, and cause you to go erect.
14 'And if ye do not hearken to Me, and do not all these commands; 15 and if at My statutes ye kick, and if My judgments your soul loathe, so as not to do all My commands—to your breaking My covenant— 16 I also do this to you, and I have appointed over you trouble, the consumption, and the burning fever, consuming eyes, and causing pain of soul; and your seed in vain ye have sowed, and your enemies have eaten it; 17 and I have set My face against you, and ye have been smitten before your enemies; and those hating you have ruled over you, and ye have fled, and there is none pursuing you. 18 'And if unto these ye hearken not to Me,—then I have added to chastise you seven times for your sins; 19 and I have broken the pride of your strength, and have made your heavens as iron, and your earth as brass; 20 and consumed hath been your strength in vain, and your land doth not give her produce, and the tree of the land doth not give its fruit. 21 'And if ye walk with Me 'in' opposition, and are not willing to hearken to Me, then I have added to you a plague seven times, according to your sins, 22 and sent against you the beast of the field, and it hath bereaved you; and I have cut off your cattle, and have made you few, and your ways have been desolate. 23 'And if by these ye are not instructed by Me, and have walked with Me 'in' opposition, 24 then I have walked—I also—with you in opposition, and have smitten you, even I, seven times for your sins; 25 and I have brought in on you a sword, executing the vengeance of a covenant; and ye have been gathered unto your cities, and I have sent pestilence into your midst, and ye have been given into the hand of an enemy. 26 'In My breaking to you the staff of bread, then ten women have baked your bread in one oven, and have given back your bread by weight; and ye have eaten, and are not satisfied. 27 'And if for this ye hearken not to Me, and have walked with Me in opposition, 28 then I have walked with you in the fury of opposition, and have chastised you, even I, seven times for your sins. 29 'And ye have eaten the flesh of your sons; even flesh of your daughters ye do eat. 30 And I have destroyed your high places, and cut down your images, and have put your carcases on the carcases of your idols, and My soul hath loathed you; 31 and I have made your cities a waste, and have made desolate your sanctuaries, and I smell not at your sweet fragrances; 32 and I have made desolate the land, and your enemies, who are dwelling in it, have been astonished at it. 33 And you I scatter among nations, and have drawn out after you a sword, and your land hath been a desolation, and your cities are a waste.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Leviticus 26:1-33
Commentary on Leviticus 26:1-13
(Read Leviticus 26:1-13)
This chapter contains a general enforcement of all the laws given by Moses; by promises of reward in case of obedience, on the one hand; and threatenings of punishment for disobedience, on the other. While Israel maintained a national regard to God's worship, sabbaths, and sanctuary, and did not turn aside to idolatry, the Lord engaged to continue to them temporal mercies and religious advantages. These great and precious promises, though they relate chiefly to the life which now is, were typical of the spiritual blessings made sure by the covenant of grace to all believers, through Christ. 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. Every good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the Father of lights. 2. Peace under the Divine protection. Those dwell in safety, that dwell in God. 3. Victory and success in their wars. It is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few. 4. The increase of their people. The gospel church shall be fruitful. 5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all Good. 6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances. The way to have God's ordinances fixed among us, is to cleave closely to them. 7. The grace of the covenant. All covenant blessings are summed up in the covenant relation, I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and they are all grounded upon their redemption. Having purchased them, God would own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off.
Commentary on Leviticus 26:14-39
(Read Leviticus 26:14-39)
After God has set the blessing before them which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient, he here sets the curse before them, the evils which would make them miserable, if they were disobedient. Two things would bring ruin. 1. A contempt of God's commandments. They that reject the precept, will come at last to renounce the covenant. 2. A contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery. And also, The whole creation would be at war with them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them. The threatenings here are very particular, they were prophecies, and He that foresaw all their rebellions, knew they would prove so. TEMPORAL judgments are threatened. Those who will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God, shall be parted from them by judgments. Those wedded to their lusts, will have enough of them. SPIRITUAL judgments are threatened, which should seize the mind. They should find no acceptance with God. A guilty conscience would be their continual terror. It is righteous with God to leave those to despair of pardon, who presume to sin; and it is owing to free grace, if we are not left to pine away in the iniquity we were born in, and have lived in.