261 'You shall not make for yourselves idols , nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar , nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God . 2 ' You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary ; I am the Lord . 3 ' If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, 4 then I shall give you rains in their season , so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit . 5 ' Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering , and grape gathering will last until sowing time . You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land . 6 ' I shall also grant peace in the land , so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble . I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land , and no sword will pass through your land . 7 'But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword ; 8 five of you will chase a hundred , and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand , and your enemies will fall before you by the sword . 9 'So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. 10 ' You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because e of the new . 11 ' Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 ' I will also walk among you and be your God , and you shall be My people . 13 ' I am the Lord your God , who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves , and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect .
14 ' But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments , 15 if , instead, you reject My statutes , and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments , and so break My covenant , 16 I, in turn , will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror , consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away ; also, you will sow your seed uselessly , for your enemies will eat it up. 17 'I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies ; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. 18 'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins . 19 'I will also break down your pride of power ; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze . 20 ' Your strength will be spent uselessly , for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit . 21 'If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling e to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins . 22 ' I will let loose among you the beasts of the field , which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted . 23 ' And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, 24 then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins . 25 'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant ; and when you gather together into your cities , I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands . 26 ' When I break your staff of bread , ten women will bake your bread in one oven , and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts , so that you will eat and not be satisfied . 27 'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins . 29 'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat . 30 'I then will destroy your high places , and cut down your incense altars , and heap your remains on the remains of your idols , for My soul shall abhor you. 31 'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate , and I will not smell your soothing aromas . 32 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become 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.