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Leviticus
Chapter Twenty-six
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 26
In
this chapter, after a repetition of some laws against idolatry, and concerning
keeping sabbaths, and reverencing the sanctuary of God, Leviticus 26:1; in
order to encourage the Israelites to keep the various statutes and commandments
in this book, and in the preceding, many promises are made of plenty, and
peace, and safety from enemies, and of the presence of God with them, Leviticus 26:3; and
on the contrary, to such as should despise and break his commandments, the most
grievous things are threatened, as diseases of body, destruction by their
enemies, barrenness and unfruitfulness of land, the sore judgments of wild
beasts, famine, sword, and pestilence, Leviticus 26:14;
and yet after all, when they should confess their sins, and were humbled for
them, the Lord promises to remember the covenant he made with their ancestors,
and would deal kindly with them, and not cast them away, and utterly destroy
them, Leviticus 26:40.
Leviticus 26:1. ‘You
shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred
pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone
in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
YLT 1`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.
Ye shall have no idols, or graven image,.... Some of
the Jewish writers, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, think this law against idolatry is
mentioned on account of the Israelite sold to a stranger, spoken of in the
latter part of the preceding chapter, lest he should be drawn into idolatry;
See Gill on Leviticus 25:48; but
this is rather mentioned as being a principal law, respecting the honour and
glory of God, and the foundation of all religion and godliness, and the breach
of it a capital crime, and which led on to other sins, and exposed to the
displeasure and resentment of God, and brought on all the calamities after
mentioned in this chapter. "Idols" here signify "things of
nought", as an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4;
and a "graven image", any likeness of man or beast cut out of wood,
or stone; and may include any molten image of gold, silver, or brass, and then
engraven with a tool, as the golden calf was, Exodus 32:4,
neither rear you up a standing image; or pillarF7מצבה στηλην
Sept. "titulos", V. L. "titulum", Samar. Ar.
"pillar", Ainsworth. ; an heap of rude stones, set up pillar, not
bearing the likeness of any creature; otherwise graven and molten images were
standing ones, but these were statues without any figure; such as the Arabians
used to worship; the god Mars, worshipped in Arabia Petraea, was no other than
a black stone four square, unformed, four feet high, and two broad, and was
placed on a basis of goldF8"Suidas in voce" θευς αρης Vid. Arnob. adv.
Gentes, l. 6. p. 232. :
neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to
bow down unto; any "figured stone", as the Targum and Aben Ezra
interpret it, which had figures and representations of creatures cut in it, in
order to bow down unto and worship: the word has the signification of covering,
as they cover a floor with a pavement of stones:
for I am the Lord your God; who is the alone object
of religious worship and adoration.
Leviticus 26:2. 2 You
shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.
YLT 2`My sabbaths ye do keep, and My sanctuary ye
do reverence; I [am] Jehovah.
Ye shall keep my sabbaths,.... The seventh day
sabbaths, and the seventh year sabbaths; especially the former are meant, in
which religious worship was given to the one true and living God, and therefore
the observance of them is strictly enjoined; and hence this law follows closely
upon the former, though Aben Ezra restrains it to the sabbatical years, or
seventh year sabbaths, as he applies the sanctuary in the following clause to
the jubilee year, which is said to be holy, Leviticus 26:12;
supposing that this refers unto and stands in strict connection with the laws
of the preceding chapter, concerning the sabbatical, Leviticus 25:1, and
jubilee years, Leviticus 25:8,
and reverence my sanctuary; by attending in it, and
on the worship in it, with reverence and godly fear, see Leviticus 19:30,
I am the Lord; who had a right to such
religious worship, and to command such things, in which he ought to be obeyed,
his sabbaths kept, and sanctuary reverenced.
Leviticus 26:3. 3 ‘If
you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
YLT 3`If in My statutes ye walk, and My commands
ye keep, and have done them,
If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them. Both moral,
ceremonial, and judicial, which had been delivered unto them, and now
completely recorded in this and the preceding book; for what follow in the two
next are chiefly repetitions of what are contained in these.
Leviticus 26:4. 4 then
I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the
trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
YLT 4then 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;
Then I will give you rain in due season,.... The
former and latter rain, in the two seasons of the year in which rain usually
fell, and the Scriptures frequently speak of; and when the land of Israel,
which required rain, not being watered with a river, as Egypt, was blessed with
it; the one was at the sowing of their seed, or a little after it, and the
other a little before harvest; and when it was had in those times it was had in
due season, and hence the word is in the plural number, "your rains"F9גשמיכם "pluvias vestras", Pagninus, Montanus,
Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; unless showers of rain
are meant: to encourage to keep the commands of God, promises of many outward
good things are made; and this is the first, being a principal blessing, and
which only God, and not all the vanities of the Gentiles, could give:
and the land shall yield her increase; which is
greatly owing to seasonable showers of rain, by which means the earth brings
forth bread to the eater and seed to the sower, corn and grass for man and
beast:
and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit; vines,
olives, pomegranates, figs, &c. are meant, with which the land of Israel
abounded, Deuteronomy 8:8.
Leviticus 26:5. 5 Your
threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till
the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your
land safely.
YLT 5and 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.
And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage
shall reach unto the sowing time,.... Signifying that
there should be such plentiful harvests of barley and wheat, the first of which
began in March, as would employ them in threshing them out unto the time of
vintage, which may be supposed to, be in the month of July; for on the twenty
ninth of Sivan, which was about the middle of June, was the time of the first
ripe grapes, as appears; see Gill on Numbers 13:20; and
that they should have such quantities of grapes on their vines, as would employ
them in gathering and pressing them until seedtime, which was usually in
October, see Amos 9:13,
and ye shall eat your bread to the full; which is put
for all provisions; and the meaning is, they should have plenty of food, eat
full meals, or however, what they ate, whether little or much, should be
satisfying and refreshing to them, having it with a divine blessing:
and dwell in your land safely; would have no need to go
out of it into other lands for the sake of food, and would be in no danger from
enemies invading them and carrying off their substance; plenty without safety
would not be so great a blessing as with it, since, though they had it, they
might be deprived of it, wherefore security from enemies is promised.
Leviticus 26:6. 6 I
will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you
afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through
your land.
YLT 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.
And I will give peace in the land,.... Among yourselves, as
Aben Ezra; that as safety from enemies is promised before, here it is assured
they should be free from insurrections and from riots, broils, contentions, and
civil wars among themselves:
and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; that is, lie
down upon their beds, and sleep quietly and comfortably, and not be in any fear
of thieves and robbers breaking in upon them, Psalm 3:5,
and I will rid evil beasts out of the land: out of the
land of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, not out of the world, such as lions,
bears, wolves, &c. which were sometimes troublesome and mischievous in the
land:
neither shall the sword go through your land; either the
sword of the enemy, which if it entered should not be suffered to proceed, much
less to pervade the land and destroy the inhabitants of it: so the Targum of
Jonathan,"they that draw the sword shall not pass through your land,'or
the sword of the Lord, that is, the pestilence, 1 Chronicles 21:12;
as Ainsworth suggests; though the JewsF11T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 22.
1. 2. commonly understand it of the sword of peace, as they call it, though
that is of one that is not an enemy, but passes through one country to destroy
another; which yet is distressing to the country he passes through, as in the
case of Pharaoh Necho, whom Josiah went out to meet, 2 Chronicles 35:20;
though, by what follows, it seems rather to be the first of these.
Leviticus 26:7. 7 You
will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
YLT 7`And ye have pursued your enemies, and they
have fallen before you by the sword;
And ye shall chase your enemies,.... Who being overcome
in battle, and put to the flight, should be pursued:
and they shall fall before you by the sword; not by the
sword of one another, as the Midianites did, Judges 7:21, so
Jarchi; but rather by the sword of the Israelites, for oftentimes multitudes of
the enemy are killed in a pursuit.
Leviticus 26:8. 8 Five
of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to
flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
YLT 8and 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.
And five of you shall chase an hundred,.... One man
chase twenty:
and an hundred of you put ten thousand to flight; which, had it
been in proportion to the other number, should have been two thousand, as in Deuteronomy 32:30;
where there is a proportion observed; and Abendana observes, there are some
that give the sense of it thus, an hundred of you, an hundred times five, that
is, five hundred, and so it comes up to a right computation; but here it seems
to be a certain number for an uncertain, and only a proverbial expression,
signifying that a very few, under the blessing of divine Providence, should get
the advantage over a large number, and oblige them to retire, and pursue them
closely: instances we have of large bodies of the enemy being defeated by a
small number of Israelites, Judges 7:21; and
even many by a single person or two, 1 Samuel 14:13,
and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword; See Gill on Leviticus 26:7.
Leviticus 26:9. 9 ‘For
I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My
covenant with you.
YLT 9`And I have turned unto you, and have made
you fruitful, and have multiplied you, and have established My covenant with
you;
For I will have respect unto you,.... Look at them with
delight and pleasure, and with a careful eye on them, watch over them to do
them good, and protect them from all evil; or turn himself to them from all
others, having a particular regard for them and special care of them:
and make you fruitful and multiply you; increase
their number, as he did in Egypt, even amidst all their afflictions; and much
more might they expect this blessing in the land of Canaan, when settled there,
which is the original blessing of mankind, see Genesis 1:28,
and establish my covenant with you; not the new covenant
spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31; as
Jarchi and other Jewish writersF12Torat Cohenim, apud Yalkut, par.
1. fol. 196. 3. suggest; for that was not to take place but in future time,
under the Gospel dispensation; but rather the covenant made with them at Sinai,
though perhaps it chiefly respects the covenant made with their ancestors
concerning multiplication of their seed as the stars of heaven and the sand of
the sea, Genesis 15:5, since
it follows upon the promise of an increase of them.
Leviticus 26:10. 10 You
shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new.
YLT 10and ye have eaten old [store], and the old
because of the new ye bring out.
And ye shall eat old store,.... What is very old,
corn of three years old, as Jarchi and KimchiF13Sepher Shorash. rad.
ישן. interpret it; such plenty should they have that
it would be so long consuming:
and bring forth the old because of the new; out of their
barns and granaries, to make room for the new, which they should have great
quantities of, and scarce know where to bestow them; and therefore should empty
their treasures and garners of the old, and fill them with new; or they should
bring them forth out of their barns into their houses, to make use of
themselves, or into their markets to expose to sale, being under no temptation
to withhold against a time of scarcity in order to make more of it, see Proverbs 11:26; now
all these temporal blessings promised may be emblems of spiritual things, and
might be so understood by such who were spiritually enlightened; as of the rain
of divine grace, and the blessings of it, and of the doctrines of the Gospel,
sometimes compared thereunto, Deuteronomy 32:2;
and of great fruitfulness in grace and good works, and of internal peace in the
minds of good men, and of their safety and security from spiritual enemies; of
fulness of spiritual provisions, even of things new and old, and which are laid
up for them, Song of Solomon 7:13;
thus promises of a spiritual nature more manifestly follow.
Leviticus 26:11. 11 I will set My tabernacle
among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.
YLT 11`And I have given My tabernacle in your
midst, and My soul doth not loathe you;
And I will set my tabernacle amongst you,.... Which God
had directed them to make, and they had made, and also erected; but here he
promises to fix and establish it among them, that so it might continue as a
place for the public worship of him, and where he would take up his residence,
and grant them his presence; so the Targum of Jonathan,"I will put the
Shechinah of my glory among you:"
and my soul shall not abhor you; though in themselves,
and because of their sins, loathsome and abominable; the Targums of Onkelos and
Jonathan are,"my Word shall not abhor you;'and the whole may have respect
to Christ, the Word made flesh, and tabernacling among them; the tabernacle
being a type and emblem of the human nature of Christ, in which the fulness of
the Godhead dwells bodily, and is the true tabernacle which God pitched and not
man, John 1:14.
Leviticus 26:12. 12 I
will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
YLT 12and I have walked habitually in your midst,
and have become your God, and ye -- ye are become My people;
And I will walk among you,.... As they journeyed
from place to place, he walked among them, in the tabernacle built for him, see
2 Samuel 7:6; it
may be expressive of the familiarity and communion which the Lord grants to his
people, in and through Christ:
and will be your God; to provide for them, and
supply them with all the blessings of his goodness, both in providence and
grace; and to protect and defend them against all their enemies, temporal and
spiritual:
and ye shall be my people; appear to be a special
and peculiar people of his, chosen, redeemed, and sanctified by him, and to
whom he bore a special love, and took special care of; see 2 Corinthians 6:16;
the Targum of Jonathan of the whole is,"I will make the glory of my
Shechinah dwell among you, and my Word shall be unto you for God the Redeemer,
and ye shall be to my name for a people of Holy Ones.'
Leviticus 26:13. 13 I
am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not
be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk
upright.
YLT 13I [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.
I am the Lord your Lord, which brought you forth out of the
land of Egypt,.... Who, having done that, was able to fulfil the above
promises; and which may be considered as an earnest and pledge of them, as well
as be a motive to the Israelites, and an obligation upon them to obey the
commandments of God, and walk in his statutes:
that ye should not be their bondmen; this was the end of
their being brought out of Egypt, that they might be no longer in a state of
bondage to the Egyptians, nor to any other, but to serve the Lord their God, by
whom they were delivered; as those who are redeemed by Christ from worse than
Egyptian bondage, from sin, Satan, and the law, are redeemed, that they might
not be the servants of any, but be a peculiar people, zealous of good works to
serve the Lord Christ:
and I have broken the bands of your yoke; which
fastened it on their shoulders, that is, set them at full liberty, from the
yoke of all their enemies, particularly the Egyptians, who made their lives
bitter in hard bondage, making the yoke of it heavy upon them; as Christ has
broken the yoke of spiritual enemies from off the shoulders and necks of his
people, Isaiah 10:27,
and made you go upright; who before stooped under
the yoke, as well as were of dejected countenances, but now were made to walk
in an erect stature, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra, or
in liberty, as Onkelos; see Galatians 5:1; and
with heads lift up and countenances cheerful.
Leviticus 26:14. 14 ‘But
if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments,
YLT 14`And if ye do not hearken to Me, and do not
all these commands;
But if ye will not hearken unto me,.... To his commandments,
as the rule of their duty, and to his promises, as an encouragement to it, or
to his prophets and ministers, explaining and enforcing his law, and exhorting
to a cheerful obedience to it; so the Targum of Jonathan,"if ye will not
hearken to the doctrine of them that teach my laws;'which was the sin of the
Jews in later times, for which captivity and other calamities befell them, Jeremiah 7:25,
and will not do all these commandments; which he had
delivered to them by Moses, whether moral, ceremonial, or judicial, recorded in
this book and in the preceding; even all of them were to be respected, attended
to, and performed, for the law curses everyone that does not do all things it
requires, Galatians 3:10.
Leviticus 26:15. 15 and
if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do
not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant,
YLT 15and 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 –
And if ye shall despise my statutes,.... Which is an
aggravated sin; to be negligent hearers of the commands of God is bad, not to
be doers of them worse, but to treat them with contempt is worse still:
or if your soul abhor my judgments: which is worst of all,
to despise them as if not wisely or righteously made is a dreadful reflection
upon the Maker of them; but to abhor them as bad things, not fit to be
regarded, but to be had in the utmost detestation, is shocking impiety:
so that ye will not do all my commandments; nor any of
them, but are set against them, and determined and resolved on the contrary:
but that ye break my covenant; the covenant
made with them at Sinai, when they promised, on their part, that they would
hearken and be obedient, Exodus 24:7.
Leviticus 26:16. 16 I
also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease
and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall
sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
YLT 16I 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;
I also will do this unto you,.... Henceforward follow
threatenings of dreadful evils to the transgressors and despisers of the
commandments of God, which thus begin:
I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning
ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; some, as Aben
Ezra observes, take these to design what may affect the seed sown and the
increase of it, such as blasting and mildew, because it follows: "ye shall
sow in vain"; but no doubt diseases of the body are intended; for what we
translate "terror" does not signify terror of mind, but some sudden,
hasty, terrible distemper; perhaps the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan;
some have thought of the falling sickness, as Bishop Patrick, because the word
has the signification of haste and precipitance; and the second is a disease
well known among us, and so called from its wasting and consuming nature;
Jarchi interprets it of a disease which swells the flesh, either fills it with
tumours and pustules, the Septuagint calls it the itch; or with wind or water,
which has led some to think of the dropsy; and the last of them seems to be
rightly rendered a burning ague or fever, though the Septuagint takes it for
the jaundice, but that seems not to be so threatening, terrible, and dangerous,
as what may be here supposed: now these diseases and all others are by the
appointment of God, they come and go by his order, and while they continue have
the power over persons, nor can they rid themselves of them at pleasure; and
these have such an effect on persons seized by them, as to cause dimness of
sight, a hollowness of their eyes, which sink into the head, as well as fill
the heart with grief and sorrow; either through present pains and agonies, or
in a view of future judgment and wrath to come:
and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it; either eat it
up for forage before it is ripe, or, if ripe and gathered in the barn, should
come and besiege their cities and plunder their granaries.
Leviticus 26:17. 17 I
will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those
who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
YLT 17and 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.
And I will set my face against you,.... Exert his power, and
stir up his wrath and indignation against them, as enemies of his, to cut them
off; see Psalm 34:16; which
is the reverse of having respect to them, Leviticus 26:9,
and ye shall be slain before your enemies; as they were
sometimes by the Philistines and others:
and they that hate you shall reign over you; as did the
Chaldeans and Babylonians; see Psalm 106:41,
and ye shall flee when none pursueth you; of such
pusillanimous spirits should they be, and filled with such dread and terror of
their enemies, so contrary from what is promised them on their obedience, Leviticus 26:8.
Leviticus 26:18. 18 ‘And
after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more
for your sins.
YLT 18`And if unto these ye hearken not to Me, --
then I have added to chastise you seven times for your sins;
And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me,.... If such
corrections by diseases of body, and by giving them up into the hands of their
enemies, should be ineffectual to reform them, and bring them to obedience to
the statutes and commandments of God, but should continue in their disobedience
to him, and rebellion against him:
then I will punish you seven times more for your sins; that is,
abundantly more, with sorer punishments, and these more frequently repeated.
Leviticus 26:19. 19 I
will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your
earth like bronze.
YLT 19and I have broken the pride of your strength,
and have made your heavens as iron, and your earth as brass;
And I will break the pride of your power,.... Which the
Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of the sanctuary, which they were proud
of, trusted in, and boasted of; but was broke or destroyed, first by
Nebuchadnezzar, then by the Romans: but it may rather signify their country,
the glory of all lands for its fruitfulness, which for their sins should become
barren, as follows; or the multitude of their forces, and the strength of their
mighty men of war, in which they put their confidence; it may take in
everything, civil and ecclesiastical, they prided themselves with, and had
their dependence on, thinking themselves safe on account of them, but should be
broken to shivers, and be of no service to them:
and I will make your heaven as iron; so that neither dew nor
rain shall descend from thence to make the earth fruitful; but, on the
contrary, an heat should be reflected, which would parch it, and make it
barren:
and your earth as brass; that the seed could not
be cast into it, nor anything spring out of it, for the service of man and
beast, so that a famine must unavoidably follow.
Leviticus 26:20. 20 And
your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its
produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
YLT 20and 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.
And your strength shall be spent in vain,.... In
endeavouring to till the ground, to plough, or sow, or to dig about the vines
or olives, and prune them:
for your land shall not yield its increase; produce corn,
and bring forth grass, the one for the use of men, the other for the use of the
cattle, and therefore both must starve:
neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits; such as
vines, olives, figs, pomegranates, &c. which were very plentiful in the
land of Judea, and on which they much lived, and on which their more
comfortable subsistence at least depended, see Habakkuk 3:17; all
this is the reverse of Leviticus 26:4.
Leviticus 26:21. 21 ‘Then, if you walk
contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times
more plagues, according to your sins.
YLT 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,
And if ye walk contrary unto me,.... To his mind and
will, to his laws, commands, and ordinances, showing no regard unto them by a
walk and conversation agreeably to them, but neglecting and breaking them
continually; or by chance, as the Targum of Jonathan, not with any intention
and design to obey the Lord, and to honour and glorify him, but in a careless
and indifferent manner, having no regard to the law of God, only now and then,
as it happens, act according to it, but having no concern for the honour and
glory of God:
and will not hearken unto me; to his voice in his laws
and his precepts, or by his prophets, exhorting them to obedience to them:
I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your
sins; greater and sorer punishments still, and these more frequently
repeated, and in proportion to their transgressions of his righteous laws.
Leviticus 26:22. 22 I
will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children,
destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be
desolate.
YLT 22and 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.
I will also send wild beasts among you,.... Either in
a literal sense, as lions, bears, wolves, &c. and so is the reverse of what
is promised to them on their doing well, Leviticus 26:6; or
figuratively, mighty monarchs and cruel oppressors, such as were the kings of
Assyria and Babylon, Jeremiah 50:17,
which shall rob you of your children; as the bears,
in a literal sense, destroyed the children of them in the times of Elisha, 2 Kings 2:24,
and destroy your cattle; the tame beasts, who
often become a prey to the wild ones, as both those of the flock, and of the
herd, sheep and oxen, do to lions, wolves, &c.
and make you few in number; or diminish them, their
number, by bereaving them of their children, and their wealth and substance, by
destroying their cattle:
and your high ways shall be desolate; or ways, the
word high not being in the text, and may signify both their public and private
ones, which would be all forsaken, none caring to venture to walk in them for
fear of beasts of prey.
Leviticus 26:23. 23 ‘And
if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
YLT 23`And if by these ye are not instructed by Me,
and have walked with Me [in] opposition,
And if ye will not be reformed by these things,.... Corrected
and amended by these punishments, be prevailed upon to return from their evil
ways to the Lord, and walk in his commandments, and keep his judgments, and do
them:
but will walk contrary unto me; See Gill on Leviticus 26:21.
Leviticus 26:24. 24 then
I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for
your sins.
YLT 24then I have walked -- I also -- with you in
opposition, and have smitten you, even I, seven times for your sins;
Then I will also walk contrary unto you,.... Opposing
himself unto them as their enemy, fighting against them in his providence,
whetting his sword, bending his bow, and causing the arrows of his wrath and vengeance
to fall upon them; or behaving towards them in a careless and indifferent
manner, not regarding what befell them, showing no peculiar concern for them,
or as exercising any particular providence over them; but as if everything came
by chance to them, which was the language of their actions, if not of their
lips:
and will punish you yet seven times for your sins; add fresh
corrections, and these greater than before, and more numerous in proportion to
their aggravated transgressions.
Leviticus 26:25. 25 And
I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the
covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence
among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
YLT 25and 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.
And I will bring a sword upon you,.... War upon them by the
sword of their enemies; they that use and kill with the sword, as the Targums
of Onkelos and Jonathan; their neighbours that delighted in war, and bore an implacable,
hatred unto them, and gladly embraced every opportunity of shedding their
blood, and ravaging their country:
that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant; the covenant
made with them at Sinai, which they transgressed, and for which vengeance would
be taken on them in this way, God so ordering it in his providence, though the
enemy meant it not, Isaiah 10:5,
and when ye are gathered together within your cities; from the
fields and villages, fleeing from the enemy invading and destroying, to their
fortified towns and cities for safety:
I will send the pestilence among you; which shall
destroy those that escaped the sword, and thought themselves safe in a strong
city, and even the very soldiers in the garrisons, who were set for the defence
of the city:
and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy; so many being
taken off by the pestilence, there would not be a sufficient number to defend
the place, and therefore obliged to give it up, by which means those that
escaped the pestilence would fall into the hands of the enemy.
Leviticus 26:26. 26 When
I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one
oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not
be satisfied.
YLT 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.
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 Isaiah 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 Zechariah 8:23.
Making and baking bread was the work of women in the eastern countries, as we
find it was particularly among the PersiansF14Herodot. Polymnia,
sive. l. 4. c. 187. , and continues to this day among the Moors and ArabsF15Shaw's
Travels, p. 241. Ed. 2. :
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 Ezekiel 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 Leviticus 26:5.
Leviticus 26:27. 27 ‘And
after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
YLT 27`And if for this ye hearken not to Me, and
have walked with Me in opposition,
And if ye for all this will not hearken unto me,.... To his
commands, and to his prophets sent unto them time after time, and all his
corrections and chastisements being ineffectual to reform them, and make them
obedient to him:
but walk contrary unto me; See Gill on Leviticus 26:21.
Leviticus 26:28. 28 then
I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you
seven times for your sins.
YLT 28then I have walked with you in the fury of
opposition, and have chastised you, even I, seven times for your sins.
Then I will walk contrary to you also in fury,.... As in Leviticus 26:24;
with this addition, in fury; being greatly provoked, and highly incensed, that
no regard was had to him, neither to his commands, nor to his corrections; and
therefore would be determined to stir up his wrath, and pour out the fury of
his indignation on them, which must be terrible:
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins; add new and
many more chastisements, and that in hot displeasure, for their sins; and the
repetition or doubling of the phrase, "I, even I, will do it",
denotes the certainty of it, and that he will do it himself, and his hand
should be visible in it; and they should feel the weight of it, and be obliged
to own that these were punishments inflicted by him for their sins.
Leviticus 26:29. 29 You
shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your
daughters.
YLT 29`And ye have eaten the flesh of your sons;
even flesh of your daughters ye do eat.
And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons,.... Which was
fulfilled at the siege of Samaria, in the times of Joram, 2 Kings 6:29; and
at the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, Lamentations 4:10;
and though there is no instance of it at that time in the sacred records, the
JewsF16Torat Cohanim in Yalkut, par. 1. fol. 197. 1. tells us of one
Doeg ben Joseph, who died and left a little one with his mother, who was very
fond of him; but at this siege slew him with her own hands, and ate him, with
respect to which they suppose Jeremiah makes the lamentation, Lamentations 2:2;
and of this also there was an instance at the last siege of Jerusalem, by
Titus, when a woman, named Mary, of a considerable family, boiled her son, and
ate part of him, and the rest was found in her house when the seditious party
broke in upon her, as JosephusF17De Bello. Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4.
relates:
and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat; of which,
though no instances are given, it is as reasonable to suppose it was done as
the former. Some of the Jewish writersF18Torat Cohanim, ib. think,
that in this prediction is included, that children should eat their parents, as
well as parents their children, as in Ezekiel 5:10.
Leviticus 26:30. 30 I
will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your
carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.
YLT 30And 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;
And I will destroy your high places,.... Which Jarchi
interprets of towers and palaces; but Aben Ezra of the place of sacrifices; for
on high places, hills and mountains, they used to build altars, and there offer
sacrifices, in imitation of the Heathens; See Gill on Ezekiel 6:13,
and cut down your images; called Chammanim, either
from Ham, the son of Noah, the first introducer of idolatrous worship after the
flood, as some have thought; or from Jupiter Ammon, worshipped in Egypt, from
whence the Jews might have these images; or rather from Chammah, the sun, so
called from its heat; so Jarchi says, there were a sort of idols placed on the
roofs of houses, and because they were set in the sun, they were called by this
name; and KimchiF19Sepher Shorash. rad. חמם
& חמן. observes they were made of wood, and made
by the worshippers of the sun, see 2 Kings 23:11; but
Aben Ezra is of opinion that these were temples built for the worship of the
sun, which is the most early sort of idolatry that appeared in the world, to
which Job may be thought to refer, Job 31:26. Some
take these to be the πυραιθεια,
or "fire hearths", which StraboF20Geograph. l. 15. p. 504.
described as large enclosures, in the midst of which was an altar, where the
(Persian) Magi kept their fire that never went out, which was an emblem of the
sun they worshipped; and these, he says, were in the temples of Anaitis and
Omanus, and where the statue of the latter was in great pomp; which idol seems
to have its name from the word in the text; and these are fitly added to the
high places, because on such, as HerodotusF21Clio, sive, l. 1. c.
131. says, the Persians used to worship:
and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; or
"dunghill gods"F23גלוליכם
"stercoreorum deorum vestrorum", Junius & Trernellius, Piscator,
Drusius. ; such as the beetle, the Egyptians worshipped, signifying that they
and their idols should be destroyed together:
and my soul shall abhor you; the reverse of Leviticus 26:6; and
by comparing it with that, this may signify the removal of the divine Presence
from them, as a token of his abhorrence of them; and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra
interpret it.
Leviticus 26:31. 31 I will lay your cities
waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the
fragrance of your sweet aromas.
YLT 31and I have made your cities a waste, and have
made desolate your sanctuaries, and I smell not at your sweet fragrances;
I will make your cities waste,.... By suffering the
enemy to besiege them, enter into them, and plunder them, and destroy the
houses in them, and reduce them to the most desolate condition, as Jerusalem,
their metropolis, was more than once:
and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation; the temple,
so called from the several apartments in it, the court, the holy place, and the
most holy; or rather both sanctuaries or temples are intended, the first built
by Solomon, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; the second rebuilt by Zerubbabel,
and adorned by Herod, and reduced to ashes by Titus Vespasian: the Jews
understand this of their synagogues, which were many both in Jerusalem, and in
other parts of their country, but cannot be intended, since it follows:
and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours: of their
incense offered on the altar of incense; or the savour of their offerings, as
the Targum of Jonathan, of their burnt offerings, and the fat of their other
offerings burnt on the altar of burnt offering; signifying, that these would
not be acceptable to him, or he smell a savour of rest in them; see Genesis 8:21; now
these were only offered in the temple, not in synagogues.
Leviticus 26:32. 32 I
will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be
astonished at it.
YLT 32and I have made desolate the land, and your
enemies, who are dwelling in it, have been astonished at it.
And I will bring the land into desolation,.... The whole
country of Judea, cities, towns, villages, fields, vineyards, &c. through
the ravage and plunder of the enemy; and they being driven out of it, and
carried captive from it, and so the land left untilled, and become barren and
unfruitful:
and your enemies which dwell therein; having
destroyed them, or cast them out, and sent them into other countries, and took
possession of theirs in their room:
shall be astonished at it; at the desolation of the
land, that such a fruitful country, a land flowing with milk and honey, should
be turned into barrenness, for the wickedness of its inhabitants, and shall be
amazed at the judgments of God upon them and that.
Leviticus 26:33. 33 I
will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land
shall be desolate and your cities waste.
YLT 33And 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.
And I will scatter you among the Heathen,.... As with a
fan, Jeremiah 15:7; so
they were at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonish captivities, some were
carried to one place, and some to another, some fled to one place, and some to
another, and they are at this day scattered among the several nations of the
world:
and will draw out a sword after you; draw it out of its
scabbard, and with it pursue after them, when fleeing or going whither they
should not; as the remainder of the Jews in Judea sought to go to Egypt,
contrary to the will of God, Jeremiah 42:16; see
Leviticus 26:25,
and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste; for want of
men to till the one, and inhabit the other.
Leviticus 26:34. 34 Then
the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are
in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
YLT 34`Then doth the land enjoy its sabbaths -- all
the days of the desolation, and ye in the land of your enemies -- then doth the
land rest, and hath enjoyed its sabbaths;
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,.... The sabbatical
years, or seventh year sabbaths, when, according to the law in the preceding
chapter, it was to rest from tillage, Leviticus 25:2,
as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies'
land; so long it should lie uncultivated, at least in part, there not
being a sufficient number left to till it in general, or as it should be; this
was the case during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon:
even then shall the
land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths; or complete them, as
Aben Ezra, which is a bitter sarcasm upon them for their neglect of observance
of the law concerning the sabbatical years; but now the land should have its
sabbaths of rest whether they would or not; and it seems as if it was on
account of this sin, as well as others, that they were carried captive; and it
is remarkable, if what MaimonidesF24Hilchot Shemitah Vejobel, c. 10.
sect. 3. says is right, that it was at the going out or end of a sabbatical
year, that the first temple was destroyed, and the Jews carried captive, and
endured a seventy years' captivity; which some say was because they had
neglected seventy sabbatical years; see 2 Chronicles 36:21.
Leviticus 26:35. 35 As
long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on
your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
YLT 35all the days of the desolation it resteth
that which it hath not rested in your sabbaths in your dwelling on it.
As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest,.... From
tillage, neither man nor beast working upon it; for which reason such a space
of time was called a sabbath:
because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when you dwelt upon it; they manured
and tilled it on the seventh years, as on others, neglecting the command which
God had given them; and this they did not once or twice, but many times, while
they were dwellers in the land; which seems to confirm pretty much the notion
of their having omitted so many years, though that cannot be affirmed with
certainty; see Jarchi on the place.
Leviticus 26:36. 36 ‘And
as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in
the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to
flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when
no one pursues.
YLT 36`And those who are left of you -- I have also
brought a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies, and the
sound of a leaf driven away hath pursued them, and they have fled -- flight
from a sword -- and they have fallen, and there is none pursuing.
And upon them that are left alive of you,.... In the
land of Judea, or rather scattered about among the nations, suggesting that
these would be comparatively few:
I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their
enemies; or "a softness"F25מרך
"mollitiem", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,
Drusius. ; so that they should be effeminate, pusillanimous, and cowardly, have
nothing of a manly spirit and courage in them; but be mean spirited and faint
hearted, as the Jews are noted to be at this day, as Bishop Patrick observes;
who also adds,"it being scarce ever heard, that a Jew listed himself for a
soldier, or engaged in the defence of his country where he lives:"
and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; either the
sound of a leaf that falls from the tree, as the Targum of Jonathan, or which
the wind beats one against another, as Jarchi, which makes some little noise;
even this should terrify them, taking it to be the noise of some enemy near at
hand, just ready to fall on them; such poor faint hearted creatures should they
be:
and they shall flee as fleeing from the sword; as if there
were an army of soldiers with their swords drawn pursuing them:
and they shall fall when none pursueth; fall upon the
ground, and into a fit, and drop down as if dead, as if they had been really
wounded with a sword and slain, see Proverbs 28:1.
Leviticus 26:37. 37 They
shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues;
and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
YLT 37And they have stumbled one on another, as
from the face of a sword, and there is none pursuing, and ye have no standing
before your enemies,
And they shall fall one upon another,.... In their
hurry and confusion, everyone making all the haste he can to escape the
imaginary danger; or "a man upon his brother"F26איש באחיו "vir in fratrem
suum", Vatablus, Drusius, Piscator. ; his friend, as Aben Ezra interprets
it, having no regard to relation and friendship, every one endeavouring to save
himself. There is another sense which some Jewish writersF1Torat
Cohanim apud Yalkut, par. 1. fol. 197. 2. give of this phrase, and is observed
by Jarchi, which is, that everyone shall fall for the iniquities of his
brother; for all the Israelites say, they are sureties for one another; but the
former sense is best:
as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: as if a sword
was drawn and brandished at them, just ready to be thrust in them, filling them
with the utmost dread and terror, and yet at the same time none in pursuit of
them:
and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies; no heart to
resist them, no strength nor spirit to oppose them, and defend themselves but
be obliged to surrender their cities, themselves, their families and goods,
into the hand of the enemy.
Leviticus 26:38. 38 You
shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
YLT 38and ye have perished among the nations, and
the land of your enemies hath consumed you.
And ye shall perish among the Heathen,.... Not
utterly, but great numbers of them, through change of air, and different diet,
as Aben Ezra, and through the cruel usage of their enemies; for there is a body
of them which continues unto this day; unless this is to be understood of the
ten tribes, as R. AkibaF2In Torat Cohanim, ut supra. (par. 1. fol.
197. 2.) interprets it, who are supposed to be entirely lost and swallowed up
among the nations where they were carried captive:
and the land of your enemies shall eat you up; they should
die in it through one disease or another; by the pestilence, as the Targum of
Jonathan, and so be buried in it; in which sense it may be said to eat them up,
or consume them, for the grave swallows up and consumes all that are put into
it; Jarchi says, this is to be understood of those that die in captivity.
Leviticus 26:39. 39 And
those of you who are left shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’
lands; also in their fathers’ iniquities, which are with them, they shall waste
away.
YLT 39`And those who are left of you -- they
consume away in their iniquity, in the lands of your enemies; and also in the
iniquities of their fathers, with them they consume away.
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in
your enemies' lands,.... Such as were not taken off by any public calamity, as the
sword or pestilence should gradually diminish and melt away like wax before the
fire, and die in and for their iniquities in an enemy's country, see Ezekiel 24:23,
and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away
with them; or for the iniquities of their evil fathers, as the Targums of
Onkelos and Jonathan; they treading in their steps, and doing the same evil
deeds, whereby they filled up the measure of their fathers' sins, and brought
upon them deserved punishment. Matthew 23:32.
Leviticus 26:40. 40 ‘But
if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their
unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have
walked contrary to Me,
YLT 40`And -- they have confessed their iniquity,
and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they have trespassed
against Me, and also, that they have walked with Me, in opposition,
If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their
fathers,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds,"in the time of their
distress;'which might serve to bring their sins to remembrance, and them to a
confession of them, not only of their own sins, but of their fathers' also;
acknowledging thereby that they had been guilty of sinning against God for a
long course of years past; and that God had been long suffering towards them,
and bore much with them before he brought his judgments on them, which were
just, and what they righteously deserved; and such a confession Daniel made, Daniel 9:4; and the
words may as well be rendered absolute as conditional, or better, and as a
prediction of what would be done by them when in captivity and distress,
"and they shall confess their iniquity"F3והתודו "et confitebuntur", Pagninus, Montanus. ;
with shame and sorrow, with repentance for it, and abhorrence of it; or
otherwise, if the confession was only verbal and hypocritical, it would not be
acceptable:
with their trespass which they trespassed against me; along with
their own iniquities, and those of their fathers, they should confess, their
trespass against the Lord would be acknowledged by them; which seems to design
some particular and grievous sin committed by them, by which perhaps is meant their
idolatry, a capital sin, directly against God, and what those people were prone
unto:
and that also they have walked contrary unto me; to his mind
and will, to his laws, commands, statutes, and ordinances, disregarding him and
them, as if enemies to him; or "by chance"; See Gill on Leviticus 26:21.
Leviticus 26:41. 41 and that I also
have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their
enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their
guilt—
YLT 41also I walk to them in opposition, and have
brought them into the land of their enemies -- or then their uncircumcised
heart is humbled, and then they accept the punishment of their iniquity, --
And that I also have walked contrary unto them,.... Showed no
regard unto them, as if he took no care of them, or in a providential way
concerned himself for them, but let what would befall them; yea, came out in
the way of his judgments against them, as if he was an enemy to them; see Gill
on Leviticus 26:24,
and have brought them into the land of their enemies; should
acknowledge the hand of God in it, that he himself brought them out of their
own country into an enemy's land, as Assyria, Babylon, and other nations: and
that this was not the chance of war, or owing to the superior power or skill of
their enemies, but to the just judgment of God upon them for their sins, who on
that account delivered them up into the hands of their enemies:
if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled; their foolish
proud heart, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; it signifies a sinful,
wicked, hard, and impenitent heart, brought to a sense of sin, to repentance
and humiliation for it. Jarchi interprets it, "or if their uncircumcised
heart", &c. as in Exodus 2:23; and
observes another sense of the word, "perhaps their uncircumcised
heart", &c. not only would in words confess their sins, but be truly
humbled at heart for them:
and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; take it well
at the hand of God, bear it patiently without murmuring, or thinking themselves
hardly dealt by, but freely owning it is less than their iniquities deserve; or
complete and finish the punishment of their sins, as Aben Ezra, which upon
their humiliation should be put an end to, and cease. Jarchi takes the word in
the sense of atonement and pacification, as if by their chastisement their sins
were expiatedF4Siphri apud Yalkut, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 197. 2.)
, and God was pacified toward them: but rather it denotes the free and full
pardon of their sins, manifested to them upon their repentance and humiliation
for sin.
Leviticus 26:42. 42 then
I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My
covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land.
YLT 42then I have remembered My covenant [with]
Jacob, and also My covenant [with] Isaac, and also My covenant [with] Abraham I
remember, and the land I remember.
Then i will also remember my covenant with Jacob,.... Would
fulfil and make good all that he had promised in covenant with Jacob, and his
posterity: the account begins with him, and rises upwards to Abraham, whereas
it usually begins with Abraham, and descends to Jacob; no sufficient reason is
given for this alteration, though several are attempted by the Jewish writersF5Saadiah
Gaon apud Aben Ezram in loc. Pesikta & alii. :
and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham
will I remember; which chiefly respects the multiplication of their seed, the
continuance of them, and the Messiah springing from them; which is the mercy
promised to these fathers, and the principal part of the covenant made with
them, and which was remembered and performed when God visited and redeemed his
people by him, Luke 1:68,
and I will remember the land; the land of Judea, and
return the Jews to it, and make it fruitful, after he had given it rest from
tillage for many years, which was fulfilled at their return from the captivity
of Babylon.
Leviticus 26:43. 43 The
land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it
lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised
My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.
YLT 43`And -- the land is left of them, and doth
enjoy its sabbaths, in the desolation without them, and they accept the
punishment of their iniquity, because, even because, against My judgments they
have kicked, and My statutes hath their soul loathed,
The land also shall be left of them,.... This seems to refer
to a second time, when this should be the case of the land of Judea again, as
it was when subdued by the Romans, and the Jews were carried captive from it,
and so it was left by them, as it has been ever since:
and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while lieth desolate without them; shall be as
in the sabbatical years, uncultivated, neither ploughed nor sown, nor reaped;
and thus the land of Canaan, though once so very fruitful, is now desolate and
barren, being without its former inhabitants, and so it is like to be until it
is restored to them again:
and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; that is, when
made sensible of their sins, and particularly of their iniquity of rejecting
the Messiah; they will not think it hard that they have been punished in so
severe a manner, but own the righteous hand of God in it, and be humble under
it; and confessing their sins with true sorrow and repentance for them, looking
at him whom they have pierced, and mourn, shall have the free and full
remission of their sins applied unto them:
because, even, because they despised my judgments, and because
their soul abhorred my statutes; despised and abhorred Christ, his doctrines
and ordinances, which was the reason of their being carried captive out of
their land, when it was forsaken by them, and lay desolate as to this day,
especially with respect to any benefit of it enjoyed by them; and which, when
they are sensible of, will be a reason of their accepting the punishment of
their iniquity so readily, and not murmur at the hand of God upon them, or
reflect on his dealings with them, but freely and fully confess their sins,
that he may be justified in all that he has done.
Leviticus 26:44. 44 Yet
for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them
away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant
with them; for I am the Lord their God.
YLT 44and also even this, in their being in the
land of their enemies, I have not rejected them, nor have I loathed them, to
consume them, to break My covenant with them; for I [am] Jehovah their God; --
And yet for all that,.... I will have on them,
in or through my Word, as the Targum of Jonathan; notwithstanding their many
and great sins and transgressions, and the sad and miserable condition they
were brought into by them, the Lord would have mercy on them and be gracious to
them, through Christ and for his sake, and convert and save them, see Romans 11:26; the
Jews, as Fagius tells us, wonderfully delight themselves with this passage, and
read it with the greatest joy and pleasure, and with an elevated voice;
concluding from hence that they shall certainly return to their own land; and
because the first word in this verse is in sound the same as the Germans use
for an "ape", they call this paragraph "the golden ape",
and say, when this shall be fulfilled the golden age will take place with them:
a very learned manF6Carpzovius de aurea Judaeorum Simia, in Thesaur.
Theolog. Philolog. vol. 1. p. 344. vid. Pfeiffer. dubia vexata cent. 2. loc.
17. p. 145. has wrote a dissertation upon it: when
they shall be in the land of their enemies; of the Romans
and other nations, among whom they have been disposed ever since the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus:
I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy
them utterly; for though they have been cast away by the Lord out of their
land, and from being his people, and enjoying either the civil or religious privileges
they formerly did; and though they have been cast off with abhorrence, and had
in great detestation by him, for their sin of rejecting the Messiah, as appears
by the punishment inflicted on them; yet not so as to make an utter end of them
as a body of people, for, notwithstanding their dispersion everywhere, and
their long captivity, they remain a distinct people from all others, which
seems to forebode something favourable to them:
and to break my covenant with them; which he will not do,
even his promise of the future call and conversion of them, and of their return
to their own land:
for I am the Lord their God; their covenant God, and
a covenant keeping God, Romans 11:27.
Leviticus 26:45. 45 But
for their sake I will 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 the Lord.’”
YLT 45then I have remembered for them the covenant
of the ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt before the eyes
of the nations to become their God; I [am] Jehovah.'
But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their
ancestors,.... Or rather, "remember to them"F7וזכרתי להם "et recordabor
eis", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "erga eos", Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator. , to their good and benefit, for their profit and
advantage, not for their desert and merit, for any worth or worthiness in them;
this covenant respects not the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as
in Leviticus 26:42;
but with their fathers, either at Sinai, or rather in the plains of Moab, Deuteronomy 29:1,
for it follows:
whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the
Heathen, that I might be their God; whom he brought out of
great bondage and distress in Egypt, with an high hand and outstretched arm,
and in the sight of the Egyptians, who were not able to oppose it, yea, because
of their plagues, were urgent for it; and in the sight of all the nations round
about, who heard of the wonderful power of God in the deliverance of his
people; and this he did that he might appear to be their covenant God, who had
taken them into covenant with him, and had taken them under his care and
protection, and would be still their King and their God; and who also, in like
manner, it may be here suggested, would deliver the people of the Jews out of
their present exiled and captive state and condition in the sight of the whole
world, and declare himself their covenant God and Father:
I am the Lord; whose will is sovereign,
whose power is uncontrollable, who is a covenant keeping God, faithful to his
promises, and able to perform them.
Leviticus 26:46.
46 These are the
statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between Himself and
the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
YLT 46These [are] the statutes, and the judgments,
and the laws, which Jehovah hath given between Him and the sons of Israel, in
mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.
These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws,.... Which
refer not only to those in this chapter, but in all the preceding chapters in
this book, and respect them all, whether ceremonial, moral, or judicial, which
may be signified by these three words:
which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel; the Targums
of Onkelos and Jonathan are,"between his Word and the children of
Israel:"
in Mount Sinai; or near it, in the wilderness of it, while
the children of Israel lay encamped about it:
by the hand of Moses; they were first
delivered to him, and by means of him to the people.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》