Leviticus 26:1-26
Promise of Blessing and Retribution (Deuteronomy 7:12–24; 28:1–68)
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.
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, and perform them, 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. 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.
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. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. 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.
9 ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. 11 I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. 12 I will 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, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 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, 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. 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.
18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 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.
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. 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.
23 ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 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. 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.
The examples and commands to follow the LORD God are meant to honor and keep His covenant to reap the blessings or face the consequences of retribution for living contrary to His word and will. The commands of His moral law begin with avoiding all idolatry that worships any lifeless image in place of the living God. This is the first commandment given and is strongly given to remind God’s people of the importance and seriousness of this foundational message to be well pleasing to Him and taste His blessings in their lives. The consequences of disobedience to worship Him alone are listed here as plagues, terrors, diseases, unfruitfulness, oppression and defeat by adversaries, and more to break their pride until they turn back in repentance and obedience to worship, follow, and serve no other god but God alone in heaven above who created us all for His purpose and glory to share in. However, if they did keep the covenant of works and worshiped Him alone, they would see blessings of fruitfulness, safety, peace, victory over the adversary, and true prosperity in the protection and presence of the LORD among them. He promised to dwell in their midst and be their God as they would be His own people whom He delivered from the bondage of Egypt and its enslavement to sin in suffering. God broke their bonds to set them free indeed as we are (John 8:31-33, 36, Galatians 5:1) in Jesus Christ as His own special people (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9) in His unbreakable covenant in His lifeblood poured out in place of ours on the cross of our curse brought on by Adam’s original sin to us all from birth by inheritance. We keep this covenant by walking in the faith He has given us in the unbreakable covenant in His blood made with us (Galatians 3:15, 17, Hebrews 8:10, 12:24, 13:20) with the full assurance that it will not be removed and cannot be lost or forfeited by us either. We may suffer temporary temporal consequences for our disobedience and pursuit of other idols or immorality (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15), yet His hand will not release us from the new covenant even if we lose the opportunity to give Him praise through our repentance and faith. He keeps covenant with us now in His Son as we can never do on our own as we see in the history of Israel under the old covenant of works that demanded obedience or the covenant would be broken. God promises now to never break this new covenant, which is our hope and motivation to follow in willing obedience to that grace!
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