Leviticus 26

Chap. XXVII. ver. 2. — When a man shall make a singular vow, &c.] When a person shall bind himself by a vow, as for instance, to devote himself, his children, &c. wholly to the service of God in the sanctuary: “the persons” so devoted “shall be for the Lord according to thy estimation,” that is, a value in money shall be set upon them, and that money be applied to holy uses, instead of the persons themselves being actually taken. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:4

4. Then will I give you rain &c.] Rain was particularly a blessing and favour of the great Governour of the world, in those hot and dry countries, where, as St. Jerome tells us, he never saw it rain in the end of the

Leviticus 26:5

5. And your threshing &c.] This is a truly elegant and poetical description of a very great and constant plenty. Biblioth. Bibl.

Leviticus 26:8

8. — five of you shall chase an hundred, &c.] See Josh. xxiii. 10; Judg. iii. 31; vii. 22; xv. 15; 2 Sam. xxiii. 8. With a view to the several blessings and curses in this chapter, see particularly Deut. xxviii. and the notes upon it.

9. — if he be poorer than thy estimation.] If he, who made the vow, be unable to pay the rate assigned. Bp. Kidder. Or, if, after his vow, he become impoverished, and not able to pay the price set, according to the rules here given. S. Clarke.

Leviticus 26:9

9. — shall be holy.] Shall be set apart for God’s service, according to the nature of the vow: to be offered at the altar, if it was so expressed, or to be given to the priests and Levites, if that was his desire; or to be sold for the service of the tabernacle, if the matter be left at large. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:11

11. — my soul shall not abhor you.] I will not cast you off because of your offences, for which I have appointed an expiation. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:12

12. — I will walk among you.] Jonathan paraphrases thus: “I will cause the glory of My Divine Presence to dwell among you.” I will take that care of you, which a vigilant general does of an army. I will be, as it were, carefully moving among you to keep things safe and quiet, and prevent any surprise from an enemy; even when ye shall be sleeping in your tents. Biblioth. Bibl.

Leviticus 26:13

13. — made you go upright.] Have made you go, no Plagues threatened for disobedience. unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

Leviticus 26:16

16. — according to the seed thereof.] Either, as some understand, according to the quantity of seed required to sow it: or, as others, according to the quantity and measure of the produce of it. Biblioth. Bibl.

— an homer of barley seed] That is, so much land as an homer of barley seed would sow, shall be rated at fifty shekels. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:18

18. — I will punish you seven times more] The number “seven” put for any indefinite number. Bp. Patrick.

It is a great aggravation of sin, after great judgments have been upon us, to return to an evil course; because this is an argument of great obstinacy in evil. The longer Pharaoh resisted the judgments of God, the more was his wicked heart hardened, till at last he arrived at a monstrous degree of hardness, having been, as the Scripture tells us, hardened under ten plagues. And we find that after God had threatened the people of Israel with several judgments, He tells them that, if they will not be reformed by all these things, He “will punish them seven times more for their sins.” And if the just God will in such a case punish seven times more, we may conclude that the sin is seven times greater. Abp. Tillotson.

Leviticus 26:19

19. — I will make your heaven as iron,] “I will make your heaven as iron,” hard and dry, affording no rain; “your earth as brass,” fruitless and unproductive. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:22

22. I will also send wild beasts among you,] Of God’s extraordinary manner of punishing by wild beasts many examples might be brought; as of the Samaritans that were slain by them, 2 Kings xvii. 25, 26; the children that mocked Elisha, ibid. ii. 23, 24; the disobedient prophet, 1 Kings xiii. 24; and another prophet’s disobedient neighbour, ibid. xx. 36. Biblioth. Bibl.

Leviticus 26:24

24. Then will I also walk contrary unto you,] I will make your plagues more grievous, as your stubbornness grows more confirmed. Bp. Patrick.

These passages, ver. 23—39, are remarkably descriptive of the captivities of the ten tribes carried away by the Assyrians, and transplanted into the remotest parts of the empire, and of the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin, by the Babylonians. Their true meaning is determined by the prophet Jeremiah, at Jer. v. 15—17. The same events are predicted again at Deut. xxviii. 32. Dr. Hales.

Leviticus 26:26

26. And when I have broken the staff of your bread,] When I have brought upon you a scarcity of bread, which is the staff and main support of life. Dr. Wells. “Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven,” that is, the scarcity shall be so great, that one oven shall be sufficient to bake bread for ten families; and “they shall deliver you your bread—by weight,” that is, they shall deliver a certain quantity to every one in the family, not sufficient to satisfy hunger, but only to preserve life. Bp. Patrick. It will serve to explain the phrase of ten women baking in one oven, that it was usual in Eastern countries to have small ovens, which were designed to serve only one family, and were just sufficient to bake for them the bread of a single day. Ovens of the same description are still in use in the same countries. Harmer.

Leviticus 26:28

28. — in fury,] As your obstinacy and rebellion grow more provoking and outrageous, so My just wrath

God promiseth to remember them that repent. Before CHRIST 1491. m Deut. 28. 62. n 2 Chron. 34. 7.

Leviticus 26:29

29. — eat the flesh of your sons,] This is the utmost calamity that can befall a people: it happened to the Israelites in the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings vi. 29; in the siege of Jerusalem before the captivity, Lament. iv. 10; and again in the siege under Titus, as Josephus relates. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:31

31. — your sanctuaries] That is, even the several parts of My sanctuary which is among you. Dr. Wells. Or else we must understand the plural to be put for the singular. Biblioth. Bibl.

Leviticus 26:34

34. — enjoy her sabbaths,] Or her sabbatical years. This is a most bitter reproach to them for their ingratitude and disobedience, in not keeping the sabbatical year according to the command given in the last chapter. Bp. Patrick.

Leviticus 26:41

41. And that I also have walked contrary unto them,] If they be sensible that all the miseries they have endured come not by chance; but were the just punishments sent upon them for their sins. Bp. Patrick.

o Deut. 4. 31. Rom. 11. 26. — uncircumcised] Hardened, impenitent.

Circumcision betokens the mortifying and casting off of vicious appetites and affections. See Deut. x. 16; xxx. 6; Jer. iv. 4. Whence it is usual, both in the Law and Prophets, for those, whose vicious appetites and affections are not thus subdued and mortified, to be described under the character of uncircumcised in heart or ear, Jer. vi. 10; ix. 26; Ezek. xliv. 7, 9. Dr. Berriman.

— they then accept of the punishment] If they humbly acknowledge that they deserved all the punishment inflicted on them. Biblioth. Bibl.

Leviticus 26:44

44. — I will not cast them away,] Here the restoration of the Jews to their own country is predicted, at the destined end of their captivity; which prediction is more fully expressed at Deut. xxx. 1. Dr. Hales. See the note on Deut. xxx. 1.

Leviticus 26:45

45. — I am the Lord,] Who desire that all should be saved; and, among these, the remnant of Jews that shall be left, when “the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in,” Rom. xi. 25. Biblioth. Bibl.

Of vows, and their redemption.