Leviticus 26

After the God had forbidden Idolatry, and commanded the keeping of his Sabbath’s together with the whole worship of God, vers. 1. & c. he maketh many excellent promises to them which should live according to his precept, 3. but fearful menaces against the transgressors thereof, 14. promising nevertheless to them which should repent, to be gracious unto them, and to show them many mercies and favours, 40. with a conclusion, showing from whom, to whom, where and by whom these laws were given, 46.

1. Ye shall make to your selves no Idols, [See above chapter 19. v. 4.] nor set up to your selves a Cut, (or Carved) image, nor erect image. [The Hebrew word signifieth all manner of things reared up Pillar-wise, or placed upon a Pillar in honour of Idols, Exodus 23:24. Deuteronomy 16:22.] nor set up (any) Image-stone. [Hebr. stone of the Image, or Imagery] to bow your selves before it, for I am the LORD your God.

2. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and shall fear (stand in aw of) my Sanctuary; [see above chapter 19. 30.] I am the LORD.

3. If ye shall walk in my Institutions, and keep my Commandments and do them.

4. Then will I give you rain [Heb. hath the plural, i.e. such as ye shall in need of, v. 3. both the early and the latter rain] in their seasons; and land shall give its income, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

5. And the thrashing-time shall reach you to the Vintage; and the Vintage shall reach you to the sowing-time: [The meaning is, that their Harvest should be so plentiful, that they should not be able to make an end with thrashing of their grain before the Vintage, and their Vintage should likewise be so abundant, that they should not have done gathering, pressing, and cellaring their wine before the seed time; so that they should have work enough to receive all these blessings at God’s hand] and ye shall eat your bread, even to satiety, [so above chapter 25. 19.] and shall dwell securely in your land.

6. I shall likewise give peace in the land, that ye shall lie down to sleep [Or, that ye shall sleep, or lie down, so Gen. 19. ver. 4.] and there be none to affright you: and I shall make the evil beast to surcease out of the land, and the sword shall not pass through your land: [i.e. is shall not be troubled with wars; thus the Sword is taken for war, Numb. 14. 3. 2 Sam. 12. 10. Isaiah 1:20. Ezekiel 30:4. comp. Gen. 27. on vers. 40.]

7. And ye shall persecute your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword, [i.e. perish in war, and so in the next verse, and Numb. 14. 3. 2 Sam. 3. 29. Psal. 78. 64. Jeremiah 20:4.] before your face.

8. Five of your shall pursue an hundred, and an hundred of you shall pursue ten thousand, [there is a certain number set down here for an uncertain, as likewise verse 18. and 26. Genesis 4:15. and 26, & c. Numbers 14:22. I Sam. 18. 7. Job 5:19. the meaning is here, that a few Israelites should be able to chase and defeat a great many of their Enemies] and your Enemies shall fall by the sword before your face.

9. And I will turn myself unto you, [Or, have the face upon you, viz. for to do you good] and will make you fruitful and multiply you, and my Covenant I will establish with you.

10. And ye shall eat the old, that is grown old; [Understand this of such fruits, as keep long, and prove rather better than worse by being kept long, both for taste and nourishment] and the old ye shall bring forth because of the new. [Heb. from the face of the new, i.e. I will bestow such plenty and abundance upon you, that the old fruits shall not be voided nor spent yet out of your barns or store-houses, before the new shall come to take their place, and for whom ye must make riddance of the old.]

11. And I will set my Tabernacle in the midst of you: [i.e. I will cause my grace and favour, my word and worship to abide continually amongst you, that I may remain your God and ye my People: compare the next verse] and my soul shall not loath you. The Heb. word signifieth to reject a thing with great abhorency, so that it causeth an utter aversion, and turning away of one’s self from it, and so below verse 15. 30, 43, 44.]

12. And I will walk in the midst of you, [viz. for to instruct you in spiritual matters, to sanctify and conduct you to your everlasting salvation and outwardly also, to bless you with abundance of health, wealth, fruitfulness and peace] and will be a God unto you: [See Gen. 17. on verse 7. Ezekiel 11:20.] and ye shall be a people unto me, [i.e. such a one whom I shall of grace relieve, justify and sanctify for eternal salvation through the promised Messiah, 1 Cor. 1. 30]

13. I am the LORD your God, which carried you forth out of the land of the Egyptians, that ye should not be their slaves; (bondmen) and I have broken the axel-trees of your yoke; [The Axel-tree in a Wagon, is the middle most beam, or peace of the wood there, unto which the horses are fastened for to draw: or, ye may understand here the Cart-ropes, or Wain ropes and tacklings, wherewith they are tied, and fastened to the Axel-tree; hereunto is the bondage of the Israelites compared, they being made to go as under a heavy yoke in Egypt; see of this and the like phrases, Jeremiah 27:2, 8. and 28. 2, 13, 14. item. Nahum 1:13.] and have made you go upright. [Heb. (with) erection, i.e. so that you were able to lift up your heads again and walk bolt uprightly in token of being cased, revived, cheered, courageous.]

14. But if ye shall not hearken to me, and not do all these commandments.

15. And if ye shall disdainfully reject my institution, and if your soul shall loath my rights, that ye do not all my commands, to nullify my covenant. [i.e. to make it of no effect, that I cannot perform my promises by reason of your unbelief and disobedience, so Isaiah 24:5.]

16. This shall I likewise do unto you, that I shall put over you, [viz. as so many Commanders, who shall Lord it over you; and like severe Judges, punish and plague you in executing my righteous judgements against you, compare this kind of expression, with another not unlike 2 King. 8. 1. and see the ann. there] Terror, consumption and the Fever, which consume the eyes, [See 1 Samuel 2:33.] and torment the soul; ye shall likewise sow your seed in vain, and your Enemies shall eat the same.

17. Withall, I shall set my face against you, see above, chapter 17. on verse 10.] that ye shall be beaten before the face of your Enemies, and your haters shall lord it over you, and you shall flee when none pursuit you.

18. And if unto (or for all) these things ye will not hear me yet: [i.e. when I shall have gone thus far in punishing of you, and ye will not be reclaimed yet to obey me] I will add yet thereunto, and chastise you seven fold ever your sins. [see above on verse 8.]

19. For I shall break the pride of your power, [i.e. the strength that makes you proud] and will make your heaven like iron, [i.e. altogether dry, without giving you any rain] and your earth like copper. [i.e. hard and barren]

20. And your might shall be consumed in vain; [i.e. ye shall labour and toil with body and mind, and use all your means and industry to help you, but it shall be to no purpose, and prove mere labour in vain] and your land shall not give its income, and the trees of the land shall not give their fruit.

21. And if ye walk (in) contrariety with me, [i.e set your selves of purpose in opposition against me, encountering me like adversaries, as resolved to contrary me; despising my commands, and willfully trampling them under your feet by your trespassing against me, Otherwise carelessly, recklessly, without any fear or consideration, as persuading themselves in their fond conceits, that their weal and woe comes not from me, but accidentally by haphazard, and therefore refuse and deny me all due reverence and obedience. The particle (in) is inserted in the text here, out of verse 24. 40, 41.] and shall not be willing to hear me, then shall I add sevenfold smittings over you, according to your sins.

22. For I will send among you the beasts of the field, which shall bereave you; [viz. of your children, see Ezekiel 5:17.] and destroy your cattle, and diminish you; and your ways shall become desolate, [viz. those in your own land, none daring to use them, for fear of those devouring beasts abroad.]

23. If yet by these things ye shall not be chastisized unto me, but walk (in) contrariety with me, see above on verse 21.]

24. Then shall I likewise walk in contrariety with you, [i.e. come against you with my righteous punishments and judgements. Otherwise walk in, or, by casualty (as it falls out,) viz. as one that takes no further care of you, to do you good; but I shall so deal with you, that all manner of plagues shall light on you, as by ill luck and accident, compare Psalms 18:27.] and I shall likewise smite you seven fold over your sins.

25. For I shall bring a sword over you, which shall avenge the vengeance of the Covenant, [i.e. the punishment which ye shall have deserved; for having, through your apostacy and disobedience, made my Covenant of no effect: see above, verse 15.] so that ye shall be gathered into your Cities; then shall I send the pestilence in the midst of you, and ye shall be delivered up into the hand of the enemy.

26. When I shall have broken you the staff of Bread, [i.e. the nourishing virtue of all manner of food and meat, especially of Bread, the stay and support of man’s life; otherwise, through the blessing of the LORD, as a staff is to a week and feeble person. See of this kind of speaking, Ezekiel 4:16.] then shall ten women bake the Bread in one Oven, [i.e. there shall be such a scarcity of bread, that one ordinary Oven shall suffice for many women, to bake Bread there for many families; whereas otherwise, one family had provision enough to fill one alone] and shall render their Bread by weight, [i.e. the Bread shall have its weight indeed, but not its virtue and efficacy according to the weight.]

27. When for this also ye will not bear me, but shall walk with me in contrariety.

28. Then shall I likewise walk with you in fierce hot contrariety [Heb. in hot, or, fervent indignation of contrariety, or meeting] and I shall chastise you likewise seven fold over your sins.

29. For ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat, [See Deuteronomy 28:53. 2 King. 6. 28. Lamentations 4:10.]

30. And I shall destroy your heights, [Understand high-places, as mountains, hills, and hillocks, whereon sacrifices were offered to the Idols, or the high structures of Altars, see likewise of these, Numb. 33. 32. Ezekiel 6:3.] and extirpate your sun-images; [the Hebrew word signifieth certain Images, which had their name from heat and warmth, or (as some do hold) that they stood in the view of the Sun; others do here understand Houses and Altars, set up in honour of the Sun, there to worship it, see likewise of these Images, 2 Chron. 14. 5. and Ezekiel 6:4. etc.] and shall throw your dead bodies, upon the dead bodies of your dung-Gods: [He calleth the broken pieces and stumps of the Idols dead bodies or carcasses; implying, that as the same should contemptibly be thrown away, so should the dead bodies of the Idolaters likewise be contemptibly handled, and not counted worthy the burial; and the Idols are called dung-Gods here, Heb. Dungs, as being in God’s account no better than man’s dung; whom every one therefore ought to abhor as the most noisome filth that is; And the images of the Idols an often termed thus, to make us the more to abhor and detest all Idolatry, as a most heinous abomination, see Deuteronomy 29:17. 1 King. 15. 12. 2 King. 17. 12. and 21, 11. Jeremiah 50:2. Ezekiel 6:6. and 14. 3. and 20. and verse 7, etc] and my soul shall loath you.

31. And I shall make your Cities a Desert, and lay waste your Sanctuaries: [Understand the Temple, which is likewise called thus in the plural, Ezekiel 21:2. and that by reason of the several parts it had, the most holy place, the holy place, and the Courts] and I will not smell your pleasant smell. [viz. which cometh from your sacrifice, i.e. your offerings shall not be acceptable unto me, compare Genesis 8:21. Isaiah 1:11, 12, 13, etc.]

32. Ye I will lay waste that land, that your Enemies which shall dwell therein, [viz. you being outed thence, verse 33.] shall be astonished at it.

33. Besides I shall scatter you among the Heathen, and draw forth a sword behind you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities shall be a desolation.

34. Then the land shall take pleasure in his Sabbaths, [i.e. the land shall enjoy its rest, which ye shall have refused to give unto it, disobeying my law, Lev. 25. vers. 4. see the next verse] all the dates of the desolation, and ye shall be in the land your Enemies; then the land shall rest, and take pleasure in its Sabbaths.

35. All the days of the desolation it shall rest; because that it rested not in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt therein.

36. And as for the remnant among you, I shall cause a feebleness to come into their hearts, [i.e. I shall deprive them of all courage and vigorousness, and haunt them with continual fears and frights, though there be no ground of any] in the lands of their Enemies; so that the noise of a stirred leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as men do flee before a sword, [Heb. the flight of a sword] and shall fall when there is none that pursueth.

37. And shall fall the one upon the other, [Heb. the man upon his brother] as before the sword, where no man is that pursueth, and ye shall not be able to subsist [Heb. unto you shall not be, or ye shall not have the steadfastness, or, standing up, or, rising up] before the face of your Enemies.

38. But ye shall perish among the Heathen: and the land of your Enemies shall consume you.

39. And the Remnant among you, shall consume away for their iniquity in the Lands of your Enemies; ye likewise for the iniquities of their Fathers [Having followed their steps; see God’s threatening, Exodus 20:5.] shall they consume together with them.

40. Then shall they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their Fathers with their transgressions, wherewith they transgressed against me, and also they have walked with me in contrariety:

41. That I also shall have walked in contrariety with them, and brought them into the land of their Enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart [i.e. impenitent, stubborn and most unwilling to cast sin out, but entertaining and fomenting it rather, so Jeremiah 9:26. Ezekiel 44:7. Acts 7:51.] doth bend, and they then are well-pleased with the punishment of their iniquity. [Heb. with their iniquity, i.e. the punishment thereof; see above chapter 5. verse 1. i.e. the punishement thereof; see above chapter 5. verse 1. this well-pleasing doth consist in an upright confession, of having very well deserved such punishment be reason of their sins, and consequently in a real conversion of the heart from them unto the LORD. Otherwise this verse may be read thus: Yea I shall walk with them in contrariety, and bring them into the land of their Enemies; sure then their uncircumcised heart shall bend, and I will & c.]

42. Then will I remember my Covenant (with) Jacob, and likewise my Covenant (with) Isaac, and likewise my Covenant (with) Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the Land:

43. When the land shall have been forsaken for their sakes, [Or, of them] and been well-pleased with its Sabbath, when it lay waste for their sakes, [or, from them] and they shall have been well-pleased with the punishment of their iniquity, as above ver. 41.] therefore and because they had rejected my rights, and their soul had loathed my institutions.

44. And besides the same there is this also, [i.e. besides that I shall remember them, when they shall convert themselves unto me; I shall likewise be mindful of them, while yet they remain in Captivity among their Enemies, and in their very impenitence] when they shall be in the land of their Enemies, I shall not reject them, nor loath them, for to make an end of them, disannulling my Covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.

45. But I shall for their (good) Heb. for them (in their behalf) compare Psal. 79. 8.] remember the Covenant of the fore-fathers, [or, predecessors, viz, that which I made with the old ones, their fore-fathers, whom I led forth out of Egypt] whom I have brought forth out of the land of Egypt, before the eyes of the Heathen, that I might be a God unto them; I am the LORD.

46. These are the Institutions, and the Rights, and the Laws, which the LORD gave between him, and between the children of Israel, upon mount Sinai, by the hand of Moseh.