A Glimpse Into What a Loving Father is like.

Leviticus 26:40-46 The Promise of Restoration

Day 30 of self-isolation. Had my outing for the week – an essential trip to our pharmacist to pick up our prescriptions and a much-needed excursion to Costco for groceries. Two new things at the drugstore today – they don’t take any leftover tablets you don’t need any longer and they re-arranged their store so you can only go in at the very front, the rest is closed off. If you want something from their shelves, one of the staff have to get it for you. And did I mention that they haven’t accept anything but debit and credit cards for the last few weeks. Meanwhile over at Costco, long line-ups outside [but much more comfortable and less congested inside], and now you don’t touch your purchases at the check-out [they take them out of your cart and put them back in or scan them in your cart], and there’s no more check what you have in your cart at the exit – they just count you so they can let someone else in.  Interesting times. There’s talk of a “re-opening of the country” and the world soon – two to six weeks depending on progress. But that will come in three phases – churches still left shut.

We press on with our study of the Word. Thanks for joining us and feel free to comment.  Hang in there.

The Passage

⁴⁰ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— ⁴¹ I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be abandoned by them and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, ^[a]because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But I will remember for them the covenant with 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.’”

⁴⁶ These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord established between Himself and the sons of Israel ^[b]through Moses at Mount Sinai.

Footnotes:

a.     Leviticus 26:43 Lit because and by the cause

b.     Leviticus 26:46 Lit by the hand of

Thoughts on the Passage

The last part of this passage is God’s promise that there is hope even if we have seriously disobeyed Him for a long time. There are still some conditions, but God so much wants to forgive His people. Verse 40 requires us to confess our sin and the sin of our fathers. We need to recognize that when we sinned (and still sin today), while we may think it is usually against people (the store owner from whom we stole, the business contact we cheated, the spouse we betrayed), it is indeed a sin committed against God. It is an act of hostility against Him.

I find verse 41 most interesting. This is God admitting that He was acting in a hostile way towards His people in response. Is this admission related to the last phrase of verse 40? Not sure.

But if we humble our hearts and make amends for our sin, God says [in verse 42] that He will remember His covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham to have His people multiply. And God says He will remember the land. [God loves the earth that He created for His people.]

In verse 43, God expects that while the land is being replenished, God’s sinful people will be making amends for their sin as they recognize that they rejected his laws and that their soul hated His commandments.

And still, even during this time, even though His people have not fully repented (verse 44), and while they are in the land of their enemies, God will not reject them or abhor them to the point where He would destroy them as a people forever.  For doing so, would be breaking His covenant with them. He can’t do that – because is the Lord their God.

Instead in verse 45 He says He will remember them (for the sake of the covenant He made with their forefathers), and because He brought them out of Egypt in broad daylight (in the sight of all people) so that He could be their God.

Matthew Henry says that this restoration has basically three steps to it:

-- First, confession is required. This is confession by which God’s people are to give glory to God and take shame to themselves.
-- Second, there must be remorse and godly sorrow for our sins (verse 41) whereby our “uncircumcised hearts must be humbled”.
-- Third, submission to the justice of God in all His dealings with them, even in light of their sins.

And in return, Henry says, they will not be abandoned by God, and they will be remembered by Him.  

Chuck Smith summarizes this passage as follows:

[In other words, God says,] "I will preserve them as an ethnic group," which God has done. He kept His promise. He kept His word. No other nation; no other nation has had that same fate. Every other nation who has been without a homeland has disappeared as an ethnic group. Not the Jew; he has remained a Jew to the present day. God kept His word.

That’s the incredible God that we have as our God. He rewards our obedience; he punishes our disobedience; but He never totally rejects His people. If that is not what a loving Father is all about, then I have no idea what a loving father is.

For the Christian going through this Covid-19 experience in 2020, these promises of God can be claimed without hesitation – God will not abandon us and He will not forget us, regardless of the earthly outcome we or our loved ones may face.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.