Leviticus 26:14-39 Disobedience – It’s Conditions & Results
Day 29 of self-isolation. Right now, many of us are waging a big war in our heads. Do we fight our loss of freedom or to we stay quiet, and grin and bear the restrictions the various governments have imposed on us? In Michigan, hundreds of thousands have taken to streets to protest their loss of freedom. Others are ready to join them. The U.S. President today released guidelines for reopening the country but with a strong recommendation that any reopening does not begin for another two weeks. Meanwhile in Canada, the economy has shrunk 9.0% in just the last month. Some of us want to obey all the rules imposed on us. Some of us want to disobey.
As we continue our study in the last few chapters of the book of Leviticus, we noted yesterday the requirements of obedience to God and the accompanying rewards. Today we look at the other side – the conditions and results of disobedience. Thanks for joining us.
The Passage
14 ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, 15 if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, 16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. 17 I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. 18 If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.19 I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 ‘If then, you [a]act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. 22 I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.
23 ‘And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, 24 then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread [b]in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.
27 ‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me,28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29 Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30 I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your [c]remains on the [d]remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. 31 I will [e]lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it.33 You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.
34 ‘Then the land will [f]enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and [g]enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it. 36 As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee [h]as though from the sword, and they will fall. 37 They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength [i]to stand up before your enemies. 38 But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. 39 So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.
Footnotes:
- Leviticus 26:21 Lit walk, and so throughout the ch
- Leviticus 26:26 Lit by weight
- Leviticus 26:30 Lit corpses
- Leviticus 26:30 Lit corpses
- Leviticus 26:31 Lit give desolation to
- Leviticus 26:34 Lit satisfy
- Leviticus 26:34 Lit satisfy
- Leviticus 26:36 Lit the flight of the sword
- Leviticus 26:37 Lit you will stand
Thoughts on the Passage
I love Chuck Smith’s general comment on this whole chapter. He says God is saying, “Keep the commandments, I’m gonna bless you. Break the commandments, I’m gonna break you.”
Now we need to keep in mind that while God is talking to all Israelites, He’s actual words (e.g. ‘your soul’ in verse 15) lend themselves to a warning to each one of them individually. And by extension, to each one of us individually.
So the first thing He tells them or us is that if we reject His statutes and ‘our soul’ hates His laws, etc., He will see to it that a “sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away” – read, you will feel miserable. In addition, your work will be fruitless. Your enemies (others, bosses, etc.) will steal what is yours. Furthermore, God will be so angry with us, that all our enemies will win over us and begin to rule over us. We will need to flee as they pursue us.
But in verse 18, God says, “Even after that, you still have a chance to obey me.” But if you don’t, God will punish you seven times more for your sins. Your pride will be destroyed and in verse 19 we hear that God will make our “sky like iron and our earth like bronze”. Robert Jamieson says this on verse 19:
No figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and long-continued famine.
That is, the sky will be such that it will not yield any water or rain – solid like iron. And the earth will be not yielding any fruit or crops, as if it were bronze.
Are the “seven times” of verses 21, 23 and 27 the same “seven times” of verse 18? I think they are. But more is shared about what the consequences will actually look like – wild beasts in the crop fields ruining the crops, death of children and cattle; pestilence; reduction in food supply; cannibalism; destruction of buildings and cities; your lands taken over by your enemies.
David Guzik has this to say on the above:
Significantly, God does not say He will forsake Israel, only that they will be cursed. Sadly, these curses became the tragic story of Israel’s history – defeat, deprivation, exile, desolation and disease all too often have marked Israel’s past…. Even the horrific cannibalism described in Leviticus 26:29 was fulfilled in 2 Kings 6:26-29; Josephus also describes cannibalism in Jerusalem when under siege by the Romans; a woman killed and ate her own baby son (Wars, 6.3.4).
Going back to verse 22, God says “your highways will be desolate” – implying as Jamieson suggests that trade and commerce will be destroyed -- freedom and safety will be gone -- neither stranger nor native will be found on the roads (Isaiah 33:8). Some of us in isolation right now may think that we’re experiencing that right now through this Covid-19 situation.
But even while God is doing all that to us – His love for the land continues – and in verse 34, He tells us that during that time “the land will enjoy its sabbaths; it will rest.” So, next time someone tells you God does not care about the earth, send them to these passages.
In verse 36, God says some of the Israelites will survive all of this, but they won’t be too happy as their enemies will be control. They will be refugees running away and falling over each other – more from fear rather than being pursued by real enemies [could this be mental anguish?] In the end, they too will perish. All because (verse 39) their iniquities and the iniquities of their forefathers.
Matthew Henry has a great introduction to this passage. He writes:
After God had set the blessing before them (the life and good which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient), he here sets the curse before them, the death and evil which would make them as miserable if they were disobedient. Let them not think themselves so deeply rooted as that God's power could not ruin them, nor so highly favoured as that his justice would not ruin them if they revolted from him and rebelled against him; no – You only have I known, therefore I will punish you soonest and sorest (Amos 3:2).
Disobedience to God has its consequences. Perhaps this whole thing we’re experiencing right now – is a result of our disobedience to God. Disobedience to our political leaders is a different thing. In that case, we need to be on guard to make sure that what they expect of us is not contrary to what God wants for us. If it is, we disobey at all costs. If not, go with the flow. But be careful, as when the government gets their toe in the door, their whole foot will soon be in as well, and it will never leave.It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
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