And ye shall chase your enemies ,.... Who being overcome in battle, and put to the flight, should be pursued: and they shall fall before you by the sword ; not by the sword of one another, as the Midianites did, Judges 7:21 , so Jarchi; but rather by the sword of the Israelites, for oftentimes multitudes of the enemy are killed in a pursuit. read more
And five of you shall chase an hundred ,.... One man chase twenty: and an hundred of you put ten thousand to flight ; which, had it been in proportion to the other number, should have been two thousand, as in Deuteronomy 32:30 ; where there is a proportion observed; and Abendana observes, there are some that give the sense of it thus, an hundred of you, an hundred times five, that is, five hundred, and so it comes up to a right computation; but here it seems to be a certain number for... read more
For I will have respect unto you ,.... Look at them with delight and pleasure, and with a careful eye on them, watch over them to do them good, and protect them from all evil; or turn himself to them from all others, having a particular regard for them and special care of them: and make you fruitful and multiply you ; increase their number, as he did in Egypt, even amidst all their afflictions; and much more might they expect this blessing in the land of Canaan, when settled there, which... read more
Verse 9 9.For I will have respect unto you (211) God is said to “turn Himself” to the people, whom He undertakes to cherish and preserve; just as also when He forsakes those who have alienated themselves from Him, He is said to be turned away from them. Hence the common exhortation in the Prophets, “Be ye turned to me, and I will be turned to you;” whereby God reminds us that He has not promised in vain what we here read. Therefore the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, to confirm His... read more
The blessedness of the righteous. In the words before us we have— I. THE QUALITIES OF THE RIGHTEOUS DESCRIBED . These are: 1 . That they worship the true God. 2 . That they worship him truly. 3 . They serve him obediently. II. THEIR BLESSEDNESS ASSURED . They have the promise of: 1 . Plenty. 2 . Security. No robber should trouble them. 3 . Victory. 4 . Multiplication . 5 . Divine favour. (a) His tabernacle was... read more
PART V. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION . 1 . The blessings. which should result from obedience ( Leviticus 26:3-13 ). 2 . The curses which should follow disobedience ( Leviticus 26:14-39 ). 3 . The gracious treatment which would ensue on repentance ( Leviticus 26:40-45 ). Hitherto the Book of Leviticus has consisted of ceremonial and moral injunctions, with two historical passages interposed. In the present chapter it rises in its subject and its diction from legal... read more
Temporal rewards and punishments. cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11 ; Isaiah 48:18 ; Matthew 5:44 , Matthew 5:45 ; and 1 Timothy 4:8 . There is in this chapter a distinct assertion of moral government exercised over Israel. If they obeyed God's Law, he would grant them great temporal blessing; if they disobeyed, he would send them sore chastisement; but if after disobedience they became penitent, he would remember their fathers and his covenant with them, and receive their penitent seed into... read more
Obedience and prosperity. The connection between godly conduct and material good may not seem to us so close or so clearly discernible as that which is promised in these verses. Still, the heart of the promise remains, and instances have never been wanting to prove that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." The prophecy of Amos ( Amos 9:13 )—evidently founded on this passage of the Law—refers to gospel times, and... read more
Incentives to obedience. Religion has the first claim upon us as the supreme obligation of the soul. We are hound to worship and honour God because we owe far more to him than to all other beings in the universe. The first and all-sufficient reason why we should "worship and bow down" before him, is in the fact that "he is our God"—that One from whom we come, in whom we live, from whom cometh down every good gift. But God condescends to urge us to obedience by presenting incentives to... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 26:1-13
Here is, I. The inculcating of those precepts of the law which were of the greatest consequence, and by which were of the greatest consequence, and by which especially their obedience would be tried, Lev. 26:1, 2. They are the abstract of the second and fourth commandments, which, as they are by much the largest in the decalogue, so they are most frequently insisted on in other parts of the law. As, when a master has given many things in charge to his servant, he concludes with the repetition... read more