Leviticus 26:8-9. Five of you shall chase a hundred A proverbial expression, signifying that a small number of them should be an over-match for many of their enemies. I will establish my covenant Will actually perform all that I have promised in my covenant made with you. read more
Promises and warnings (26:1-46)God reminded the people to put into practice all they had been taught concerning him, his sabbaths and his sanctuary (26:1-2). Obedience would bring agricultural prosperity, social contentment, victory over enemies, and a comforting sense of God’s presence (3-13). Disobedience would bring widespread disease, defeat by enemies, drought and destruction, till they awoke to their sin and turned again to God (14-20).If the people failed to respond, God would increase... read more
five. See App-10 , this promise enlarged in Deuteronomy 32:30 . Joshua 23:10 . Compare 2 Samuel 23:8 , 2Sa 23:18 . 1 Chronicles 11:11 , 1 Chronicles 11:18 . Isaiah 30:17 . read more
G. PROMISES AND WARNINGS ch. 26"In the ancient Near East it was customary for legal treaties to conclude with passages containing blessings upon those who observed the enactments, and curses upon those who did not. The international treaties of the second millennium BC regularly included such sections as part of the text, with the list of curses greatly outnumbering the promises of blessing. In the Old Testament this general pattern occurs in Exodus 23:25-33, Deuteronomy 28:1-68, and Joshua... read more
2. The blessing for fidelity to the law 26:3-13The benefits of faithful obedience to the law of God would be fruitful harvests (Leviticus 26:4-5; Leviticus 26:10), and security and peace (Leviticus 26:6), including victory in battle (Leviticus 26:7-8) and numerical growth as a nation (Leviticus 26:9; cf. Genesis 17:7). The obedient would also experience increasing enjoyment of God’s presence and fellowship (Leviticus 26:11-12).The Hebrew word translated "dwelling" (Leviticus 26:11, miskan) is... read more
Concluding ExhortationsSimilar exhortations are found at the conelusion of other codes of laws, as in Exodus 23:20,; and frequently in Deuteronomy, e.g. in Leviticus 28. The leading ideas and phraseology are the same in all. There is the same insistence on the holy character of Jehovah, the same demand for holiness on the part of His people, the same promises on condition of obedience, and the same warnings against being led astray by the evil example of the idolatrous nations among whom they... read more
(8) And five of you shall chase an hundred.—This is a proverbial saying, corresponding to our phrase “A very small number, or a mere handful, shall be more than a match for a whole regiment.” The same phrase, with different proportions to the numbers, occurs in other parts of the Bible (Deuteronomy 32:30; Joshua 23:10; Isaiah 30:17). read more
THE PROMISES AND THREATS OF THE COVENANTLeviticus 26:1-46ONE would have expected that this chapter would have been the last in the book of Leviticus, for it forms a natural and fitting close to the whole law as hitherto recorded. But whatever may have been the reason of its present literary form, the fact remains that while this chapter is, in outward form, the conclusion of the Levitical law, another chapter follows it in the manner of an appendix.Chapter 26 opens with these words (Leviticus... read more
THE PROMISES OF THE COVENANTLeviticus 26:3-13"If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Leviticus 26:3-45
As “the book of the covenant” Exodus 20:22-23:33 concludes with promises and warnings Exodus 23:20-33, so does this collection of laws contained in the Book of Leviticus. But the former passage relates to the conquest of the land of promise, this one to the subsequent history of the nation. The longer similar passage in Deuteronomy Deut. 27–30 is marked by broader and deeper promises and denunciations having immediate reference not only to outward consequences, but to the spiritual death... read more