If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them. Both moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which had been delivered unto them, and now completely recorded in this and the preceding book; for what follow in the two next are chiefly repetitions of what are contained in these. read more
If ye walk in my statutes - For the meaning of this and similar words used in the law, See the note on Leviticus 26:15 . read more
Verse 3 ITS REPETITION 3.If ye walk in my statutes. We have now to deal with two remarkable passages, in which he professedly treats of the rewards which the servants of God may expect, and of the punishments which await the transgressors. I have indeed already observed, that whatever God promises us on the condition of our walking in His commandments would be ineffectual if He should be extreme in examining our works. Hence it arises that we must renounce all the compacts of the Law, if we... 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
If ye walk in my statutes. The free will of man is recognized equally with God's controlling power. 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