Leviticus 26:3

BLESSINGS PROMISED IF ISRAEL OBEYS GOD

"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 its 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 you afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. And I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright."

The blessings listed here are those which would greatly bless and provide for any agricultural people. Unger classified them thus:

(1) bountiful harvests,

(2) peace and security,

(3) fruitfulness and increase, and

(4) the presence of the Lord among the people.[9]

At the head of the list, however, (Leviticus 26:3) stood the great condition, IF. If Israel would obey; if Israel would really keep God's commandments and walk in his ways - then, only then, would God so richly bless them.

"Threshing shall reach unto the vintage ... etc." (Leviticus 26:5) "One season of fruitfulness shall run into the next; in Amos' celebrated words, `the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that sows the seed.' (Amos 9:13)."[10]

"I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land ..." (Leviticus 26:6). According to Orlinsky, "vicious beasts" is more accurate than "evil beasts."[11]

"Bring forth the old because of the new ..." (Leviticus 26:10). This means "bring forth the old to make room for the new."[12]

"I will walk among you and be your God ..." These words were quoted by the apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 6:16) "as a ground of the holiness required of God's people."[13]

"I have broken the bars of your yoke ..." (Leviticus 26:13). "This is a metaphorical expression denoting Israel's emancipation from Egyptian slavery.[14] The figure is taken from the construction of an ox-yoke. "The bars (bands in the KJV) of a yoke are the wooden pieces coming down from the yoke on each side of the animal's head and fastened with thongs."[15]