Leviticus 26:14

CURSES AND PUNISHMENTS IF ISRAEL DOES NOT OBEY

"But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant; I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be smitten before your enemies: they that hate you shall rule over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power: and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; and your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit."

Inherent in this is the truth that rejection of God's commandments and a failure to do them is a "breaking of the covenant" (Leviticus 26:15). Therefore, Israel's receiving all of these penalties at the hands of God is eloquent testimony indeed that they did in fact break the covenant. Furthermore, right here is the kernel of those great messages which constituted the burden of what practically all of the prophets of God would afterward proclaim with reference to Israel. "Here is an epitome of all later prophecy regarding Israel."[16] Also, "Breach of the covenant was tantamount to open rebellion against God."[17]

"Consumption ..." (Leviticus 26:16). "This is not the name of a disease, but a description of what follows many diseases."[18] The Septuagint (LXX) gives "jaundice" instead of "fever" in this verse, but as Jamieson said, "No certain explanation can be given."[19]

"Seven times more ..." This term occurs in Leviticus 26:18,21,24 and Leviticus 26:28; and Allis preferred the rendering "sevenfold," rather than "seven times more," "Since it is apparently the intensity rather than the duration that is referred to."[20]

In no sense do these threatened calamities which would befall Israel as a consequence of their disobedience refer to a failure of God to defend his people. Rather, "They were a judgment brought about by God, and this is precisely the interpretation of history which is basic to the great prophets of Israel."[21]