Leviticus 26:3-46 - Homiletics

Promises and threatenings.

In this chapter the prophet looks forward, and declares how God would deal with his people; which should be according to the way in which they should act. In 2 Chronicles 36:14-21 , the chronicler looks back, and shows how God had dealt with them; which had been according to the way in which they had acted.

The promises and the threatenings are to the nation, not to individuals; and the prophetical assurance is that national obedience to God shall bring about national happiness and prosperity, and that disobedience shall cause the ruin of the nation. In spite of the rough, wild times of the Judges, and of the apostasy of Saul, the heart of the nation was on the whole loyal to Jehovah till the end of the days of Solomon. And till that time there was an upward growth in the flourishing estate of the people—their wealth, their power, their prosperity, their happiness. In the latter days of Solomon, outwardly glorious as they were, decay and corruption began. King and people were alike affected by the splendid despotism which one wielded and under which the other flourished in material prosperity. In that prosperity they forgot the source of it. The king himself pushed his tolerance for foreign habits into idolatry, "His wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.… And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel" ( 1 Kings 11:4-9 ). Like prince, like people; a general relaxation of moral fiber and religious zeal ensued throughout the kingdom. Its culminating point had been reached, and now there followed the rapid descent and fall which resulted from disobedience. The first step to ruin was the great schism, from the effects of which neither the northern nor the southern kingdom ever recovered. Then followed the various apostasies and punishments. In the southern kingdom, "Rehoboam forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak King of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord" ( 2 Chronicles 12:1 , 2 Chronicles 12:2 ). Jehoram "walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab (for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife): and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.… In his days the Edomites revolted.… Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, and brake into it" ( 2 Chronicles 21:6-17 ). In the latter days of Joash, "they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up … with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers" ( 2 Chronicles 24:18-24 ). In the reign of Amaziah, Jerusalem was taken by Joash King of Israel, because "Amaziah sought after the gods of Edom" ( 2 Chronicles 25:14-24 ). Ahaz "made molten images for Baalim Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria … and into the hand of the King of Israel" ( 2 Chronicles 28:2-5 ). At the beginning of the reign of Manasseh, "the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the King of Assyria" ( 2 Chronicles 33:10 , 2 Chronicles 33:11 ). And at last, these partial chastisements having failed to bring about reformation, came the Babylonish Captivity. "The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon" ( 2 Chronicles 36:15-20 ). The transgressions of the northern kingdom were even greater than those of the southern kingdom, and their final punishment, therefore, fell upon them earlier. "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God,… and walked in the statutes of the heathen for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers Therefore the Lord was very angry,… and removed them out of his sight" ( 2 Kings 17:7-18 ). This occurred in the reign of Hoshea, and in the case of the ten tribes we find no symptoms of repentance under suffering. The two tribes produced a Daniel; and his prayer for the forgiveness of his people ( Daniel 9:2-19 ) illustrates the feelings of the better of his fellow-captives; and therefore, according to the promise of Le 26:40-42, God remembered his covenant with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and raised up Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to effect the restoration; while the ten tribes pined away in the land of their captivity. Thus Moses' prediction was fulfilled.

God deals with other nations as with Israel; but we have not the inspired record of his dealings. While Greece cultivated intellectual wisdom, she flourished; when she turned to sophistry, she perished. While Rome spread order and law throughout the globe, she grew in strength; when she submitted to the sway of arbitrary despots, she fell. What is England's mission in the world? To disseminate at once true religion and true liberty. As long as she does this, she will receive God's blessing. As soon as she fails to fulfill the purpose of her existence as a nation, she will be withdrawn from the scene, and another instrument raised up in her stead.