UNROLL
One old olive tree heavy with fruit on a green terraced hillside just after rain, mist lying in the valley below, under a pale rain-washed sky.

The Book of

Leviticus 26

God sets two roads before Israel, and promises that even at the end of the wrong one He will remember His covenant.

46 verses≈ 9 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–7The offeringsHow sinners draw near
  2. 8–10The priestsOrdained, and a warning
  3. 11–15Clean and uncleanLife before a holy God
  4. 16The Day of AtonementSins carried away
  5. 17–27A holy peopleBe holy, for I am holyChapter 26

Additional Blessings of Obedience

“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God.

You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you. You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.

And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

Leviticus 26:11–12

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk in uprightness.

Reflect

Walking upright

At the end of the blessings, before a single warning, God reminded Israel who He was: the God who “brought you out of the land of Egypt.” He broke their yoke so they could “walk in uprightness.” What has God set you free from? Write it down, and then write one way you want to walk tall in that freedom this week.

Punishments for Disobedience

If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments, and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,

Cracked, dry earth and withered, stunted grain under a hard white cloudless sky, a dead fig tree at the field’s edge.

If you will not obey

The first warnings

  1. Terror, wasting disease and fever

    then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life.

  2. Enemies eat your harvest

    You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

  3. God’s face set against you

    And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies.

  4. Ruled by foes, fleeing for nothing

    Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.

  5. Seven times

    If after all this you will not obey

    And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins.

  6. Drought

    Sky like iron, land like bronze

    I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

  7. Strength spent in vain

    and your strength will be spent in vain.

  8. No produce, no fruit

    For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.

If you will not obey

Seven times more

  1. Seven times

    Still hostile: plagues multiplied

    If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins.

  2. Wild animals; roads deserted

    I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

  3. If you will not accept discipline

    And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,

  4. Seven times

    God hostile in turn

    then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

  5. War

    The sword of the covenant

    And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant.

  6. Plague in the cities; handed over

    Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

  7. Famine

    Ten women, one oven

    When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.

If you will not obey

The end of the road

  1. Still disobedient, still hostile

    But if in spite of all this you do not obey Me, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me,

  2. Seven times

    God walks in fury against you

    then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins.

  3. The horror of siege famine

    You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.

  4. Ruin

    High places and idols destroyed

    I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

  5. Cities ruined, offerings refused

    I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.

  6. The land laid waste

    And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.

  7. Exile

    Scattered among the nations

    But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.

Evening over an abandoned terraced valley gone wild: vines sprawling over broken field walls and an empty village of tumbled mud brick, utterly still.

Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it.

0:16

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them. They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies.

You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you. Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.

Seven times over

orIf youobeyrain, peace,God among you(3–13)If youwill notterror anddefeat (14–17)Sevenfoldsky like iron(18–20)Seventimesmorewild animals(21–22)Sword andsiegeplague andhunger (23–26)Exilethe land rests(27–39)If they confessI will remember(40–45)

Whiteboard

Two roads. Obey, and God gives rain, harvest, peace and His own presence. Turn away, and the warnings come one step at a time, each heavier than the last, with “sevenfold” again and again. At every step God asks the same thing: will you now “accept My discipline”? The road ends in exile. Yet even there one door stays open: “if they will confess their iniquity,” God will remember His covenant.

Pray

A heart that turns back

God says, “if after all this you will not obey Me,” and then says it again in other words, step after step. Each hard step was a call to come home. Ask God to show you any place where He has been correcting you and you have not listened. Pray for a soft heart that turns back quickly, and thank Him that His discipline is the love of a Father.

God Remembers Those Who Repent

But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,

then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

Leviticus 26:42

For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.

Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.”

These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.

Question

Quick question

At the end of the warnings, God tells what He will do if His scattered people confess their sin.

Whose covenants does God say He will remember?

You’ve experienced

Leviticus 26

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A verse to carry with you

I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

Leviticus 26:12

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