Part XX6.1 - Promises and Threats

CHAPTER XXVI.

PROMISES AND THREATS.

ALL that was necessary for Israel to know and observe, in order that they might maintain their place and character as the holy people of the Lord, had now been revealed. Consequently, the present chapter contains the promises of blessing to obedience, and the threatenings of judgment upon disobedience. At the same time it gives intimation that grace will ultimately triumph over all the evil, according to the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It commences with a warning against idolatry, and an injunction to regard the Sabbaths, and reverence the sanctuary of the Lord. There is ever the danger, after all that the Lord has done and commanded, of allowing some visible thing to take His place. Whatsoever has the power of ministering to present gratification may become an idol; and thus in the New Testament the attractive evil of covetousness is termed idolater. But God in the communication of His true blessing will always teach His people the needful lesson of dependence on, and patient waiting for, Himself. For a walk of faith is our duty while the Church’s condition of hope continues; so that every visible thing on which we rest is in principle an idol, and causes a departure from the great rule of faith which God is now teaching, and wherein we learn that which will be the basis of certainty for eternity-that His grace alone can supply our needs. And intimately connected with the prohibition of idolatry is the observance of the Sabbath and the reverence of the sanctuary. For to regard the Sabbath is to regard the true rest which God has provided in Jesus, to refuse to turn aside from the remembrance of what He has done in completing the work of our salvation. So, too, in respect to the sanctuary: for where the blood of Jesus is, there is also the Holy Ghost. But the Church is now the temple of God, and every believer a dwelling place of the Holy Ghost. We must therefore take heed; for " if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." These, then,. are the three great points of which we need to be reminded; for failure in any or all of them is the beginning of departure from God, and brings down judgment upon His people. These precepts afford the groundwork of all true obedience, and by keeping close to them we run onward in the way of the Lord, in keeping His commandments. Therefore they come to us as positive commands-" Ye shall," &c.-for these contain the principle of salvation. And they are immediately followed by the blessings promised to obedience, and the judgments consequent on disobedience. The promised blessings are of various kinds, both personal and circumstantial; and not only are they prepared and preserved for the people, but the people themselves are prepared and preserved for the enjoyment of the blessings. The great blessing, that which comprised and gave value to all the others, was the presence of God Himself;-" 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." This promise is quoted in 2 Corinthians 6:16, where separation from evil unto God is being enforced : and its connection there gives us a key to the force of the context here. The recipients of the grace of God are in all things to approve themselves His ministers, and that in the midst of every trial . But they must especially do so as being separated to God and having no fellowship with those things which by their intrinsic character indicate contrariety to Him. There is much of parallel instruction in this passage of Corinthians and the present chapter of Leviticus. We may notice the distinction between light and darkness, between an unbeliever and a believer, between Christ and Belial, between the temple of God and idols, &c. And the great blessing in both places, which this one scripture supplies, is the dwelling of God with men, and his walking among them. In Leviticus 26:13, it is added-" I am the Lord your God Which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright." Compared with its context this seems to show that the possibility of Israel’s lapsing again into the position of servants could only happen in case of their disobedience. And the same may be said in regard to their waxing poor; for God’s blessing in abundance was promised to obedience. But all the blessings promised to obedience are regarded as being liable to forfeiture through disobedience. Therefore it is only after the course of intervening judgments upon disobedience has run out, that, in the end, God remembers the covenant which He Himself made, the sure basis and pledge of that blessing for which the failure of the people and His consequent judgments have been preparing them by teaching the great lesson that all is from Him and is the result of His grace. As soon as disobedience to the commandment of the Lord has manifested itself, then comes judgment, in order to reveal the evil and lead us back to obedience. But if the chastisement proves fruitless, and disregard of God still continues, then further judgment comes, and so on till the end. Throughout the judgment is manifestly and intentionally restorative, but it is ineffectual; so that, if there is to be any permanent blessing at all, it must spring from the everlasting covenant, which sets nature aside altogether, and brings in death and resurrection. We may observe in this chapter that the evil progressively increases, as also does the judgment, until in the end Israel is cast out. Such also is the course with the Church (Revelation 3:16). But there are seven principal characteristic points in the whole chapter which mark the progress of God’s dealing with His people; and in each instance the cause of the difference of treatment is set forth. First, obedience is supposed, and the fullest blessing is promised as a result. The five intermediate instances are questions of the effect of reproving judgments which fail to amend the people, but do not fail in God’s purpose of bringing them to know that all their blessing depended on Him, and of forcing them at last to the confession of their own iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers. This course of the questions between God and His people stands thus :- I. " If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them " (Leviticus 26:3).

II. " But if ye will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments," &c. (Leviticus 26:14).

III. " And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me " (Leviticus 26:18).

IV. " And if ye walk contrary unto Me (or,’ at all adventures with Me’), and will not hearken unto Me " (Leviticus 26:21).

V. " And if ye will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will walk contrary unto Me " (Leviticus 26:23).

VI. " And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me " (Leviticus 26:27).

VII. " If they shall confess their iniquity and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity " (Leviticus 26:41). And the time of the last case shall certainly come: for such is the purpose of God, according to His covenant, which He will not break. Israel shall at length accept of the punishment of their iniquity, and God will then remember His covenant, and remember the land. For every step of His dealing with His people, through all their failures, is leading on to the manifestation of His own grace, and is humbling them and preparing them as ready recipients of His wondrous love.

Leviticus 26:42. The Lord promises to remember His covenant with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, putting the name of Jacob first. For Jacob exhibits the circumstances of those who come into actual possession of the blessings of the everlasting covenant. He would not let God depart till He had blessed him (Genesis 32:26). He prevailed as a prince, having power with God; and in Psalms 24:6 it is said:-" This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, even Jacob." The result of all that has gone before in this book is thus shown to be the bringing of the people to the knowledge of the grace of God, and to dependence upon Him. When they confess their iniquity, then I will remember. The whole of the twenty-fifth and twenty- sixth chapters is characteristically summed up in the last verse;-"These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses." This appears to indicate a separation and distinction of the following and last chapter from all that has gone before. The twenty-seventh chapter is characterized in its last verse;-"These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.