Exhortation to Obedience. The Benefits of Obedience. The Consequences of Disobedience. Restoration through Confession and Repentance.

Transcription

1 1 Exhortation to Obedience The Benefits of Obedience The Consequences of Disobedience Restoration through Confession and Repentance Summary Colophon Leviticus 26:1-46

2 2 Exhortation to Obedience The Benefits of Obedience The Consequences of Disobedience Restoration through Confession and Repentance Text: Leviticus 26:1-46, Summary Colophon 1. You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God. 2. You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 3. If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 4. I will give you your rains in their time so that the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 5. Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, and you will live securely in your land.

3 I will grant peace in the land so that you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword of war will pass through your land. 7. You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. 8. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9. I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain my covenant with you. 10. You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. 11. I will put my tabernacle in your midst and I will not abhor you. 12. I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 13. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. 14. If, however, you do not obey me and keep all these commandments 15. if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep all my commandments and you break my covenant 16. I for my part will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.

4 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you. 18. If, in spite of all these things, you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. 19. I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 20. Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit. 21. If you walk in hostility against me and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction seven times according to your sins. 22. I will send the wild animals against you and they will bereave you of your children, annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population so that your roads will become deserted. 23. If in spite of these things you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 24. I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you seven times on account of your sins. 25. I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. Although you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. 26. When I break off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, and you will eat and not be satisfied. 27. If in spite of this you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me,

5 I will walk in hostile rage against you and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 29. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30. I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. I will abhor you. 31. I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 32. I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 33. I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste. 34. Then the land will make up for its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 35. All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you lived on it. 36. As for the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 37. They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand for you before your enemies. 38. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.

6 As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors iniquities which are with them. 40. However, when they confess their iniquity and their ancestors iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, by which they also walked in hostility against me 41. (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquity, 42. I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43. The land will be abandoned by them in order that it may make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them, and they will make up for their iniquity because they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred my statutes. 44. In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45. I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord. 46. These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through Moses. (NET)

7 7 Commentary: Exhortation to Obedience Leviticus 26:1-2, You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the Lord your God. You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. (NET) I. Here we have a reminder of the second of the Ten Commandments. The full commandment reads:... A. Exodus 20:4-6, You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (NET) II. Since the land of Canaan that they were to capture and occupy would be littered with such images and every household would have a carved idol in the house or more probably on the outside marking the boundaries of the property, the temptation would be great to leave such standing or copy them and

8 8 eventually they would be worshipping them. (It even happened to Gideon.) A. Judges 8:23-27, Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you. Gideon continued, I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken. (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) They said, We are happy to give you earrings. So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.) (NET) Thus the chapter begins with a strong Word from God to abstain from such! III. Verse 2 centers the heart of being God s people and staying in His good graces. Two central rules from which all others flow are, Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. Why? Because I am the Lord! This does not seem complicated, hard to understand or obey, but it proved to be the constant stumbling block for Israel!

9 9 The Benefits of Obedience Leviticus 26:3-13, If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, I will give you your rains in their time so that the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, and you will live securely in your land. I will grant peace in the land so that you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword of war will pass through your land. You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain my covenant with you. You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. I will put my tabernacle in your midst and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. (NET) I. All prosperity started in the fields and vineyards. If the land produced well, then the entire population prospered, including merchants, bankers and tradesmen. If there were inadequate produce, the whole economy suffered.

10 10 II. Complimenting prosperity is peace. One cannot enjoy the fruit of the land and the economy that feeds off of it if there is constant strife and war. Here God promised the two things that will make life in Israel idyllic: prosperity and peace! A. Predatory animals and those that eat crops would not live in God s Promised Land. B. Enemies may attack, but their demise would be swift and complete! 1. Again, we turn to Gideon to illustrate the point. This incident occurred before the one cited below. a. Judges 7:20-22, All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon! They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. (NET) 2. 2 Kings 7:3-8 relates a story that proves the same point, but it happened hundreds of years after Gideon s

11 11 time. God s promises do not diminish with the passing of time! a. 2 Kings 7:3-8, Now four men with a skin disease (leprosy other translations say) were sitting at the entrance of the city gate. They said to one another, Why are we just sitting here waiting to die? If we go into the city, we ll die of starvation, and if we stay here we ll die! So come on, let s defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we ll live; if they kill us well, we were going to die anyway. So they started toward the Syrian camp at dusk. When they reached the edge of the Syrian camp, there was no one there. The Lord had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a large army. Then they said to one another, Look, the king of Israel has paid the kings of the Hittites and Egypt to attack us! So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. When the men with a skin disease reached the edge of the camp, they entered a tent and had a meal. They also took some silver, gold, and clothes and went and hid it all. Then they went back and entered another tent. They looted it and went and hid what they had taken. (NET)

12 12 III. Leviticus held out the promise of material prosperity and God s protective presence as it had been originally before the fall. A. Genesis 3:8-10, Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? The man replied, I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. (NET) B. Revelation 21:1-4, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist. (NET) 1. Read the entire 21 st chapter of Revelation. It will be a blessing to you. 2. Had they chosen this path, how different their history would have read and how blessed they would

13 13 have been! Instead, we read a history of constant harassment, hardship and captivity! IV. It is said that preachers will preach, and it is true! So, here are some homiletic observations:... A. What if we transfer all the above to our personal lives and our culture? This writer has worked with and counseled hundreds of young and not so young people who have spent their lives bucking the system. They have rebelled against their parents, the laws of the land and generally have done what pleased themselves. Almost without exception they have bemoaned the fact that their life is hard. Why does God keep letting this happen to me? bewailed one young lady who was pregnant with her third child in as many years. She had no husband, no job and no permanent home. Her case is too numerous as are others even more extreme! While Saul of Tarsus was lying on the ground, blinded by the light from heaven, Jesus told him you are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads Acts 26:14b (NET) This statement could be applied to most of us in the human race! Listening to and obeying God takes many of the bumps out of the road of life! Ignoring God s will and living as we please magnifies trouble exponentially! The Consequences of Disobedience Leviticus 26:14-38, If, however, you do not obey me and keep all these commandments if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep all my commandments and you break my covenant I for my part will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you,

14 14 consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you. If, in spite of all these things, you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land will not produce their fruit. If you walk in hostility against me and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction seven times according to your sins. I will send the wild animals against you and they will bereave you of your children, annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population so that your roads will become deserted. If in spite of these things you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you seven times on account of your sins. I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. Although you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. When I break off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, and you will eat and not be satisfied. If in spite of this you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, I will walk in hostile rage against you and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places and cut

15 15 down your incense altars, and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. I will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste. Then the land will make up for its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you lived on it. As for the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand for you before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you. (NET) I. Now we come to the bad news portion of chapter 26. God spells it out graphically and shows a layered projection of continued rebellion leading to dire consequences, reflecting His foreknowledge of the road they would actually take! God does not cause our rebellion and poor decisions but He obviously, by His omniscience, anticipates them. Notice Israel s progression downward in their rebellion and God s escalation of punishment!

16 16 II. The First Warning is addressed in verses A. God will afflict the wicked with plagues of illness. B. The land would still produce, but the Israelites would not benefit from their labor. C. When God sets his face against a person, thing or place, it certainly is not a good thing! D. Marauders take over and make servants out of the rightful occupants of the land and people become fearful! 1. Judges 6:11-13, The Lord s angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash s son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites. The Lord s messenger appeared and said to him, The Lord is with you, courageous warrior! Gideon said to him, Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian. (NET) a. Regarding Gideon s actions, look at the last phrase in verse 11! II. The Second Warning is addressed in verses

17 17 A. Seven in verse 18 means fullness. B. No clouds in the sky and the ground becomes hard and barren. III. The Third Warning is addressed in verses A. The following passages are from widely separated periods of time in Israel s history. They illustrate that the people were not following God s conditions for the promise that harmful animals would be removed from the land. 1. Judges 14:5-6 dates to the late period of the Judges and reads: Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. The Lord s spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. (NET) 2. 1 Samuel 17:34-36 dates to the early period of the Kings and reads: David replied to Saul, Your servant has been a shepherd for his father s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock, I would go out after it, strike it down, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose up against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just

18 18 like one of them. For he has defied the armies of the living God! (NET) 3. 2 Kings 2:23-24 dates to the late period of the Kings: He went up from there to Bethel. As he was traveling up the road, some young boys came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy! When he turned around and saw them, he called God s judgment down on them. Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces. (NET) IV. The Fourth Warning is addressed in verses A. Haggai 1:2-11, The Lord who rules over all says this: These people have said, The time for rebuilding the Lord s temple has not yet come. So the Lord spoke through the prophet Haggai as follows: Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses while my temple is in ruins? Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: Think carefully about what you are doing. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but are never filled. You drink, but are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but are not warm. Those who earn wages end up with holes in their money bags. Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: Pay close attention to these things also. Go up to the hill country and bring back timber to build the temple. Then I will be pleased and honored, says the Lord. You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away.

19 19 Why? asks the Lord who rules over all. Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! This is why the sky has held back its dew and the earth its produce. Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce. (NET) a. This text is written after the return from Babylonian captivity, almost six hundred (600) years after Leviticus 26! Again we see that the passing of time does not diminish God s promises, whether they be for blessings or cursings! V. The Final Warning is addressed in verses A. One can t help but think of Revelation 16:8-11, Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people with fire. Thus people were scorched by the terrible heat, yet they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast so that darkness covered his kingdom, and people began to bite their tongues because of their pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and because of their sores, but nevertheless they still refused to repent of their deeds. (NET)

20 20 B. As history unfolded, Israel apparently stopped observing these Sabbaths early or perhaps never started. Verses 34 and 35 would indicate that they would be in captivity one year for every Sabbath year that they ignored God s commands. Consequently, they served 70 years. This would indicate that for 490 years they did not keep the covenant of the Sabbath years. That would reach back into the days of the Judges, close enough to the time of the conquest to assume that they never practiced this provision of the law. Amazingly, during the 70 years in Babylon, no one farmed the rich land of promise! It lay fallow the entire time allowing the land to catch up on its rest! The Sabbath of years and the year of Jubilee contained blessings that God designed for both the land and the people, but those for whom they were intended never obtained them! It is easy for us to look back and see their stubbornness and how much they lost by not obeying God, but we ourselves fail to receive God s richest blessings that come from resting in His grace while we insist on helping God save us and take care of us. This became the fate of the Ten Northern Tribes that composed the Kingdom of Israel. They became known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. After their conquest and captivity by the Assyrians, the captives were forced to intermarry with their captors and this mixed race was then sent back to Samaria where once the capital of the Northern Kingdom was located. These are the Samaritans that we meet in the New Testament. Jesus had a great

21 21 conversation with a Samaritan woman as recorded in John 4. By reading that chapter one can learn much about the relationship between Jews (who lived in Galilee and Judea) and Samaritans (who lived in the area between Galilee and Judea). 1. John 4:4-9, But he had to pass through Samaria. Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me some water to drink. (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) So the Samaritan woman said to him, How can you a Jew ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink? (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) (NET) Restoration through Confession and Repentance Leviticus 26:39-45, As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors iniquities which are with them. However, when they confess their iniquity and their ancestors iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, by which they also walked in hostility against me (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their

22 22 enemies), and then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquity, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. The land will be abandoned by them in order that it may make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them, and they will make up for their iniquity because they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred my statutes. In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord. These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through Moses. (NET) A. Verse 39 is an illustration of how the sins of the fathers can fall down upon their children! Because of their disobedience, brought on by the lack of trust in the God who had delivered them and brought them safely thus far, the generations that followed would suffer the loss of the land and the promised blessings of prosperity! Of course, the later generations would have been unfaithful to the covenant as well, but they were merely following the pattern that they inherited. This same kind of thing happens in our modern societies. Children of successful parents often squander their

23 23 inheritances and, consequently, their children and their children s children suffer. Nations follow the same pattern. Several generations may live in peace and prosperity and enjoy the blessings that come from the presence of God. Later leadership may forsake the foundations that were laid for them and bring on times of hardship and suffering. It would be many generations before such mistakes could be overcome. Poverty and despair may be the norm for long years following. It happened to ancient Israel and it continues to happen to any nation that forsakes the LORD. B. Beginning in verse 40 we come to the Great however! Observe the power of repentance! C. That these verses refer specifically to the return from Babylon after seventy years (70) of captivity is made obvious by the numbers and conditions mentioned. (Keep in mind that all of this was said to Moses while he was on Mt. Sinai. They were barely out of Egypt and it would be hundreds of years before these things would occur, but God anticipated it and had a plan to remedy it!) The captivity will be long enough to equal the number of Sabbatical Years they have neglected, and the field will lie fallow during the entire time. Afterward they will return and begin cultivation and animal husbandry again. The books of Daniel, Ezra & Nehemiah (with details in other post-exilic writings as well) will tell the seeker how this played out exactly as God scripted it before

24 24 the Israelites left Sinai! The Bible is an amazing book that could only have come by inspiration of God. 1. Nehemiah relates in great detail, one phase of this return. We mention it now because of the prayer of Nehemiah which follows the formula that God set forth in this promise made and recorded hundreds of years before his time. Read verse 40 and then compare Nehemiah s prayer. a. Nehemiah 1:4-11, When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Then I said, Please, O Lord God of heaven, great and awesome God, who keeps his loving covenant with those who love him and obey his commandments, may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed against you both I myself and my family have sinned. We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses. Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you repent and obey my

25 25 commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside. They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your mighty strength and by your powerful hand. Please, O Lord, listen attentively to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me in the presence of this man. (NET) Summary Colophon Leviticus 26:46, These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through Moses. (NET) Colophon, an inscription placed at the end of a book or manuscript usually with facts relative to its production; an identifying device used by a printer or a publisher. (Meriam Webster s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition) The chapter ends with a reminder that Moses received these instructions from God at Sinai.

26 26 Questions on Leviticus 26: Which of the commandments did God bring to the attention of the Israelites in the opening of this chapter? 2. What otherwise godly man transgressed this commandment and what happened as a result? 3. What two things did God require of the people in order for them to stay in His good graces? 4. What did God guarantee would be on time?

27 Cite an instance where the promise made in verses 7 & 8 literally came to pass. Describe what happened. 6. Cite a passage from the beginning of the Bible and one from the end of it where God walked among his people and had personal fellowship with them. 7. How many warnings of progressive harshness did God give Israel? 8. What predatory animal did Samson slay barehanded?

28 What predatory animals mauled some youngsters for making fun of Elisha? 10. In Revelation, what was the reaction of sinful people when God turned up the intensity of punishment? 11. Why did God allow the land to lie fallow the entire time of the captivity? 12. How many tribes of Israel comprised The Northern Kingdom and what became of them?

29 How does Israel s disobedience and the consequences of such demonstrate the principle of the sins of the fathers being visited on the children? 14. What usually happens to nations that forsake the godly principles upon which they were founded? 15. On what conditions did God say he would forgive Israel and remember the covenant He made with Jacob and with Abraham?

30 Who prayed the prayer of repentance that met the conditions God had set forth hundreds of years earlier? 17. How long were the Israelites in Babylon? 18. If they had failed to observe seventy sabbatical years, approximately how many years had they occupied the land before falling to Babylon? 19. What effect did the passing of time have on the validity of God s word?

31 What do we learn from 2 Peter 3:8-10 about the passing of time in God s view? 2 Peter 3:8-10, Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. (NET)