Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Leviticus
Book: Leviticus
Chapter: 26
Overview:
Promises upon keeping the precepts.
(1-13) Threatenings
against disobedience.
(14-39) God promises to remember those
that repent.
(40-46)
1-13 This
Chapter contains a general enforcement of all the
laws given
By Moses;
By promises of reward in case of obedience,
On the one
Hand; and threatenings of
Punishment for
disobedience,
On the other. While
Israel maintained a national
regard to
God's
Worship, sabbaths, and
Sanctuary, and did not
turn aside to
Idolatry, the
Lord engaged to continue to them
temporal mercies and religious advantages. These great and
precious promises, though they relate chiefly to the
Life which
now is, were typical of the spiritual blessings made sure
By the
Covenant of
Grace to all believers, through
Christ. 1. Plenty
and abundance of the fruits of the
Earth. Every good and perfect
Gift must be expected from above, from the
Father of lights. 2.
Peace under the Divine protection. Those
Dwell in safety, that
Dwell in
God. 3. Victory and success in their wars. It is all
one with the
Lord to save
By many or
By few. 4. The increase of
their people. The
Gospel Church shall be fruitful. 5. The favour
of
God, which is the
Fountain of all Good. 6. Tokens of his
presence in and
By his ordinances. The way to have
God's
ordinances fixed among us, is to cleave closely to them. 7. The
Grace of the
Covenant. All
Covenant blessings are summed up in
the
Covenant relation, I will be your
God, and ye shall be my
people; and they are all grounded upon their
Redemption. Having
purchased them,
God would own them, and never cast them off till
they cast him off.
14-39 After
God has set the blessing before them which would
make them a happy people if they would be obedient, he here sets
the
Curse before them, the evils which would make them
miserable, if they were disobedient. Two things would bring
ruin. 1. A contempt of
God's
Commandments. They that reject the
precept, will come at last to renounce the
Covenant. 2. A
contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience
By
the things they suffer,
God himself would be against them; and
this is the root and cause of all their misery. And also, The
whole
Creation would be at
War with them. All
God's sore
judgments would be sent against them. The threatenings here are
very particular, they were prophecies, and He that foresaw all
their rebellions, knew they would prove
So. TEMPORAL judgments
are threatened. Those who will not be parted from their sins
By
the commands of
God, shall be parted from them
By judgments.
Those wedded to their lusts, will have enough of them. SPIRITUAL
judgments are threatened, which should seize the mind. They
should find
No acceptance with
God. A guilty
Conscience would be
their continual terror. It is righteous with
God to leave those
to despair of
Pardon, who presume to
Sin; and it is owing to
free
Grace, if we are not left to pine away in the iniquity we
were born in, and have lived in.
40-46 Among the Israelites, persons were not always prosperous
or afflicted according to their obedience or disobedience. But
national prosperity was the effect of national obedience, and
national judgments were brought
On By national wickedness.
Israel was under a
Peculiar Covenant. National wickedness will
End in the ruin of any people, especially where the
Word of God
and the
Light of the
Gospel are enjoyed. Sooner or later,
Sin
will be the ruin, as
Well as the reproach, of every people. Oh
that, being humbled for our sins, we might avert the rising
storm before it bursts upon us!
God grant that we may, in this
our
Day, consider the things which belong to our eternal peace.