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More Leviticus commentaries
Leviticus 23:1-14
Certain times for feasting
Leviticus 23:15-22
What to do when there is sin in Church
Leviticus 23:23-32
Pentecost celebrates the wheat harvest
Leviticus 23:33-44
The “Feast of Tabernacles” was their Thanksgiving
Leviticus 25:1-17
Rest for land and people is important
Leviticus 26:1-13
Blessing promised for obedience
Leviticus 26:14-39
Disobedience brings judgment
Leviticus 26:40-46
Except you repent you will perish!
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Except you repent you will perish!
Leviticus 26:40–46
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
“Repentance is not basically a religious word. It comes from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It’s easy to get lost walking through the desert. You become aware that the country side is strange. You fina … More
God is faithful to His Covenant even though Israel broke their covenant with Him. Although God will chasten His rebellious people, He does not utterly cast them off. When they repent of their sin, God remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and they are delivered from their enemies (vv 40-43)f. This principle is repeatedly illustrated in the book of Judges. In the days of prosperity, Israel forsook God and adopted the idolatrous practices of the heathen. At that point enemy nations oppressed Israel until they were in despair and they cried out to God for deliverance. He heard their prayers and raised up a judge who brought military victory. Then prosperity brought its temptations, and Israel forgot God and lapsed into idolatry. This round of chastisement, repentance and deliverance was repeated several times
This may also be illustrated by the events of the Babylonian exile. While the exile was a punishment brought on by the idolatry of God’s people, it was also a means of preserving a faithful remnant who confessed and forsook their sins. God proved Himself faithful in bringing them back to their land where in the fulness of time, the Savior was born.
The Lord is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6-7). Yes, God may punish His people, but He will never reject them or cast them away (vv. 44-46). In fact a big reason for His chastening is to bring His erring people back to His loving arms where He can enjoy them and bless them once again. God will someday fulfill His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) by blessing a repentant generation of Jews in the land of Israel.
Application
God’s covenant with His people never changes; and if we confess our sins (I John 1:9) and repent, He will forgive and restore (v. 40). Lord, help me to deal with my pride and when I sin be quick to confess it to you.
Leviticus 26:40-46 (English Standard Version)
""But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies--if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, 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 and rules and laws that the LORD made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.
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