Leviticus 26:38

_AND YE SHALL PERISH AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES SHALL EAT YOU UP._ The land of your enemies ... On the removal of the ten tribes into captivity, they never returned, and all traces of them were lost....

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 parte...

Verse Leviticus 26:38. _THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES SHALL EAT YOU UP._] Does this refer to the total loss of the _ten tribes_? These are so completely swallowed up in _some enemies_' land, that nothing concerning their existence or place of residence remains but mere conjecture....

As “the book of the covenant” Exodus 20:22 concludes with promises and warnings Exodus 23:20, so does this collection of laws contained in the Book of Leviticus. But the former passage relates to the conquest of the land of promise, this one to the subsequent history of the nation. The longer similar passage in Deuteronomy Deut. 27–30 is marked by broader and deeper promises and denunciations having immediate reference not only to outward consequences, but to the spiritual death incurred by transgressing the divine will. Leviticus 26:4 RAIN IN DUE SEASON - The periodical rains, on which the fertility of the holy land so much depends, are here s

PART V. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION. EXPOSITION THE first two verses of this chapter contain a prohibition of idolatry, and a command to observe the sabbath and to reverence God's sanctuary; that is, they repeat in summary the substance of the Israelites, religious duty, negative and positive, as comprised in the first table of the Decalogue. They form, therefore, a prologue to the remainder of the chapter, which solemnly announces: 1. The blessings. which should result from obedience (Leviticus 26:3). 2. The curses which should follow disobedience (Leviticus 26:14-3). 3. The gracious treatment which would ensue on repentance ...

AND YE SHALL PERISH AMONG THE HEATHEN,.... Not utterly, but great numbers of them, through change of air, and different diet, as Aben Ezra, and through the cruel usage of their enemies; for there is a body of them which continues unto this day; unless this is to be understood of the ten tribes, as R. Akiba b interprets it, who are supposed to be entirely lost and swallowed up among the nations where they were carried captive: AND THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES SHALL EAT YOU UP; they should die in it through one disease or another; by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so be buried in it; in which sense it may be said to eat them up, or consume them, for the grave swallows up and consumes all that are put into it; Jarchi says, this is to be understood of those that die in captivity. b In Torat Cohanim, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 197. 2.)...

5. THE BLESSING, THE CURSE AND ISRAEL'S HISTORY CHAPTER 26 _ 1. Obedience and the blessings (Leviticus 26:1)_ 2. Disobedience and the curse (Leviticus 26:14) 3. The restoration (Leviticus 26:40) This great chapter is very fitting for the close of this book. We have no types here, but direct utterances of Jehovah. Israel's history and their future restoration is here predicted. He reminds them that He brought them out of the land of Egypt; they are His people. Therefore He wants obedience. If this is yielded blessings would be the results. These promised blessings consisted in abundance of rain, great fruitfulness of their land, peace in the land, deliverance from wi

The results of neglect of the third warning: the extremities of famine and captivity; siege; desolation of the country, destruction of the cities, uselessness of all religious observances; dispersion of the nation; desertion of Palestine and abject misery of the survivors. Such experiences of famine and siege as are described in 2 Kings 6:25 f. would be familiar in the last years of Jerusalem, and the reference to exile (more definite than in Deuteronomy 28; _cf._ to Egypt, 68) suggests the years after, and immediately before, 586 B.C. The mention of the local sanctuaries (Leviticus 26:31) shows that they cannot all have been destroyed in the reformation of 621 B.C. The reference to the Sabbaths of the land breaks the sense and appears to be an insertion....

_The penalties that shall ensue, if Israel prove disobedient_(Cp. Deuteronomy 28:15 ff.) They are arranged in five groups, viz. (_a_) Leviticus 26:16-18, (_b_) Leviticus 26:19-20, (_c_) Leviticus 26:21; Leviticus 26:32, (_d_) Leviticus 26:23-26, (_e_) Leviticus 26:27-39, overthrow a

THE LAND OF YOUR ENEMIES SHALL EAT YOU UP— This was literally fulfilled in the captivity of the ten tribes, as well as in the sufferings and oppressions, which the rest of the family of Israel have undergone _for their own and the iniquities of their fathers;_ Leviticus 26:39. REFLECTIONS.—As God encouraged to obedience by rewards, he threatened the disobedient with the most awful judgments. If mercy will not draw them, at least let terror drive them. 1. The sins that God threatens are, wilful disobedience persisted in, with impenitence under their chastisements. This is supposed to begin in carelessness and disregard of God's commandments, the consequence of which would soon be to despise them. Sin is a down-hill road; the transition from evil to worse is most natural. When they began to slight religion, destruction would hasten apace; they would then loath it