Old Testament Commentary - Leviticus 26

by Don R. Hender


Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
           CHAPTER 26            

Temporal and spiritual blessings to abound in Israel if they keep the commandments—Cursing, scourging, and desolation shall be theirs if they disobey the Lord—When his people repent, the Lord will show mercy unto them.

  1 YE shall make you no aidols nor bgraven image, neither rear you up a cstanding image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
  2 ¶ Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and areverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
 1a Lev. 10:1 (1-2)
 2a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25);
     Heb. 10:19 (19-22)
  b TG Veil
  c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43);
     Ex. 40:34 (34-35);
     D&C 97:16 (15-17);
     D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13);
     Abr. 2:19 (19-20)

  3 ¶ If ye awalk in my statutes, and bkeep my commandmentsa, and do them;
  4 Then I will agive you brain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
  5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
 3a If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments The conditions of man's covenant with God is based upon man keeping the 'statutes' and 'commandments' of God. For which the Lord does bless his people. But if they will not keep the commandments and statutes of he Lord, then there are consequences and punishments which the Lord must minister unto man. For thus is the law of justice. And only mercy can remove men from the fate of it once they have broken the law, statutes and commands of God.  1a Lev. 10:1 (1-2)
 2a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25);
     Heb. 10:19 (19-22)
  b TG Veil
  c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43);
     Ex. 40:34 (34-35);
     D&C 97:16 (15-17);
     D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13);
     Abr. 2:19 (19-20)

  6 And I will agive bpeace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
  7 And ye shall chase your aenemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
  8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
 1a Lev. 10:1 (1-2)
 2a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25);
     Heb. 10:19 (19-22)
  b TG Veil
  c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43);
     Ex. 40:34 (34-35);
     D&C 97:16 (15-17);
     D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13);
     Abr. 2:19 (19-20)

  9 For I will ahave respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
  10 And ye shall eat old store, and abring forth the old because of the new.
  11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
 1a Lev. 10:1 (1-2)
 2a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25);
     Heb. 10:19 (19-22)
  b TG Veil
  c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43);
     Ex. 40:34 (34-35);
     D&C 97:16 (15-17);
     D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13);
     Abr. 2:19 (19-20)

  12 And I will awalk bamong you, and will be your cGod, and ye shall be my dpeople.
  13 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 ayoke, and made you go upright.
  14 ¶ But if ye will not ahearken unto me, and will not do all these bcommandments;
  15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye abreak my covenant:
  16 I also will ado this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, bconsumption, and cthe burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
  17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be aslain before your benemies: they that hate you shall creign over you; and ye shall dflee when none pursueth you.
  18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will apunish you seven times more for your sins.
  19 And I will break the apride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
  20 And your strength shall be aspent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
  21 ¶ And if ye walk acontrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more bplagues upon you according to your sins.
  22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ahigh ways shall be desolate.
  23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
  24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet aseven times for your sins.
  25 And I will bring a asword upon you, that shall bavenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the cenemy.
  26 And when I have abroken the bstaff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be csatisfied.
  27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
  28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will achastise you seven times for your sins.
  29 And ye shall aeat the bflesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
  30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

The Scattering of Israel Forestated

It was a part of the covenant of the Law of Moses under which the scattering of Israel did fall. In the following verses unto the end of this chapter, the Lord so states that as Israel has forsaken him and not kept his commandments that he will scatter Israel among the nations of the earth. The detail and straight forward pronouncements of what the Lord states will happen are set forth in a manner in which it is not a question of 'whether or not', but that Israel 'will' come to such fate. It was known by God even before he did bring the children of Israel into the promised land, even from the foundation of the world it would have been known of God; and it was therefore a part of the overall plan which he had known and prepared to deal with over the course of this earth's second estate, even until the end thereof.

  31 And I will make your cities awaste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and bI will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
  32 And I will bring the aland into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
  33 And I will ascatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be bdesolate, and your cities waste.
  34 Then shall the land enjoy her asabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
  35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
  36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
  37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
  38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your aenemies shall eat you up.
  39 And they that are left of you shall apine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
  40 If they shall aconfess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
  41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be ahumbled, and they then accept of the bpunishment of their iniquity:
  42 Then will I remember my acovenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with bAbraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
  43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
  44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their aenemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to bdestroy them utterly, and to break my ccovenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
 1a Lev. 10:1 (1-2)
 2a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25);
     Heb. 10:19 (19-22)
  b TG Veil
  c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43);
     Ex. 40:34 (34-35);
     D&C 97:16 (15-17);
     D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13);
     Abr. 2:19 (19-20)

  45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the asight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
  46 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.