Today we'll be concluding the remainder of Leviticus 26. The Lord has been warning the Israelites of the discipline they will face if they turn away from Him in the promised land. So far He has outlined the steps He will have to take if they become rebellious and if they continue to grow in their rebellion. We noted that the penalties for rebellion would grow in response to the severity of the rebellion. Now we pick up with verse 30 and we can tell from the Lord's words that He's speaking here of the rebellion of idolatry.
"I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you." (Leviticus 26:30) The high places and incense altars mentioned here are pagan places of worship. Idolatry is an abhorrent sin. The Lord who loves Israel has called her His own, has rescued her from slavery, has provided for her in the wilderness, and intends to take her to a bountiful land where He will continue to provide for her abundantly. If she turns her back on a God like that in favor of useless, nonexistent deities, the Lord considers this to be especially detestable behavior. And Israel will do it---at least some of her citizens will. But we certainly can't point a finger at her because we have all put God on the back burner any time we have chosen our own ways over God's ways. We've committed idolatry whenever we've put ourselves ahead of God and whenever we've put anyone else or anything else ahead of God. The Lord is telling the Israelites that He will see to it that the detestable altars they raise up will be torn down, even if it means the idolaters lose their lives. It would be better for the nation as a whole for idolaters to perish than for the idolaters to lure all the citizens into false worship, for then the entire nation would perish.
If a large portion of the people fall into idolatry and do not repent, the Lord will allow the nation to fall into the hands of the enemy. "I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings." (Levitics 26:31) Later in the Old Testament we'll find the people trying to have their cake and eat it too; they'll be practicing idol worship while going through the motions of worshiping the Lord at the same time. He will be so repulsed by this that He will beg the people to stop bringing meaningless offerings to His house. (See Isaiah 1 for the full discourse.)
During the reign of King Solomon's son, Rehoboam, the nation of Israel will split in two. The ten northern tribes will retain the name "Israel" and will move their capital to a city called Samaria. The two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, will become known only as "Judah" and this kingdom will still have its capital at Jerusalem where Solomon's temple was built. The northern kingdom will fall into idolatry far more quickly than the southern kingdom, perhaps because they do not have the temple in their midst. As discipline for their idolatry, and for their repeated refusal to turn away from it, the Lord will allow the northern kingdom to fall to the Assyrian army. Those who are not killed in battle are carried away captive by the Assyrians. It will take the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah quite a bit longer to fall to the same level of dissoluteness as the northern kingdom, and during that century the Lord will send Judah prophet after prophet to beg the citizens to repent. When they do not, the Lord will allow the southern kingdom to fall to the Babylonian army.
The majority of the citizens of Judah will be taken captive to Babylon for seventy or so years, during which time the land of Judah will lie fallow, and this the type of situation the Lord is talking about when He says the following: "I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out My sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it." (Leviticus 26:32-35) Why did the land not rest while it was occupied? Because evidently they failed to observe the sabbath years that the Lord commanded them. We have already seen in Leviticus that the land is to be allowed to rest every seventh year and also every fiftieth year---the Year of Jubilee. The people apparently do not obey the Lord's command and therefore the land will at last have its rest while they are absent from it in the foreign land of their enemy.
Some of the people will perish by the sword when they are conquered. On the one hand this may seem like the worst fate, but life will be no picnic for those who survive. "As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the land of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors' sins they will waste away." (Leviticus 26:36-39)
The lives of those captured by the enemy will be fraught with anxiety. The least little thing will throw them into a panic and they will take off running even though no one is after them. We find the author of Proverbs saying something similar to what the Lord is saying in verses 36-39: "The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." (Proverbs 28:1) The person who knows he is in the wrong must always deal with the stress of keeping his wrong ways hidden. He must always deal with the fear of judgment. But the person whose heart is right with God need not fear the judgment of God and this gives him the bold courage of knowing his God is with him. And if God is with him, what else does he need? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)
All is not lost, however, if the tribes of Israel fall away from God and fall into sin. Their fall is not irrevocable. They have not been abandoned by their God. If they will turn back to Him, He will turn back to them. "But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors---their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward Me, which made Me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies---then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected My laws and abhorred My decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking My covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 26:4-45)
Even if the people fall into idolatry to the point of being defeated and captured, the Lord will still hear them if they repent and turn back to Him. But here in Leviticus 26 He warns them not to let things ever go that far. It's so much better to do what's right in the first place than to face the chastisement of a righteous God. "These are the decrees, the laws and regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between Himself and the Israelites through Moses." (Leviticus 26:46)
No comments:
Post a Comment