Matthew Poole and continuators on Leviticus 26

1 YE shall make you no idols, nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing 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.

Or, pillar, to wit, to worship it, or bow down to it, as it follows. Otherwise this was not simply prohibited being practised by holy men both before and after this Law. Compare Exod. 23. 24. Deut. 16. 22. So Exod. 20. 4. They are forbidden to make images, not simply or for any use, but for worship.

Marginal references: Exod. 20. 4. Deut. 5. 8. and 16. 12. and 27. 15. Psal. 77. 7.; Or, pillar.; Or fig[illegible: 1+ letters] stone.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of picture.

2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary : I am the LORD.

By purging and preserving it from all uncleanness, by approaching to it and managing all the services of it with reverence and in such manner onely as God hath appointed.

Marginal references: chap. 19. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].

4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the t[illegible: 1+ letters]es of the field shall yield their fruit.

Therefore God placed them not in a land where there were such rivers as Nilus, to water it and make it fruitful, but in a land which depended wholly upon the rain of heaven, the key whereof God kept in his own hand, that so he might the more effectually oblige them to obedience, in which their happiness consisted.

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.

(i. e.) You shall have so plentiful an harvest, that you shall not be able to thresh out your corn in a little time, but that work will last till the vintage.

Marginal references: Amos. 9. 13.; Job 11. 18.

6 And I will give peace 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 .

(i. e.) War, as the sword is oft taken, as Numb. 14. 3. 2 Sam. 12. 10. Otherwise there is the sword of justice.

(i. e.) It shall not enter into it nor have passage through it, much less shall your land be made the seat of war.

Marginal references: Job. 11. 19. Isa. 35. 9. Ezek. 34. 25.; Heb. cause to [illegible: 1 word].

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.

(i. e.) A small number, a certain number for an uncertain.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 30. Josh. 23. 10.

9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

h (i. e.) Actually perform all that I have promised you in my covenant made with you.

10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old, because of the new.

Or, cast out, throw them away as having no occasion to spend them, or give them to the poor, or even to your cattel, that you may make way for the new corn, which also is so plentiful, that of it self it will fill up your [illegible: 1+ letters]arns.

11 And I will set my tabernacle amongst you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

As I have placed it, so I will continue it among you, and not remove it from you, as once I did upon your miscarriage, Exod. 33. 7.

Marginal references: Ezek. 37. 26.

12 And I will walk among you , and will be your God, and ye shall be my people .

As I have hitherto done both by my pillar of cloud and fire and by my Tabernacle, which have walked or gone along with you in all your journeys, and staid among you in all your stations, to protect, conduct, instruct and comfort you.

I will own you for that peculiar people which I have singled out of the mass of mankind to bless you here and to save you hereafter.

Marginal references: 2 Cor. 6. 16.

13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bond-men, and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright .

With heads lifted up, not pressed down with a yoke. It notes their liberty, security, confidence and glory. See Exod. 14. 8. Numb. 33. 3.

15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhorre my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant .

(i. e.) Break your part or conditions of that covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from the blessings promised on my part.

16 I also will do this unto you, I will even appoint over you terrour, consumption, and the 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.

I will give them power over you that you shall not be able to avoid or resist them.

By the decay of spirits and affluence of ill humours.

Marginal references: Heb. upon you.; [illegible: 1+ letters]ob 31. 8. Jer. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. and 12. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

19 And I will break the pride of your power , and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass :

(i. e.) Your strength of which you are proud, your numerous and united forces, your kingdom, yea your Ark and Sanctuary.

The heavens shall yield you no rain, nor the earth fruits.

20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

Spent in plowing and sowing and tilling the ground.

21 And if ye walk contrary unto me , and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.

Or, carelesly or heedlesly with me or before me, i. e. so as to be careless and unconcerned whether you please me or offend me. This is opposed to exact and circumspect walking with God, as Abraham did, Gen. 17. 1. and all are to do, Eph[illegible: 1+ letters]. 5. 15.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1+ letters]t all advent[illegible: 1+ letters]s with [illegible: 1 word] ▪ and so v. 24.

22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattel, and make you few in number, and your high ways shall be desolate .

By reason of the fewness of Travellers and people and the terrour of wild beasts growing more numerous thereby.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 24. Ezek. 5. 17.; Judg. 5. 6. 2 Chro. 15. 5. Isa. 33. 8. Lam. 1. 4.

24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you , and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

Or, carelesly with you or towards you, i. e. I will put you out of my care and protection.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 22. 27. Psal. 18. 26.

25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge 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 enemy .

(i. e.) My quarrel with you for your breach of your saith and covenant made with me.

Because those few that shall be left of the pestilence will be unable to defend you in your cities or strong-holds.

26 And when I have broken the staff 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 satisfied.

Either 1. by taking away that power and vertue of nourishing which I have put into bread or food, which when I withdraw, it will be unable to nourish. Or rather 2. by sending a famine or scarcity of bread, which is the staffe and support of mans present life, Psal. 104. 15. for so this phrase is commonly used and elsewhere explained, as Psal. 105. 16. Ezek. 4. 16. and so the following words expound it here.

(i. e.) Ten or many families, for the women took care for the bread and food of all the family.

This is a sign and consequence both of a famine, and of the baking of the bread of several families together in one oven, wherein each family took care to weigh their bread and to receive the same proportion which they put in. Compare Ezek. 4. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

Marginal references: Isa. 3. 1. Ezek. 5. 16. and 14. 13.; Micah 6. 14. H[illegible: 1+ letters]g. 1. 6.

28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury , and I, even I will chastise you seven times for your sins.

Or, in fury of rashness or carelesness with you or among you, like a raging lion breaking into a multitude of people and destroying all he meets with promiscuously or without any distinction, both righteous and wicked together, as is threatned, Ezek. 21. 3. Or, in fury of contrariety or meeting with you or against you, like a man that meets his enemy in the fury of battel.

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons , and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

Through extreme hunger. See Lam. 4. 10.

Marginal references: Deut. 28. 53. Ezek. 5. 10.

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.

In which you will sacrifice after the manner of the Heathens. See Levit. 19. 26. Numb. 33. 52.

Or, Your images of the Sun, made for the honour and worshipping of the sun, and having some resemblance to it. See 2 Chron. 34. 7. Under this one kind of Idolatry famous and frequent in those times and places he contains all the rest.

So he calls them, either to signifie that their Idols how specious soever or glorious in their eyes were in truth but lifeless and contemptible carcases, having eyes but see not, &c. Psal. 115. 5. or to shew that their Idols should be so far from helping them that they should be thrown down and broken with them and both should lie together in a forlorn and loathsome state.

Marginal references: 2 Chro. 34. 7. Ezek. 6. 4, 5, 13.

31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours .

Either 1. Gods Sanctuary, called Sanctuaries here, as also Psal. 73. 17. and 74. 7. Ier. 51. 51. Ezek. 28. 18. because there were divers appartiments in it, each of which was a Sanctuary or, which is all one, an holy place, as they are severally called. And your emphatically, not mine, for I disown and abhor it and all the services you do in it, because you have defiled it. Or 2. The Temples built by you to Idols, therefore called their Sanctuaries, in opposition to Gods. Or 3. Your Synagogues. But the first is most probable, because he speaks of the place where they used to offer their sweet odours here following.

(i. e.) Not own or accept them. See Gen. 8. 21. Isa. 1. 11, &c.

Either of the incense, or of your other sacrifices, which, when offered with faith and obedience are very sweet and acceptable to me.

Marginal references: Lam. 1. 10. Ezek. 9. 6. and 21. 7.

32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein , shall be astonished at it .

Having driven you out and possessed your places.

See Lam. 5. 12.

33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you : and your land shall be desolate, and your cities wast.

The sword shall follow you into strange lands, and you shall have no rest there.

Marginal references: Deut. 4. 27. and 28. 62, 64.

34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies land, even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths .

Either 1. because it shall be rid of you who were the unprofitable and heavy burdens thereof, under whom it in a manner groaned. Or rather 2. because it shall now enjoy those Sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you through covetousness oft-times would not give it, as the next verse informs us, though God commanded it, Levit. 25. 4.

Marginal references: 2 Chron. 36. 21.; Or, accomplish. See Job. 14. 6.

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.

The word notes a tenderness and softness of mind whereby they are disenabled from bearing the present miseries and are in continual dread of further and sorer miseries.

Marginal references: Prov. 28. 1.; Heb. driven.

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.

As souldiers use to do when their ranks are broken and they forced to flee away hastily from their pursuers.

Your guilt and fear causing you to imagine that they do pursue you when indeed they do not.

Marginal references: Isa. 10. 4.

39 And they that are left of you, shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies lands, and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

Be consumed and melt away by degrees through diseases, oppressions, griefs and manifold miseries.

Marginal references: Ezek. 4. 17. & 6. 9. & 20. 44. & 24. 23. & 33. 10. & 36. 31. Hos. 5. 15.

40 If they shall confess 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,

Heb. And they shall confess, where our translation and many others understand the particle if, which is also wanting and understood. Exod. 4. 23. Mal. 1. 2. and 3. 8. So here, And if they shall confess, &c. But there seems no necessity of any such supplement, but these and the following words may be taken as they lye in their plain and proper signification, to this purpose, ver. 40. And through the heaviness and extraordinariness of their affliction their consciences will force them to confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they have trespassed against me, i. e. with their prevarication with me and defection from me to Idolatry, which by way of eminency he calls their trespass: and that also they have walked contrary to me, v. 41. and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies: i. e. that they are not come into these calamities by chance, nor by the misfortune of war, but by my just judgment upon them. All which confession is no more than Pharaoh made in his distresses, and than hypocrites in their affliction use to make. And therefore he addes, if then their uncircumcised, i. e. impure, carnal, profane, and impenitent, hearts be humbled, i. e. subdued, purged, reformed: if to this confession they adde sincere humiliation and reformation, I will do what follows.

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 humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity .

The Hebrew word avon commonly signifies iniquity, but it is oft used for the punishment of iniquity, as here and 1 Sam. 28. 10. Psal. 31. 10. Isa. 53. 6, 11. The meaning is, if they sincerely acknowledge the righteousness of God and their own wickedness, and patiently submit to his correcting hand, and would rather be in their present suffering condition, than in their former sinful, though prosperous, estate; if with David, they are ready to say, it is good for them that they are afflicted, that they may learn Gods statutes, and obedience to them for the future, which is a good evidence of true repentance.

Marginal references: Jer. 6. 10. Rom. 2. 29. Col. 2. 11.

42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land .

To wit, so as to perform it and make good all that I have promised in it. For words of knowledge or remembrance in Scripture do most commonly connote affection and kindness: of which there are many instances some given before, and more hereafter.

Which now seems to be forgotten and neglected and despised, as if I had never chosen it to be the peculiar place of my presence and blessing.

44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhorre them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God .

Neither the desperateness of their condition, nor the greatness of their sins shall make me wholly make void my covenant with them and their ancestours, but I will in due time remember them for good, and for my covenants sake return to them in mercy. From this place the Iews take great comfort and assure themselves of deliverance out of their present servitude and misery. And from this and such other places St. Paul concludes, that the Israelitish nation, though then rejected and ruined, should be gathered again and restored.

Marginal references: Deut. 4. 31. Rom. 11. 26.

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 sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

Or rather, to or for them, i. e. for their good or benefit, for surely, if one considers what is said before concerning the wickedness of this people, he cannot say this deliverance was given them for their sakes, but must rather say with the Prophet, Ezek. 36. 22, 32. not for your sake, O house of Israel, &c.