Leviticus 26:14

The Bible says in Leviticus 26:14-17, “But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;[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 break my covenant:[16] I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, 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.[17] And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.” In these verses the Lord tells the children of Israel what would happen if they did not keep their side of the Covenant of the Law. It was going to be ugly for them, and it turned out to be exactly what happened to them and why. They did not “hearken” unto God. That means that they did not listen to God because they did not want to listen to Him. It was not important to them to hear God’s Word for the purpose of obeying it and putting it into practice. Verse fourteen also says that they would not do “all” God’s commandments. The law set a very high standard. The law required total obedience. That was the law’s greatest weakness. No human being has ever totally obeyed the Father, except for Jesus. In both verses fourteen and fifteen God said that they would not do “all” the commandments. No justification for failure is given. If you fail, it is your fault that you fail. That is the law. That is God’s law. How fortunate we are through Jesus that we are not under law, but under grace.

The Israelites also despised God’s statutes and abhorred his judgments. The words “statutes” and “judgments” are other terms for the Word of God. The Bible is the greatest book in the world. Surely everyone loves the Bible, and wants to hear it preached and taught, and wants to know it the best that they can. Unfortunately, not everyone does. They not only took prayer out of our public schools, but they took the Bible out too. That was the biggest mistake. You can always pray within your heart, but if you take the Bible our of a child’s life, what have you done to the children? You have kept them from the most important words ever penned: the Word of God. If we become a society that despises and abhors the Word of God, we will doom ourselves to a terrible destiny.

Notice the things that God said would happen to the Israelites once they rejected God’s Word. It says in verse sixteen that Israelites would have terror, disease, sorrow, and that their enemies would conquer them. Consumption means that they would waste away, and the burning ague refers to having a fever: in other words they would be sick all the time. Often physical health is related to our relationship with God. Get spiritually right with God and you will usually improve physically too. Verse seventeen says that their enemies would kill them and rule over them, and that they would be full of fear. Remember that God is in charge of the world and in charge of every person. God determines all the outcomes. God makes things happen. That is why believers are reminded in this age of grace in which we live in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God and for them that are the called according to His purpose.”

In the rest of this chapter the Lord continues to describe how bad it will be for the children of Israel if they break the covenant of the Law and stop following the Lord. The Bible says in Leviticus 26:18-22, “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.[19] And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:[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.[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.[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 highways shall be desolate.[23] And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me.” In verse eighteen the Lord said to the Jewish people, “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me…” The Lord is referring to the judgments of the previous verses. God is saying that He would bring judgments initially as a chance for them to learn from their mistakes. But if they did not learn and turn back to Him, then even more catastrophic things would happen to them. The same spiritual principle is in effect for Christians. If we do not judge ourselves and turn from our sins to the Lord daily, then we will be in big trouble because Christians are told in Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

In verse nineteen God said, “I will break the pride of your power.” Where did their power come from? It came from the Lord. The Lord blessed them and that is why they had power. But as they went away from the Lord, they started to think that what they had came from themselves. They stopped giving God the glory, and they became proud. “Pride goeth before destruction.” In verse twenty God said that their efforts would not be blessed. In verse twenty-one God said that they would have “seven times more plagues” than what they had already had. In verse twenty-two God said that He would send wild animals to attack them and to harm them.

After all of the above consequences, God gives them another chance to learn from what is happening to them. The Bible says in Leviticus 26:23-26, “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 seven times for your sins.[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.[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.” In verse twenty-four God said that He would be contrary to them, and He would give them “seven times” what had already happened to them. In verse twenty-five God said that He would bring war and disease, and that they would be “delivered into the hand of the enemy.” Verse twenty-six means that they would not have enough food, and one reason is that there would not be enough equipment to prepare and cook enough food for everyone.

And once again after all of the above consequences, God gives them another chance to learn from what is happening to them. The Bible says in Leviticus 26:27-33, “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 chastise you seven times for your sins.[29] And ye shall eat the flesh 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.[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.[32] And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.[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 waste.” Notice the spiritual problem that the Israelites have as it is described in verse 27. They “will not for all this hearken” unto God. That means that they will not give ear to, listen, nor obey God. To obey you must listen to His Word because you want to know His will. You seek Him and His will. The Jewish people decided to “walk contrary” unto God. They purposely walked in a way in life that they knew was against God’s will. God wants us to walk with Him. That is God’s will for our lives. “Enoch walked with God, and then he was not.” Look what happened to the Israelites when they refused to walk with God. God came against them with “fury.” Verse twenty-nine says that they would become cannibals and eat their own children. The high places mentioned in verse thirty were the places of false religion. Of course, God hated those places. God wants us to know the truth about Jesus and serve Him. There is nothing worse than turning from the Lord and His revealed Word to false religion. In verse thirty-one God said that their cities would be destroyed. In verse thirty-two God said that their land would be in “desolation.” God repeats the warning about their cities and their land in verse thirty-three. In verse thirty-two God said that their destruction would be so great that even their enemies would be astonished at the destruction. Notice carefully that God said in verse thirty-three, “I will scatter you among the heathen.” This is the reason that the Jews were scattered all over the world, where most of them remain today. There are still many more Jews outside of Israel then in Israel. They are not in the Promised Land because God cast them out. Right now a few Jews get saved when they believe on Jesus, just like us Gentiles. But some day at the return of Christ, the Jewish people in great numbers will believe in the Messiah whom they have pierced.

The Bible says in Leviticus 26:34-39, “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.[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 enemies shall eat you up.[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.” Since the Israelites were going to break all of God’s commandments including the commandment to “remember the Sabbath Day,” In verses thirty-four and thirty-five it says that God had His way of at least giving the land its Sabbath. Once the people were either dead or scattered into the heathen nations, at least then the land would have its rest. Everything is of God. The Lord can make you brave or the Lord can make you of a faint heart. The latter is what happened to the Jewish people. They were beaten into submission and into constant fear. They feared even when there was no need to fear. It says in verses thirty-six and thirty-seven that they would run away “when none pursueth.” In verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine they were told that they would die in the countries of the heathen enemies. That means that they would not be returning to the Promised Land any time soon. That is for sure: it has been centuries, and they still are dispersed around the world. All of the things that God said would happen did happen. Of course, only God knows the future. Everyone had better take God’s warnings seriously. Here is a warning from the New Testament in Romans 1:16, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

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