Lev 25:1-27:34

• Review of the Feasts of the Lord (source: Constable, Leviticus, 2010). Interpretation (www.ariel.org/feasts.html, as of 29 May 2010)
  

  
  

• NT Context
  
  • Passover -- Jesus' death on the cross as the lamb of God
    
  • Unleavened Bread -- the application of the blood to the NT saints (removal of sin stain)
    
  • First Fruits -- Jesus' ascension into heaven as the first fruits of those who fall asleep
    
  • Pentecost -- The giving of the Holy Spirit upon the believers; writing the law on the hearts of believers
    
  • Trumpets -- rapture of the saints
    
  • Atonement -- Jesus' second coming, his judgment, and the redemption of Israel
    
  • Tabernacles (or Ingathering) -- The wedding Feast
    

  Lev 26:3-12 (NIV) "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.
  

  6 "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
  

  9 "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
  

• Very similar to a legal treaties during that time. Also seen in Exodus 23:25-33, Deuteronomy 28:1-68, and Joshua 24:20. Exodus 23 concerned the conquest of Canaan; Leviticus 26-27 concern the time after the land is conquered
  
• A key component of the OT law is the conditionality aspect, seen in verse 3. What is the conditional statement exactly and does it require perfection?
  
  • "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands ..."
    
  • What is the difference between the two conditions?
    
    • The word careful seems to suggest that one does not have to be perfect, and in fact there a decrees to follow when you fail. So you follow the decrees, but be careful to obey the commands
      
• What are the results of following the decrees and obeying the law (remember: to the person under the OT Law)?
  
  • Rain, crops, fruit, long harvests, food (sustenance)
    
  • Safety, peace, no fear (individual safety)
    
  • Removal of wild animals, no armies marching through, victory in battle (national safety)
    
  • Increase in population, abundance (growth and material blessing)
    
  • God's presence, God's approval (spiritual blessing). Verse 11, "dwelling" is where we get the word "shekinah"
    
• Is any part of the new covenant conditional?
  
  • The word "if" is used in arguments and a number of contexts, but few relating to a person's walk and the consequences of failure. Here are a few that I found:
    

    1 Cor 3:12-17 (NIV) If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. //16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
    

    Gal 6:9 (NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
    

    1 Tim 4:15-16 (NIV) Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
    

    2 Tim 2:11-13 (NIV) Here is a trustworthy saying: // If we died with him, // we will also live with him; // 12 if we endure, // we will also reign with him. // If we disown him, // he will also disown us; // 13 if we are faithless, // he will remain faithful, // for he cannot disown himself.
    

    2 Tim 2:20-21 (NIV) In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
    

    2 Peter 1:8-10 (NIV) if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. // 10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
    

• APPLICATION: I cannot find any NT verse that offers material blessings like the OT law. I do believe, even from these that there are spiritual blessings to those who serve God well
  

  Lev 26:14-35 (NIV) "'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.
  

  18 "'If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
  

  21 "'If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.
  

  23 "'If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.
  

  27 "'If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30 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. 31 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. 32 I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33 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. 34 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. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
  

• So the conditions of failure are spelled out how?
  
  • Will not listen (inward rejection and stubborn)
    
  • (will not) carry out (stubborn)
    
  • Reject my decrees (outward)
    
  • Abhor my laws (heart attitude that affects outward actions)
    
  • Fail to carry out my laws (ultimately, disobedience)
    
• Moses revealed five levels or waves of punishment (Constable, 2009)
  
  • 26:14-17 The "terror" spoken of (v. 16) is probably a description of the Israelites' general feeling in response to the particular calamities that follow. These punishments were disease, lack of agricultural fruitfulness, and defeat by their enemies.
    
  • 26:18-20 The second stage of barren land might follow (one curse; cf. 1 Kings 17:1).
    
  • 26:21-22 The third stage would be divine extermination of their cattle and children (two curses).
    
  • 26:23-26 The fourth stage would be war, plagues, and famine (three curses).
    
  • 26:27-33 The fifth stage would be the destruction of the Israelites' families, idolatrous practices and places, land, and nation through dispersion (four curses).
    
  • In her history in the land Israel experienced all of these curses because she eventually despised the Mosaic Law. The record of this failure is not consistent. There were periods of revival and consequent blessing. Nevertheless the general course of the nation proceeded downward.
    
  • 26:34-39 The length of the Babylonian captivity was 70 years because the Israelites failed to observe 70 sabbatical years in the land (2 Chron. 36:21; cf. Jer. 29:10).
    
• These are particular aspects that are unique to Israel under the law
  
• Does the new covenant have any warnings?
  
  • 1 Cor 16:22 (NIV) If anyone does not love the Lord — a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!
    
  • 1 Cor 4:14-16 (NIV) I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
    
  • Gal 5:19-21 (NIV) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
    
  • 1 Thess 5:14 (NIV) And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
    
  • 2 Thess 3:14-15 (NIV) If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
    
  • 2 Tim 2:14 (NIV) Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.
    
  • Titus 3:10-11 (NIV) Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
    
  • APPLICATION: A believer, who does not live rightly or is divisive, is to be treated unwelcome. And there is also a loss of reward in heaven (previous Corinthian passage)