Leviticus 26
1 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
Leviticus chapter 26, verse one. "You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to a it, for I am the Lord, your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord."
And with this, we now enter into our final study of the Book of Leviticus. And this is the penultimate chapter. So today, we'll cover chapter 26 and chapter 27. And in these first two verses of chapter 26, we have an introduction to an important chapter on what will happen to the people if they keep God's law. God was inviting them into this covenant. So we're going to see at the front half of this chapter the blessings for obedience. And in the back half of the chapter, the cursing that would come or the curses that would come, the negative results that would unfold if they lived in disobedience against God and broke the covenant that he gave to them.
But before God declares the blessings and the curses, he declares in the first two verses kind of a sum or summary of the entire law. He says on one hand, don't make idols. And he covers it in four different ways. Don't make an idol. Don't erect an image or pillar. Do not set up figured stone in your land to bow down to it, kind of covering every possibility of idolatry in that era. But then on the other hand, he says the positive. So what not to do. Idolatry. What to do, "Keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary," he says. "I am the Lord."
Really here, what we have at the end of this book is a declaration of total commitment to God. These two things are saying. "I am for the Lord, and I will neglect all false gods and all other systems in pursuit of him and his system alone." And of course for us, this is a great exhortation to the Christian life today. That Jesus calls out to us to forsake all and to follow after him.
I was just talking to my daughters this morning out of Mark's gospel chapter one, where Mark blasts onto the scene, declaring that John the Baptist came preparing the way of the Lord. Using terminology that relates to the preparation of a highway for an ancient king. And I asked my girls, I said, "What do you think Mark thinks of Jesus? What kind of person does he think that Jesus is?" And they said, "He must think that he's king, that he's a king that must be followed and pursued." But too many Christians don't have that concept of the Lord. They are nominal in nature. In other words, by name believers. But Jesus is not the king of their lives. But here, this is a declaration in the pages of the Old Testament saying, "I will forsake all other systems in Gods, and pursuits, and devotion. And I will pursue the Lord at the Lord alone, and the Sabbath system that he has prescribed for us."
And really, these two things serve as a protection for the people of Israel. If they were devoted intricately in detail to the Sabbath system, and if they were about attendance at the sanctuary for worship and not going up into the hills to the idols around them, God would bless their lives in powerful ways. In other words, great decay, destruction, and calamity could be avoided if they would protect their worship.
And I think this is an incredible concept for us to consider today, as we move through this passage and see the blessings and the curses, we'll be honest about the reality that this does not have a direct correlation to our experience today. We're not the promised land. We're not the promised nation. We're not God's nation or people in any of our earthly citizenry. But we are God's people in a special sense.
So as we obey the Lord today, there are blessings that will unfold in our lives. And if we refuse to walk with the Lord today, there are just ways that God will directly interact with us in a negative, disciplined kind of way to where he's calling us back into fellowship with himself. You must as a believer just like these citizens back in the Book of Leviticus were supposed to do, you must protect your worship, protect going to church, protect your time of lifting your hands to God in prayer and praise. Protect your time. Hearing the word protect your relationship with God. Forsake the idols, pursue the Lord.
Harvests
3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.
So God begins this chapter, which is just sort of a summary of everything that's come before. "Forsake idols, walk with me." Then he says in verse three, now getting into the blessings. He says, "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your reigns in their season. And the land shall yield its increase. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely."
The first blessing that God numbers for them is the blessing of bounty in their harvests. There would not be a gap in between their harvests, so their food would be plentiful. This is something that God would do for if they walked with him.
Now, the blessings and cursings that we're going to read about in this chapter, they pertain to pretty much everything having to do with civil life. Their fields, their cities, their fertility, the fertility of the land, and the herds and the flocks, their journeying about the land of Israel. All of it was going to be touched by their relationship with God. If they walked with him, these things would go well. If they did not walk with him, these things would go badly.
Now when God details their disobedience and says, "If you don't walk with me, if you don't heed my commandments, if you don't hold fast to your integrity." Over and over again, he'll repeat that kind of phrase. If you don't, if you don't, if you don't. But when he recounts the blessings, he just one time says in verse three, "If you walk in my statutes," and then they just unfold.
So with the curses, it's sequential. Here's step one, the discipline. If you don't turn, here's step two. If you don't turn, here's step three. If you don't turn, here's step four. But with the blessings, it's just, "If you walk with me, it all flows into your life. There's nothing that I will withhold from you." So this first blessing for Israel would be rains, or fruit, or harvest, or bread. They would prosper. God would provide for them. Their crops would be abundant.
Now of course, there is a repetition of this to a degree in the New Testament. Jesus said if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added unto us. And the things that he had previously been talking about were food and clothing, god's basic provision upon our lives.
Now of course, throughout the New Testament, what you discover is that the ideal for the Christian life is not necessarily great wealth or opulence. These external blessings in Israel were a sign of God's blessing. But we aren't called to be a people who necessarily flourish or prosper in that kind of way. God will take care of us. He will provide for us. But even the greatest heroes of the New Testament, the apostles and of course our Lord himself, they suffered immensely and they did not prosper in the physical material sense. But God provided for all of their needs. So there's an element of this in our New Testament era, but it's quite dissimilar to the way it was in the Old Testament era.
Peace
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.
Secondly, he says in verse six that he'll give them peace. He says, "I will give you peace in the land and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land. And the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase 100, 100 of you shall chase 10,000, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store, long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new."
So again, he blesses them not just with provision, but he blesses them also here we see with peace. They'd have victory over their enemies. They'd have relative peace from war in the land, peace among each other in the land when they walked with him.
Interestingly enough, I think that there were certain individuals who as time unfolded, they believed God and trusted God for some of these things. I think of David during a real low point in Israel's history, when Saul was seated on the throne. A man of the flesh, a man who was about himself. And the priesthood was in disarray, and the people of God were not really seeking God. And so as a result, the Philistines came into town.
But there were individuals like David who believed some of the things that God said here. "If you walk with me, you will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword." And I think it would take a man of faith like that walking with the Lord, singing to the Lord, praising the Lord, trusting the Lord. Then saying, "I believe that God do this kind of thing through me," who would then reignite the passions of others for the Lord. And God's victory would come in afresh. And of course, David's victory over Goliath is an example of the promise that's found here in verse six through 10.
God's Presence
11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
But not only that. And best of all, God's presence would come. Not just his provision, not just peace in the land, but his actual presence among them. He says in verse 11, "I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God. And you shall be my people. I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you walk erect."
Now, all of Leviticus and the worship system that is described here in Leviticus, it assumes that God wants to live among his people. I mean, that's what the tabernacle is all about. That God's presence would be found in the Holy of Holies, that the priests would seek the Lord there at the tabernacle, and in the altars, and in the sacrificial system. That the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once each year. And that the sins of the people would be atoned for. All of these things assumed the presence of God. The same cloud of smoke, the same pillar of fire, that the same presence of God would dwell among the people of God for centuries.
That was the hope. That was the desire. But here God is alluding to, he says, "Look, if you walk with me, my presence will be among you. I can do these types of things. I can give you that victory. I can give you that prosperity. And part of the reason why you should be confident that I can do these things is because of my past track record." He says, "Drew you out of Egypt. I gave you that victory." And as believers as Christians today, we look back not just to the Exodus, but we look back to the cross. We remember what Jesus has accomplished for us. And it gives us a confidence that God is able to do and perform what he has promised he can do and perform.
So as we read of him in the Old and New Testaments and see what he says that he'll do if we walk with him, we can be confident that he's capable of these things, wills to do these things, is prone and inclined to do these things, because we look back at the cross of Christ. So God is saying to them, "Look, I'm the one who brought the plagues on the land of Egypt. I can prosper you. I can bring rain. I can give you harvests. If I could do all of that, I can do this. I'm the one who delivered you from the Egyptians and their incredible and world dominating armies. So I can give you victory over the surrounding nations. It's my presence that will accomplish these things. So walk with me, and I will make my dwelling among you."
And of course for us today, this is the most precious thing that we have. That we become as Paul the apostle said in Second Corinthians 6:16, "The temple of the living God." That as we walk with him, that as we walk in the light, as John said in First John chapter one, "His presence is there with us and he blesses us, and does amazing things in and through our lives."
Now before we move on to the curses here in chapter 26, I want to make one statement that not every Christian would agree with theologically. But the statement is that these blessings that are listed here, they seem to have ultimate final and total fulfillment in the future for Israel.
In Romans 9, 10, and 11, Paul seems to indicate that God is not finished with the people of Israel. That his plans will still yet unfold. That the Gentile church is simply an offshoot of ancient Israel and what God gave to them. And the Bible seems to teach that when Christ comes, he'll establish a millennial reign here on earth for 1,000 years. And I believe that it'll be during that time that many of these predictions come to pass in their entirety. That there will be this peace on earth, this justice, this presence of God that is so thick and real, that there will be a prosperity and a blessing that will flow through Israel to the world as a result.
Curses for Disobedience
Distress
14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.
Now in verse 14, he moves on to the curses for disobedience. The curses are longer and are a warning. He says in verse 14, "But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and if your soul abhors my rules so that you will not do all my commandments but break my covenant, then I will do this to you. I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you."
This is the first of five consecutive paragraphs talking about the judgment that will come upon them if they will not listen to him and will not do his commandments. As I said, this section is longer, three times longer than the section of blessings. And it likely indicates that this is meant to be a strong motivation to the people of Israel to walk with God.
Sometimes we talk about the fear of the Lord, and we almost immediately want to say reverence for God or respect for God. But really the idea of reverence or respect, they don't fully capture what it means to fear the Lord. And I think part of this mention of the consequences or the cursings was meant to stimulate a real fear of God amongst the people. Again, not a paranoia, but something more than respect. There's a fear that God wants to develop amongst the heart of his people.
Now as we move through this passage, all the blessings are counteracted in this section. The blessing of fertile land we just read is replaced with unproductive land. The blessing of living in safety will be replaced with living in foreign nations. The blessing of savage beasts being removed from the land will be replaced with beasts coming in from foreign places to devour the land. The sword being removed from the land will be replaced with the sword avenging their enemies. Victory over enemies will be replaced with defeat by their enemies. And God's presence and favor will be replaced with God's absence and disfavor.
And really in all of these curses that we're going to read about, this is God's presence. It's clearly God involved. It's not just God's consequence or the consequence for actions. This is God involving himself directly with his people so as to stimulate a return. And as I said earlier, I think that's why they're listed in this sequential way. Because at each stage, they had an opportunity for repentance.
Drought
18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, 19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
And verse 18. "If in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strengths shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase. And the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit." So again, we have this drought coming upon the land that the next curse that God pronounces.
And in verse 18, you have a couple of phrases that are worth noting. He says, "If in spite of this," so the idea being if the first judgment doesn't stimulate you, then here's the next one that will come. This helps us understand what God is like. God is trying to win back his people. So he's designed these disciplinary measures as a way to try to draw them back to the Lord. And I'm sure many of you have had these types of experiences in your walk with the Lord where you began to drift, you begin to wander from him. And then he does something to just get your attention, to bring you back to himself. But if in spite of that it doesn't work, he'll do something even more drastic in order to draw you back to himself.
Also it says here, "I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins." Now the idea of sevenfold punishment likely highlights the complete nature of what God's judgment is like. This is going to be a total and complete judgment from God. It does I think, remind us a bit of the Book of Revelation, where there are seven seals, and seven bulls, and seven trumpets of God's wrath that are poured out upon the world. It's the complete judgment of God. And that's the idea here on the people of Israel. And the idea is that the heavens will become like iron. So yielding no moisture. And because of that, the ground will be like bronze, yielding no fertile soil.
Wild Animals
21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
Then verse 21. "If you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children, and destroy your livestock, and make you few in number so that your roads shall be deserted." So this judgment is wild animals coming into the land. And some of you might have read the Book of Ezra and have seen some of this, or the end of Second Kings in Samaria and the Northern Kingdom. They experienced some of this. Even David when he was a young man, remember he told Saul before he went to battle Goliath when the lion came and the bear came. Likely, these were animals that were a result of this particular curse upon the land.
Defeat
23 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
And verse 23, "If by this discipline, you're not turned to me, but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you. And I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break your supply of bread, 10 women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied." In other words, so little will be produced, that one oven is going to be feeding 10 families.
Devastation
27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. 34 “Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. 36 And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. 37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies’ lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.
"But if in spite of this," verse 27, "You will not listen to me but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury. And I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols. And my soul will abhor you. And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate. And I will not smell your pleasing aromas. And I myself will devastate the land so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. And I will scatter you among the nations. And I will unsheathe the sword after you. And your land shall be a desolation and your city shall be a waste."
"Then the land," verse 34, "Shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate. While you are in your enemy's land, then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, it shall have rest. The rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it. And as for those who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts and the land of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword. And they shall fall when none pursues. They shall stumble over one another as if to escape a sword, though none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their inequity. And also because of the iniquity of their fathers, they shall rot away like them." What a mouthful, and how terrible. I mean, the warning from God is so severe here in this passage.
Now the key of this promise of devastation is that really, this is the final step. After the previous stages, the drought that begins to come. I mean during the drought, they all should have realized, "Wow, something is happening here. We need to collectively return to God." But then when the drought gave way to these wild animals coming into the land, they should have said, "Hey, it's time for us to really get serious." And then as they began experiencing defeat from various invading forces, they should have realized that something's wrong. We must be engaging in idolatry and neglecting the Sabbath system somewhere.
But if they continued to persist in their sin and walk out of step, out of the covenant with God, then this devastation would come upon them. The key verse 33, God would scatter them. He would thrust them into the nations around them. And unfortunately, this reads like a prophecy about what would happen to them and as history of what did happen to them. The northern 10 tribes after years of persistent rebellion against God were scattered by the Syrians for the most part. And the two southern tribes Judah, which also included Benjamin, they were taken away into captivity in Babylon, as a result of years of sin.
And it wasn't as if God did these things after one or two years of disobedience. It was 490 years that at least in the south, they neglected the Sabbath system. Almost 500 years of God's patience, God working with them. He gave them ample opportunity to rediscover the word, see where they had gone astray, and get back to walking with him so that he could revitalize their land and pour out blessing upon them once again. God is patient. God is long suffering, but he does not endure forever. So he gives this promise, "The scattering will come. Your land will be made desolate if you persist in rebellion against me.”
Hope
40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”
Now, the chapter closes though with a word of hope. He says in verse 40, "But if they confess their iniquity and iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me and also in walking contrary to me so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies. If then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham. And I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them. And enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. And they shall make amends for their iniquity because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spur them. Neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I'm the Lord, their God. But I will for their sake, remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord." These are the statutes, and rules, and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. So here to conclude this chapter, we have a word of hope.
Now one of the things that God says in this paragraph of hope is that while his people were exiled as a result of their sin, the land would get its rests. Many of you likely remember that when Jeremiah prophesied of the coming exile for the people of Jerusalem or Judah, he predicted that they'd be in exile for a period of 70 years. And the reason that they were to be in exile for 70 years is because they had neglected to give the land its Sabbath rest once every seven years, let their fields rest. And they'd neglected doing that for 490 years. So there were 70 Sabbath years that the land had not received.
So when they were in exile, what was the land doing? The land was resting. And according to God, it was getting the Sabbath rest that it had not previously received. But here's God with this word of hope saying, "I will remember. If you begin walking with me, I will remember. I will remember my covenant with Jacob. I'll remember my covenant with Abraham. I'll remember the land. I will revitalize you. I will cause you to return."
And if you've read the Book of Ezra or the Book of Nehemiah, you see little glimpses of that reviving of God's people. But even then, things were not quite right. Even the final word of the Old Testament from the lips of the prophet Malachi give us an insight into the imperfect revival and restoration of God's people. Now I think there's a revival, a restoration that is coming in Israel in one day yet to come when Christ returns. So here, he gives them this word of hope that they could turn and walk with him.
Now I realize that as we read Leviticus 26 and see the curses and blessing, for one it's ominous in nature. And that could be a good effect upon your heart to have the fear of the Lord cultivated within. I also realize though that it's hard to draw our direct parallels to what's going on in our lives today. If your bank account is struggling, does that somehow mean that you're not walking with God today? Well, that's not true of or in the Christian life. We can look to God for our provision. But if we walk with the Lord today, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to be healthy, and prosperous, and bountiful in all of the types of ways that God declared to the people of Israel. As I've said earlier and often throughout the Book of Leviticus, the church is not a nation like Israel was a nation.
However, there is something there, isn't there, about what it's like to walk with the Lord. That as we walk with God, there are versions of blessings. And we don't have to go through the New Testament to find them. The presence of God, the leading of the spirit, the guidance that he gives, fruitfulness and impactfulness for his kingdom. A love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control that exudes from our lives. Wisdom and discernment about how to do life today. The gifts of the spirit enabling and empowering us to be used by God today. Sanctification, victory over sin. The enemy within and without, unable to affect us as easily spiritually. We're winning that war, not a dryness in our soul or spirit, but feeling alive before God.
All of these are elements internally and spiritually that are ours in Christ as we walk with the Lord. And as we refuse to walk with the Lord, refuse to obey the Lord. Just say, "I'm going to do my own thing. I'm not going to live my life according to his dictates. I'm going to live the way that I want to live." A dryness will come into our lives. A lack of power will come into our lives. A lack of effectiveness will come into our lives, and we'll have a nagging feeling that God is distant. It's not that he moved, but that we moved. So we've got to look at a chapter like this and be encouraged. "I want to walk with God. I want to lay down my life for him and be obedient to him, so that I can have his best unfold in my life, but also in my soul, in my inner person.”
Leviticus 27
Laws About Vows
Now let's conclude our study today with Leviticus chapter 27. In this chapter, what we have are a collection of vows or the rules regarding vows that the people of Israel would offer to God. Additionally, to some rules about vows, there are some rules about gifts and the giving of tithes to God as well here in this chapter. We've looked at this a little bit already in Leviticus, but in just kind of a general way. So this is a real specific guidelines for the priests as they served as the conduits of, or the middlemen of, or the managers of these vows that people in the congregation or in Israel would sometimes offer to God.
It's difficult to understand precisely what is meant by these vows, because we really know so little about what it was like for them to dedicate things to God in that era. I mean, we get little glimpses. Like at the beginning of First Samuel, we see Hannah make a commitment to God that she would dedicate her firstborn son to God if he opened her womb and gave her children, and God took her up on that altar. And then she brings little Samuel and dedicates him to God. He becomes a little mini priest. He's learning how to serve in the temple or tabernacle, and serve God in that way. There are little glimpses and snapshots into what these vows might have looked like, but there's just so much that we don't know about what that would look like in ancient Israel.
People
What this chapter seems to communicate primarily is that he did not want his people to enter into these commitments or vows quickly, hastily, or easily. He wanted them to count the cost of the commitments that they made to him. So it might be a personal commitment, a man, or a woman, or someone young or old could have said, "I want to devote myself to God and to give myself to him, perhaps for a period of time." It could have been the dedication of a house or even lands to God. And God wanted them to make sure that they didn't enter into these commitments hastily, but that they really counted the cost. So what might this teach us about God's nature in looking at this today? Of course, we don't have the same rules about the dedication of a house or something like that. But, we might realize from this that God is wanting us to really count the cost of when we make a commitment, that we know this is something it's going to cost me. I'm going to do it. This is for the Lord.
So I'm going to really make sure when I say yes, that I mean it. "Our yes should be yes and our no should be no," Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount. So I think this chapter might even serve as a motivation for us to make sure that when we're doing something for the Lord, we stick to that commitment.
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.
All right. Let's look at what he says in verse one through eight, first about dedication of humans to the Lord. He says, "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel and say to them if anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from 20 years old up to 60 years old shall be 50 shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be 30 shekels. If the person is from five years old up to 20 years old, the valuation shall be for a male 20 shekels and for a female 10 shekels. If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver. And for a female, the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. And if the person is 60 years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be 15 shekels, and for a female 10 shekels. And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him. And the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.'"
Now, this was not an age where money was in common circulation. They would trade goods, property, and even themselves in order to barter, and trade goods, and all of that. And here, it seems that a person could dedicate themselves to God, and then there be this redemption price that would be placed upon them. 50 shekels was the biggest evaluation, and that would be for men between 20 and 60 years of age. At that time, that would be about 50 months of wages. So a year's worth of wages. So this would discourage someone from a rash vow, like it's going to cost you a year's salary to get out of this vow. You're going to think twice before entering into it.
Now, you might have noticed that there are different evaluations for these different people that are committing themselves to God. Starting with the men, the middle aged men. All the way to aged people, younger children, and women. And you might think that God is placing some kind of quality on people, but he's not. What's happening here is that these are people that are dedicating themselves to service in the tabernacle, at least for period of time. And a lot of that was manual labor. Chopping wood, handling animals, fileting animals. All of that. And it was heavy work. Packing up the tabernacle, all these different things. It was heavy, serious work. So these would be people who the more valuable people would be healthy, full grown men, because they'd be naturally stronger. So that's probably why you see the different price attached to each one of them.
Animals
9 “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. 10 He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. 11 And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. 13 But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation.
Now he says in verse nine, "If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good or bad, or bad for good. And if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to of the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest. And the priest shall value it as either good or bad as the priest values it so it shall be. But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation." This is going to become a common thing throughout this passage. If someone has second thoughts about this dedication, they want to buy the animal back. They buy it back at full price plus 20%. So they add a fifth to the evaluation that is given.
And again, these are just vows that are above and beyond. This is not part of the original sacrificial system. It's just something additional that people wanted to give to God. It's out of the overflow of their hearts before the Lord.
Houses
14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.
"When a man," verse 14, "Dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad as the priest values it so it shall stand. And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his."
Part of the reason they could donate a house we saw in a previous chapter was because houses were inside of cities. So they weren't attached to land. Land belonged to the family that God had given that land to. And it was to belong to that family perpetually, even be returned to that family if they leased it out on the year of Jubilee. So you really couldn't dedicate your land. We'll see there are some stipulations for how to do that, but a house could be dedicated permanently to the Lord.
Lands
16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, 18 but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. 19 And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. 20 But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. 21 But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it.
"But if a man," verse 16, "Dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley shall be valued at 50 shekels of silver. If he dedicates his field from the year of Jubilee, the valuation shall stand. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of Jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the do another man, shall not be redeemed anymore. But the field when it was released in the Jubilee shall be a holy gift to the Lord. Like a field that has been devoted, the priest shall be in possession of it." So some stipulations as to how the priest would actually acquire this land if he didn't, the original owner didn't redeem the land and couldn't be returned to him in the year of Jubilee.
22 If he dedicates to the Lord a field that he has bought, which is not a part of his possession, 23 then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. 24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. 25 Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
"If he dedicates to the Lord," verse 22, "A field that he has bought, which is not part of his possession, then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of Jubilee. And the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. In the year of Jubilee, the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 20 gerahs shall make a shekel.”
Firstborn
26 “But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s. 27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.
28 “But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
"But the firstborn of animals, which is as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate whether ox or sheep. It is the Lord's. If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation and add a fifth to it. Or if it is not redeemed, it should be sold at the valuation. But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord or anything that he has whether man or beast or of his inherited field should be sold or redeemed. Every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. No one devoted who is to be devoted for a destruction from mankind shall be ransom and shall surely be put to death." So sovereign warning there.
Tithes
30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”
"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees is the Lord's. It is wholly to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every 10th animal of all that passes under the herdsman's staff shall be wholly to the Lord. One shall not differentiate eight between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it. And if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed."
So here at the end of Leviticus, 27, we get a small little section about tithes or giving of the 10th. And they had some rules as to how that would be conducted, and what portions they were to give to the Lord. But again in this whole section, what you're seeing are these voluntary vows and then the tithing system. And there was to be this heart before God. I mean even just reading through it, seeing things like lands, and houses, and giving of the self. To me, it's stimulating to consider the life of generosity that people here were being encouraged to enter into.
There is no one and nothing that you can give to or pour your life out for than is greater than God. And these people with this system, they were learning these ways to give abundantly and generously to God. It was a serious thing, the vows that they would make to the Lord. It was a blessed thing as well.
Of course in our New Testament era, I mean you read through the New Testament on one hand. People will say that the tithe is assumed in the New Testament, and even vows are assumed in the New Testament, Paul himself taking various vows throughout the Book of Acts. But it seems that in the New Testament, what we have is something that's greater than all of this. We're called to a life of hyper generosity. We're to be looking for ways to release ourselves and our possessions for God and for his kingdom.
34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.
So for us, as we consider these vows and this system, we should want that proportionate, exorbitant, Christlike giving to flow from our lives. Then he says in verse 34. "These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai." The book began with God speaking, and the book ends by saying, "God spoke." These are the ways in which ancient Israel was to serve him.
And I hope and pray as we've gone through this book, of course or not in intricate detail but as we've surveyed this book, my hope in prayer is that you've learned a little bit about the nature and character of God, and what it is that he longs for in your life. Because he is good. God bless you church. Have a wonderful week. Did it.