Leviticus Session 27 - Our Commitments to God

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.

Leviticus 11:44‭-‬45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

These are the notes to Session 27, the final session in this study.

We've talked about the responsibility of obeying God’s commandments, the responsibility of submitting to His chastisements, and trusting His covenant. This book ends with a chapter on commitments to God which show that our promises to God must never be broken just as His covenant with us will never be broken. So when you make a commitment to God make sure that is something that you can and want to follow through with.

KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS TO GOD (27:1–34)

This book ends with a chapter on commitments to God which show that our promises to God must never be broken just as His covenant with us. So when you make a commitment to God make sure that is something that you can and want to follow through with.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 NIV Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Proverbs 20:25 NIV It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one’s vows.

In this chapter commitments, or vows,, are associated with things that are given in dedication to God. It could be a person, an animal, or a piece of property, you could redeem what was dedicated, with money which would be given to the priests for the upkeep of the sanctuary. The priest would evaluate the gift according to the rules laid down in this chapter. By giving money in exchange for the gift, the worshiper was “redeeming” the gift but still fulfilling the vow. These vows were strictly voluntary and were expressions of the worshiper’s gratitude to God for His blessing.

To redeem would be to gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment. 

You could redeem a person, an animal or property.

Redeeming a person who had been dedicated to God.

Leviticus 27:1‭-‬8 NIV The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; for a female, set her value at thirty shekels; for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels; for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver; for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.

A worshiper might dedicate himself to the Lord or bring a member of the family or a servant to serve the Lord for life at the sanctuary. However, since there were plenty of Levites, and since they were especially set apart for sanctuary service, it was expected that the person given would be redeemed with money, and the money given to the priests for the ministry of the sanctuary. 

Samuel is an example of someone dedicated to the Lord and his family did not redeem him by playing the redemption requirement.   

Samuel, he was actually given to the high priest and trained to serve in the tabernacle. (read 1 Samuel chapters 1 & 2)

Children could be redeemed or, like Samuel, they could go into service when they became older.

1 Samuel 1:10‭-‬11‭, ‬21‭-‬28 NIV In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.” “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my Lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

The amount of money assigned to each age bracket and sex had nothing to do with the worth of the individual as a person. Everyone was precious to the Lord. The key idea was how much work they would have been able to do. A shekel was the equivalent of a month’s income for a worker, although we don’t know how much buying power it had. Thus a male from twenty to sixty was evaluated at about four years’ income. 

Put that into modern economic equivalents, and you will rightly conclude that people didn’t rush into making these vows! It would indeed be a costly thing to pay four years’ income to fulfill a vow to the Lord.

Scholars are uncertain what exactly a shekel was, but here is one calculation of its value: the sanctuary shekel was defined as 20 gerahs. A gerah has been traditionally measured as 1/50 of an ounce, or 0.6 gram. The sanctuary shekel would then equal 0.4 of an ounce of gold (20 times 1/50 of an ounce), or 12 grams. Based on a price of 46.43 USD per gram, the approximate value of a sanctuary shekel would be $557.16, in today’s market.

Redeeming an animal who had been dedicated to God.

Leviticus 27:9‭-‬13 NIV “ ‘If what they vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. They must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if they should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. If what they vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord—the animal must be presented to the priest, who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, a fifth must be added to its value.

Every animal dedicated to the Lord was considered holy, which meant it was set apart (“sanctified”) and belonged to the Lord. If the donor wanted to substitute an inferior beast, both animals then belonged to the Lord! 

This was one of the sins of the priests in Malachi’s day

Malachi 1:13‭-‬14 NIV And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty. “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

In the case of animals, the donor had to add 20 percent to the priest’s evaluation.

Redeeming property which had been dedicated to God.

Leviticus 27:14‭-‬25 NIV “ ‘If anyone dedicates their house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. If the one who dedicates their house wishes to redeem it, they must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become theirs. “ ‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord part of their family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. If they dedicate a field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. But if they dedicate a field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. 

If the one who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, they must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become theirs. If, however, they do not redeem the field, or if they have sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord; it will become priestly property. “ ‘If anyone dedicates to the Lord a field they have bought, which is not part of their family land, the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the owner must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom it was bought, the one whose land it was. Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

The unredeemable things (vv. 26–34). 

There are three: the firstborn of the beasts, anything God put under a ban, and the required tithes.

(1) The first born of the beasts

Leviticus 27:26‭-‬27 NLT “You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the Lord, for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belong to him. However, you may buy back the firstborn of a ceremonially unclean animal by paying the priest’s assessment of its worth, plus 20 percent. If you do not buy it back, the priest will sell it at its assessed value.

The first born were set apart for the Lord at the first Passover 

Exodus 13:2 NIV “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

Exodus 34:19‭-‬20 NIV “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. (the donkey was unclean)

Note that firstborn females were exempted. The text probably makes mention of a donkey because they were the main means of transport for the Hebrews, and because of their value God mercifully allowed them to be redeemed with a lamb. 

What's going on with the poor donkey? This was alluded to above. When the firstborn of a beast was given to (devoted, sanctified) the LORD, it was sacrificed. The problem with the firstborn of a donkey is that this animal was considered unclean and could not be used as a sacrifice. However since donkeys were valuable animals used for many chores, the law allowed one to redeem his donkey with a lamb (again we see in essence the blood of a lamb paying the price to set the donkey free, all of these blood sacrifices of course -- and this one clearly a substitutionary sacrifice -- pointed to God's future Lamb for only His blood offered as a substitute could effect redemption of men from slavery to Sin and Satan.) If the donkey was not redeemed it had to be killed.

These animals took the place of the firstborn of Israel whom the blood of the lamb redeemed from judgment. These animals could not be redeemed. But if the animal was “unclean,” which probably means blemished in some way, the donor could redeem it by paying the evaluated price and adding 20 percent. (No blemished animal would be put on the altar, and certainly a priest could never accept an animal listed as “unclean.”)

(2) Things “devoted” to the Lord.

Leviticus 27:28‭-‬29 NIV “ ‘But nothing that a person owns and devotes to the Lord—whether a human being or an animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord. “ ‘No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.

To devote something to the LORD was a further step than consecration by a vow; it often had the meaning of destroying the item so that it could not be used by anyone else, and all of its value was given to God. Therefore if something was already declared a devoted offering, it could not be given in a vow. It already belonged to God and was most holy to the LORD.  Like the first born males.

For these reasons, an item devoted to God could not be redeemed for a price. It already belonged to the LORD and had to be given to Him.

The phrase “accursed thing” in the KJV doesn’t mean that God cursed these things but that He put them under a ban so that they wholly belonged to Him. 

3) The tithes of the produce

Leviticus 27:30‭-‬33 NIV  “ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’ ”

The tithes of the produce had already been set apart for the Lord and couldn’t be used any other way. It appears that the Jews paid three tithes: a tithe to the Levites, who in turn tithed it to the priests

Numbers 18:21‭-‬32 NIV “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die. It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ” The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering. Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’ “Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting. By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”

A tithe that was brought to the sanctuary and eaten “before the Lord”

Deuteronomy 14:22‭-‬27 NIV Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

And a tithe every three years for the poor.

Deuteronomy 14:28‭-‬29 NIV At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

No farmer could keep the Lord’s tithe and redeem it with money. It had to be given as the Lord directed.

The major lesson of this chapter is that God expects us to keep our commitments to Him and be honest in all our dealings with Him. We must not try to negotiate “a better deal” or to escape responsibilities. It’s good to give money to the Lord, but giving money isn’t always an acceptable way to express our devotion to God. That money might be a substitute for the service we ought to be rendering to the Lord.

What Samuel said to King Saul needs to be heard today: 

1 Samuel 15:22 NIV But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Finally, we need to remember that Jesus Christ paid with His own life the redemption price for sinners, and we weren’t worth it. He redeemed us not with silver and gold but with His own precious blood.

1 Peter 1:17‭-‬21 NIV Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Any sacrifice we make for Him is nothing compared to the sacrifice He made for us.

Bible Study Audio

Leviticus Session 26 - Final Instructions Cont'd

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.

Leviticus 11:44‭-‬45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

These are the notes to Session 26.

The statutes and instructions God gave Israel in Leviticus 26 and 27 illustrate four responsibilities that every Christian believer has toward the Lord.

1. OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS (26:1–13)

2. SUBMITTING TO HIS CHASTISEMENTS (26:14–39)

3. TRUSTING HIS COVENANT (26:40–46)

4. KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS TO GOD (27:1–34)

Last week we talked about the responsibility of obeying God’s commandments, but we also have the responsibility of submitting to His chastisements because of disobedience.

Hebrews 12:5‭-‬6 NIV And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Israel’s special relationship to Jehovah brought with it the obligation to obey His voice and glorify His name. Privilege brings with it responsibility, and no nation has enjoyed more spiritual privileges from the Lord than the nation of Israel.

Chapter 26 of Leviticus describes 6 periods of chastisement for disobedience.  The last one being the most severe. In the first five, Jehovah punishes the people in their own land, but in the sixth judgment, they’re taken out of the land and dispersed among the nations. Some of the chastisements are repeated from period to period, but they can be summarized as follows: distress and terror; disease; drought and famine; defeat before their enemies; death from war, animals, and plagues; destruction of the cities and nation; dispersement and exile among the Gentile nations.

The phrase “I will punish you seven times more,” which is repeated four times in these warnings means “a complete punishment,” since seven is the Hebrew number signifying completeness. Each period of chastisement would be full and complete, with nothing lacking, and the next period would be more severe than the previous one.

The six periods are:

1. Sudden terror

2. No rain

3. Invasion of wild beast

4. War

5. Famine

6. Removal from the Promised land

Sudden terror 

Leviticus 26:14‭-‬17 NIV “ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 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.

“Sudden terror” means confusion of mind, the kind of terror you feel when you can’t control what’s going on. There would be diseases that slowly wasted the body, like tuberculosis. During the book of Judges, the Gentile nations invaded Israel at harvest time and took their crops. If the Israelites had obeyed, God’s face would have shone upon them (Num. 6:22–27), but their disobedience made Him turn His face away from them.

Numbers 6:23‭-‬27 NIV “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

No rain

Leviticus 26:18‭-‬20 NIV “ ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.

God’s aim was to “break down [their] stubborn pride”. The rains would cease and the ground would become so hard that the seed wouldn’t germinate. There would be great toil but no harvests. You would think that all this suffering would bring the nation to its knees in repentance, but they refused to repent. It will be that way in the end times when God sends judgment upon the whole world.

Revelation 16:8‭-‬11 NIV The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. In Revelation John writes that the people cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

Invasion of wild beast

Leviticus 26:21‭-‬22 NIV “ ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 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.

One judgment is named here:  the invasion of wild beasts that would kill cattle and humans, especially the children. Imagine the terror that would prevail in a nation if hungry beasts were on the prowl! If only for the sake of their children, you would think the adults would repent and turn to God.

War

Leviticus 26:23‭-‬26 NIV “ ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword on 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. 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.

Verses 23–26. Warfare, famine, and plague usually go together. When people are crowded into a walled city, hemmed in by the enemy, they run out of food and become ill, and terrible plagues begin to spread.  

Famine

Leviticus 26:27‭-‬31 NIV “ ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 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. 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.

Famine causes people to do things that are inhuman, such as killing and eating their own children.  The enemy armies would destroy the idolatrous shrines the Jews had built and throw the dead bodies of the Jews onto their idols which could not save them anyway. Leviticus 26:31 suggests that the people would try to revive their worship of Jehovah, but it would be too late. Their cities and sanctuaries would all be leveled to the ground.

Removal from the Promised land

Leviticus 26:32‭-‬39 NIV I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. “ ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away.

This section describes the climax of God’s chastisements, made necessary because of the hardness of His people’s hearts. Up to this point, He had chastened the people in their land, but now He removes them from the land. In 722 BC, the Assyrians took captive the northern kingdom of Israel, and then in 605 BC, the Babylonians began their capture of the southern kingdom of Judah. The seventy years of Babylonian captivity left the land to rest and “enjoy her sabbaths”.

The Lord mercifully brought a remnant of Jews back to the land, but the kingdom never regained its former power or glory. Except for short periods of freedom, such as under the Maccabees, the Jews were always under the control of some foreign power. Their ultimate dispersion was after AD 70, when the Roman armies invaded and took Jerusalem captive. 

3. TRUSTING HIS COVENANT (26:40–46)

If they trusted God and confessed their sins and obeyed Him here is what would happen.  Remember it was God’s covenant and it really goes back the covenant with Abraham with predates the law that is addressed and referred to in Leviticus 

Leviticus 26:40‭-‬46 NIV “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ” These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

His covenant with His people never changes, and if we confess our sins and repent, He will forgive and restore.

Leviticus 26:40‭-‬42 NIV “ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

1 John 1:9 NIV If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Whether in blessing, chastening, or forgiving, God always keeps His covenant and is true to His Word.

God may punish His people, but He will never reject them or cast them away. In fact, one reason for His chastening is to bring His erring people back into His arms of love, where He can enjoy them and bless them once again.

Hebrews 12:5‭-‬6 NIV And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

God’s people may forget His law, but God remembers His covenant. 

Even in the worst situations, however, there is always hope.

Exodus 34:6‭-‬7 NIV And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

The cause of Israel’s rebellion was “uncircumcised hearts,” that is, hearts that had never been changed by the Lord. The Jews boasted that they were circumcised in body, but that wasn’t enough to save them. The mark on the body was the outward seal of the covenant, but it took more than that to change the heart.

Jeremiah 4:4 NIV Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.

Jeremiah 9:25‭-‬26 NIV “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh— Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Romans 2:28‭-‬29 NIV A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

When we disobey the Lord, the enemy accuses us and wants us to believe there’s no hope because God is through with us.  King Solomon pointed out the promise of forgiveness when he dedicated the temple. (1 Kings 8:31–53)

I am going to read

1 Kings 8:52‭-‬53 NIV “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

And it was that promise that Jonah claimed when he repented of his sins.

Jonah 2:7‭-‬10 NIV “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ” And the Lord commanded the fish, and it  Jonah onto dry land.

The promise of forgiveness in 1 John 1:9 should never be used as an excuse for sin, but it is certainly a wonderful encouragement to God’s people when they have sinned. God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His covenant is a great assurance to the believer.   Since the Word never changes and God’s character never changes, we have every encouragement to come to Him and make a new beginning.

Next week is the final chapter which is our responsibility to keep our commitments to God.

Leviticus Session 25 - Final Instructions

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus.  The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.

Leviticus 11:44‭-‬45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

These are the notes to Session 25.

The statutes and instructions God gave Israel in Leviticus 26 and 27 illustrate four responsibilities that every Christian believer has toward the Lord.

1. OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS (26:1–13)

2. SUBMITTING TO HIS CHASTISEMENTS (26:14–39)

3. TRUSTING HIS COVENANT (26:40–46)

4. KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS TO GOD (27:1–34)

In our last few sessions, we have been talking about God’s command that the Jews observe a Sabbath year every seventh year after they enter Canan and a Jubilee year every 50th year.  

We talked about rest for the land each seventh year called the Sabbath year when they were not to do the normal agricultural things they did in the other years.  They were to depend on God to provide for them the seventh year and until the harvest of the next year.  In the Sabbath year all debts of Jews to Jews were forgiven, any Jew who had indentured themselves was to be released.  When they met for the feast of Tabernacles the priests went over the entire Law that year.  The other thing that we learned was that there is no evidence that they ever observed a single Sabbath year.  

In the Jubilee year Jubilee year in which they were to do what they did in the Sabbath year and that was to rest for the normal activities.   In addition, something else was to happen in the Jubilee year and that was that not only were all debts canceled, but any land also that had changed hands and to go back to the original owner.  

Last week we talked about the four elements that were in play in the Jubilee year.  They were repentance, release, rest, release, and restoration.

 It’s significant that the Year of Jubilee started with the Day of Atonement, a day when the Jews were commanded to deny themselves and repent of their sins.

At the start of the Year of Jubilee, the people were commanded to release their indentured servants so that they might return to their own lands and families. A Hebrew servant was to serve for only six years and then be set free.  How could the Jews celebrate this special year if some of their people were in bondage and separated from their loved ones and their land?

During the Year of Jubilee, the people were forbidden to carry on their normal agricultural pursuits but had to live on whatever the land produced. This gave both them and the land an extra year of rest, since the previous year would have been a Sabbath Year. 

They had to rely on the Lord to keep His promises and supply sufficient food for almost three years, since they wouldn’t be able to work the land until the fifty-first year, and even then, they’d have to wait for the harvest.

Restoration includes redemption of the land and houses that were sold or lost between years of Jubilee.  There was also the redemption of the poor.  If a Jew became poor and then got enough money to buy any land back they had to sell or to pay any debt that cause them to become a slave or another Jew, they could redeem themselves at any time.  If they couldn’t do it a close relative could redeem the land or pay the debt. 

So far we only talked about the redemption policy of God when the transactions were between Jews.  Today we are going to finish chapter 25 talking about what happens if a Jew becomes indebted to a Gentile. 

Then we are going to get into the final instructions, before going into Canan, that God gave through Moses.

Before we start let me remind you that these instructions and everything in Leviticus took place just before the spies went into Canan and came back with their report and we know what happened.  Most of the spies convinced the folk not to go into Canan in fact they talked about going back to Egypt.  a

As a result, they had to wander the wilderness for 40 years until all those adults died and Moses had to do this all over again in Deuteronomy.

Let’s get started.

A Jew enslaved by a Gentile (vv. 47–55)

Leviticus 25:47‭-‬55 NIV “ ‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves. They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly. They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly. “ ‘Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

It’s interesting to note that a Gentile “resident alien” in the land of Israel had to obey the law of Moses, even though he wasn’t a member of the Jewish covenant community. If the Jew was able to raise the purchase price, he could buy his freedom, and the price would be calculated according to the Year of Jubilee. The Gentile master was required to treat the Jewish slave as a hired servant and not treat him harshly. If not redeemed, the slave and his family would be released at the Year of Jubilee.

The Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself sinless human flesh and became our “near kinsman”, so that He might give Himself as the redemption price and set us free. 

Hebrews 2:14-18 NIV Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Only He was qualified to do what had to be done, and He was willing to do it. Not only did He redeem us, but also He gave us a share in and made us a part of His inheritance!

It’s unfortunate that the Jewish people didn’t obey the laws given in this chapter, for their selfishness and greed brought ruin to the land and their economic system. 

The prophets rebuked the rich for exploiting the poor and stealing their houses, lands, and even their children. The local courts ignored God’s decrees; the judges, enriched by bribes, passed down decisions that favored the wealthy and crushed the poor. But God heard the cries of the poor and one day brought terrible judgment to the people of Israel; they were exiled to Asserya and to Babylon. 

Amos 8:4‭-‬7 NIV Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

God is concerned about how we use the resources He’s given us and how we treat one another in the marketplace. Both ecology and economy are His concern, and He eventually judges those who exploit others and treat them in ways that are less than humane. The church of Jesus Christ has thrived under many kinds of political and economic systems and isn’t dependent on any of them, but the church must always champion the rights of the poor and the oppressed and use every spiritual weapon to defeat the oppressors.

Final Instructions Leviticus 26-27

The statutes and instructions God gave Israel in Leviticus 26 and 27 illustrate four responsibilities that every Christian believer has toward the Lord.

1. OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS (26:1–13)

2. SUBMITTING TO HIS CHASTISEMENTS (26:14–39)

3. TRUSTING HIS COVENANT (26:40–46)

4. KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS TO GOD (27:1–34)

OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS

Leviticus 26:1‭-‬3 NIV “ ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. “ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. “ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 

To obey God is to “walk in [His] statutes”, follow his decrees, but to disobey Him is to “walk contrary” to the Lord and despise His statutes. 

If I continue to walk contrary to Him, I’m going to have serious problems.

Amos 3:3‭-‬6 NIV Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

Moses gave his people four excellent reasons why they should obey the Lord. 

(1) Because of who God is 

(2) Because of what God did 

(3) Obey God because of where He dwells.

(4) Obey God because of what He promised

 I’m going to include us Christians too.

(1) Because of who God is 

Leviticus 26:1 NIV “ ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

The God of Israel, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the true and living God and not an idol people have manufactured. 

(2) Because of what God did (v. 2a).

Leviticus 26:2 NIV “ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

The word “Sabbaths” (plural) refers to all the special days on the Jewish calendar and not just the seventh day of the week. We studied the calendar and noted that these special days reminded the Jews of God’s goodness to them. Passover memorialized Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, and the Feast of Tabernacles reminded them of God’s care of His people in the wilderness. Firstfruits and Pentecost were harvest festivals that spoke of the 

Lord’s blessing on their labors in the field, and Tabernacles was a time of harvest joy.

Even the weekly Sabbath was a reminder that the Jews were God’s special people.

(3) Obey God because of where He dwells.

Leviticus 26:2 NIV “ ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

The God of Israel dwelt in the camp of Israel! The Jews had His sacred tabernacle in the midst of the camp. The nations around them had man-made gods in their temples, but Israel had the God who created  in their midst. How could they ever think of disobeying Him when He was so near to them? To deliberately disobey God was not only a violation of His holy law, but it was also a desecration of His sanctuary. To sin was to defile the camp, which explains why unclean people were made to leave the camp.

The application to the Christian believer today is obvious. Our bodies are the sanctuary of God, and we must be careful to use them for God’s glory.

The Holy Spirit of God lives in us, and we must not grieve Him by using His temple for ungodly purposes.  

Ephesians 4:30‭-‬32 NIV And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

4. Obey God because of what He promised (vv. 3–13).

Leviticus 26:3‭-‬13 NIV “ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 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. “ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 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. “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

The people of Israel just out of slavery they were a new nation and as such were like children in their faith.

Kind of like Christians today.

Galatians 4:1‭-‬7 NIV What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

You teach children primarily through rewards and discipline or punishments. You can’t give children lectures on ethics and expect them to understand, but you can promise to reward them if they obey and punish them if they disobey.  This approach will protect them from harming themselves, and it will give them time to grow older and better understand why obedience is the key to a happy life. Children must gradually learn that both commandments and punishments are expressions of love for their own good.  

Hebrews 12:5‭-‬8‭, ‬11 NIV And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Moses later expanded on this reward and punishment element of the covenant between God and the nation of Israel in Deut. 28—30.

Deuteronomy 29 gives a list of blessings for obedience 1 verses 1-14 and curses for disobedience verses 15-68.

Chapter 29 of Deuteronomy is a renewal of the covenant that was made at Mt. Sinai when they came out of Egypt and God gave Moses the Law.

Chapter 30 describes the prosperity after returning to the Lord following the curses described in chapter 28.

I want us to read the last few verses of chapter 30 of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 30:15‭-‬20 NIV See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

https://bible.com/bible/111/deu.30.15-20.NIV

They owned the land because of God’s promises to Abraham, but they couldn’t enjoy the land unless they obeyed the laws God gave to Moses. Unfortunately, they disobeyed the law, ceased to enjoy the land, and eventually were taken from the land to suffer exile in Babylon.

As children of God, we already have everything we need for “life and godliness”, because we now possess “every spiritual blessing in Christ”.

2 Peter 1:3 NIV His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Ephesians 1:3 NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

To possess these blessings is one thing; to enjoy them is quite something else. As we trust God’s promises and obey His commandments, we draw upon our spiritual inheritance and are able to walk successfully and serve effectively. Like the nation of Israel in Canaan, we have battles to fight and work to do, but as we walk in obedience to the Lord, He enables us to overcome the enemy, claim the land, and enjoy its blessings.

To begin with, God promised them rain and fruitful harvests.  God wanted to discipline His people, He would often withhold the rain, as He did in the days of Elijah.

1 Kings 17:1 NIV Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

The Lord also promised them peace and safety in their land.  If the enemy did invade, the Jewish armies would soon chase them out, and one Jewish soldier would be worth twenty to a hundred of the enemy soldiers!

Leviticus 26:5‭-‬8 NIV 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. “ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 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.

 Other nations depended for safety on large armies and supplies of horses and chariots, but Israel’s victory came through faith in the Lord and obedience to His Word. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Ps. 20:7).

If Israel obeyed His law, God promised to multiply their population.

Leviticus 26:9 NIV “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

The Jews wanted many children and considered large families a blessing from God.

Deuteronomy 7:13‭-‬14 NIV He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young.

Psalms 127:3‭-‬5 NIV Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

New generations were needed to maintain the economy, to help sustain the clans and tribes, and to protect the nation. A decimated population was a judgment from the Lord.

The presence of the Lord was the greatest blessing promised, because every other blessing depends on it. What other nation had the sanctuary of the living God in their midst and their God walking among them? 

How tragic that Israel’s disobedience turned the temple into a “den of thieves”, forcing the Lord to destroy the temple and send His people into exile. 

Matthew 21:12‭-‬13 NIV Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

When we lose the sense of the Lord’s presence and the privilege it is to serve Him, then we begin to despise His Word and disobey His commandments.

Nine times in Leviticus we find the Lord reminding His people that He had delivered them out from Egypt and therefore deserved their obedience.

Two of them are in chapter 26 

Leviticus 26:13‭, NIV I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. 

‬45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’ ”

It must be pointed out that this covenant of blessing was given only to Israel and should not be applied to the church today. God certainly blesses those who obey Him, but His blessing isn’t always health, wealth, and success. Some of the greatest heroes of faith suffered because of their obedience and never experienced miracles of deliverance or provision from the Lord.

Hebrews 11 lists many heroes of faith, some by name and many whose names we don't know. Here's how Hebrews 11 ends.  

Hebrews 11:36‭-‬40 NIV Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Millions of Christians have been allowed to fall into the hands of their enemies and be martyred for their faith. This covenant, we are talking today from Leviticus and reiterated in Deuteronomy relate only to Israel in their land and was God’s way of teaching them faithfulness and obedience.

Some of the “prosperity preachers” today like to claim these covenant blessings for the church but prefer to apply the judgments to somebody else! If this covenant applies to God’s children today, then we should be experiencing the judgments whenever we disobey Him. However, experience shows us that more than one compromising believer is successful, healthy, and wealthy, while many of God’s faithful children are going through trials and difficulties read Ps. 73.

Read it all but I want to share just part of it.

Psalms 73:3‭-‬12‭, ‬16‭-‬20 NIV For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.

2. We talked about the responsibility of obeying God’s commandments but we also have the responsibility of SUBMITTING TO HIS CHASTISEMENTS (26:14–39)

Hebrews 12:5‭-‬6 NIV And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

Israel’s special relationship to Jehovah brought with it the obligation to obey His voice and glorify His name. Privilege brings with it responsibility, and no nation has enjoyed more spiritual privileges from the Lord than the nation of Israel.

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