[Commentary from Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; all other comments with no brackets is ours, indicated by S6K. Translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
CONCLUDING ADMONITION
The Book of Leviticus has its sacerdotal chapters, its ceremonial parts, its ethical section; and, in its concluding portion, it strikes the note of Prophetic admonition and warning. This is not to be wondered at when we recall the fact that Moses is ‘the Father of the Prophets’. The Jewish name for this chapter from v. 14-45 (as well as for the parallel section in Deut. XXVIII) is Tochacha, lit. ‘Warning’, ‘Admonition’.
After having declared the higher law and rooted all human duty, both to God and man, in the Holiness-ideal—‘Ye shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy’—the Lawgiver endeavours to enlist man’s natural fear and ope as allies of that sublime principle. In startling and indeed terrifying form, he contrasts the blessings, in the event of faithfulness to God, with the dire calamities, if the people prove disloyal to Him. This fundamental thought, viz. that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked, is an essential doctrine of Judaism as of every higher religion. They may differ as to the nature and form of Divine retribution, but the belief that right is rewarded and wrong punished is part of an ethical faith, a belief vindicated and confirmed by the experience of humanity. ‘One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness, that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that in the long run it is well with the good; in the long run it is ill with the wicked’ (Froude). But, while there is general agreement with this truth underlying the Admonition, there has always been discontent with the manner in which it is presented in this chapter. ‘Why,’ it is asked, does Scripture enter into such dreadful details concerning the consequences of disobedience?’
Two observations must be made in regard to this form of appeal.
- The first is, that it is a language which the people to whom this homiletic discourse on the Wages of Disobedience was originally addressed, could clearly understand. ‘A wealth of bliss may be depicted in two or three concise phrases, but to cause the primitive mind to realize the awful consequences of sin and transgression, the words of denunciation must come swift and powerful as hammer blows, and must picture to their last terrible results the dreadful devastation wrought by human perversity’ (Drachmann).
- The second is that the Tochacha, though it may sound harsh, is true; and truth in its nakedness is not always pleasant.
The promises and, alas, also the warnings in this chapter have abundantly been borne out by Jewish history. ‘As a survey of the worldly blessings and tribulations employed by God in His Education of Israel in Canaan, this chapter is fairly exhaustive, and is in line with what Prophecy proclaimed, and historical experience taught, in the course of the centuries’ (Dillmann).
Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 26
3-13. BLESSINGS IN THE WAKE OF OBEDIENCE
3 If by my laws you walk, and my commands you keep, and observe them,if ye walk in My statutes. Heb. Sifra translates: ‘Would that you walked in my statutes!’
4 then I will give-forth your rains in their set-time, so that the earth gives-forth its yield and the trees of the field give-forth their fruit.rains. The rainfall is of supreme importance in the Holy Land. If it fails, the result is famine. Consequently, it comes first among the blessings.
5 Threshing will overtake vintage for you, and vintage will overtake sowing; you shall eat your food to being-satisfied, and be settled in security in your land.threshing. There will be so much corn to thresh, that the work will continue throughout the season until it is time to cut the vines.
safely. Without fear of famine.
6 I will give peace throughout the land, so that you will lie down with none to make you tremble, I will cause-to-cease wild beasts from the land, and a sword shall not cross through your land.I will give peace in the land. Prosperity is valueless unless it can be enjoyed in tranquillity, without the dread of assault, robbery or devastation of war.
evil beasts. In the time of warfare, when the land is desolated, wild beasts multiply.
sword. The symbol of an invading army.
ye shall chase. Should they attempt to attack you.
7 You shall pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you to the sword;five . . . hundred. These are round numbers, not to be taken literally. They express the idea that the Israelites, with God as their helper, will be able to overcome vastly superior forces; e.g. the victories of the Maccabees over armies of great numerical superiority.
9 I will turn-my-face toward you, making-you-fruitful and making-you-many, and I will establish my covenant with you.respect unto you. lit. ‘turn unto you’; i.e. be gracious, favourably inclined towards you.
10 You will eat old-grain, the oldest-stored, and the old for the new you will have to clear out.the old. i.e. of the previous years.
11 I will place my Dwelling in your midst, and I will not repel you.My tabernacle. Better, My abiding presence; God will be manifestly with His people, as evidenced by their extraordinary happiness.
abhor you. Withdraw My favour so as to expose you to misfortune.
12 I will walk about in your midst, I will be for you as a God, and you yourselves will be for me as a people.walk among you. A forcible image to describe how intimately God will associate with Israel.
13 I YHVH am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from your being serfs to them; I broke the bars of your yoke, enabling you to walk upright!brought you forth. That God is able to fulfill His promises is proved by His mighty acts in overthrowing the power of Egypt and setting Israel free.
bars. With which the yoke was fastened to the animal’s back.
14-39. THE WAGES OF DISOBEDIENCE
In dealing with the consequences of faithfulness, the Torah speaks in general terms; but in regard to the wages of disobedience, this Prophetical warning describes in much detail the penalties and horrors that would befall the sinful people These are arranged in a series of five groups of increasing severity—sickness and defeat, famine, wild beasts, siege and exile.
14 But if you do not hearken to me, by not observing all these commandments,15 if my laws you spurn, and my regulations you repel by not observing all my commandments, by your violating my covenant,
16-18. SICKNESS AND DEFEAT
16 I in turn will do this to you: I will mete out to you shock, consumption, and fever, wearing out the eyes and exhausting the breath, you will sow your seed for naught, for your enemies will eat it.terror. i.e. terrible things, defined by what follows. The diseases which are mentioned are such as would strike terror in the heart of a person afflicted with any of them.
consumption. Any disease which causes a wasting of the body.
fever. lit. ‘a burning’, internally.
sow your seed in vain. Toiling without enjoying the fruits of their labour is frequently given as a punishment for faithfulness.
17 And I will set my face against you, you will be hit-by-plague in the face of your enemies; those who hate you will have-dominion over you, you will flee, with no one pursuing you!ye shall flee. They will be so demoralized that panic will seize them without cause.
18 Now if, after all that, you do not hearken to me, I will continue to discipline you, sevenfold,for your sins-
seven times. A round number, meaning ‘very much more’.
19-22. FAMINE AND WILD BEASTS
19 I will break your fierce pride! I will give your heavens to be like iron, and your earth like bronze,pride of your power. The power which is the cause of your pride. By ‘power’ is to be understood the feeling of independence that results from prosperity; Deut. VIII,11-18.
heaven as iron. A cloudless heaven in the rainy season and an unproductive soil would quickly humble the pride of the people, and make them realize their helplessness.
20 so that your power will be spent for naught; your land will not give-forth its yield, the trees of the land will not give-forth their fruit.21 Now if you walk with me (in) opposition, and do not consent to hearken to me, I will continue against you blows, sevenfold, according to your sins-
contrary unto Me. Heb., acting perversely, and willfully doing the opposite of what God wishes. The Heb. means ‘accident’. In defiant opposition to God, they would despise God’s laws, and act as if accident ruled the moral and spiritual universe (S.R. Hirsch).
plagues. Strokes, smitings.
22 I will send-loose against you the wild-beasts of the field, so that they bereave you, so that they (utterly) cut off your animals, so that they make you few, and your roads become desolate.23-26. THE HORRORS OF SIEGE
23 Now if, after these-things, you do not accept-discipline from me, but (continue to) walk with me (in) opposition,corrected unto Me. The purpose of God’s chastisements is the moral discipline of His people.
24 I will walk with you, I myself, with opposition; I will strike you, yes, I myself, sevenfold for your sins.25 I will bring against you an avenging sword, taking-vengeance for the covenant. Should you gather yourselves into your cities, I will send-free pestilence in your midst, and you will be given into the hand of your enemies.
vengeance of the covenant. i.e. retribution for disregarding My covenant with you.
within your cities. You will flee from the enemy and take refuge behind the fortifications of your cities, but even there punishments in the form of epidemics, will overtake you and weaken your powers of resistance.
26 When I break the “staff of bread” for you, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven; they will return your bread by weight, and you will eat, but you will not be satisfied.break your staff of bread. An expression denoting the cutting off of the food-supply. Food being that upon which life is supported, it is symbolized as a staff; Isa. III,1.
ten women. A round number. Although each household has its own oven, ten families will require the use of only one oven.
by weight. Food is so scarce that it is doled out by measure.
27-39. NATIONAL DESTRUCTION AND EXILE
27 And if after this you will not hearken to me, but (still) walk with me with opposition,28 I will walk with you in the heat of opposition;
I will discipline you, even I myself, sevenfold for your sins!
in fury. The continued stubbornness of the people will lead to direr and direr punishment. The warnings now reach the climax of horror.
the flesh of your daughters, you will eat!
30 I will destroy your high-places, I will cut down your cult-stands,
I will place your corpses atop the corpses of your idol-clods;
I will repel you.
high places. Heb. bamoth; the altars on the hilltops, or mounds, built by the Canaanites and taken over by idolatrous Israelites.
sun-pillars. Or ‘images of the sun-god.’
cast your carcasses. See II Kings XXIII,14,20, for a historical instance.
abhor you. In contrast to what was stated in v. 15.
31 I will make your cities a wasteland,I will make-desolate your holy-shrines,
and I will not savor your soothing savors!
your sanctuaries. God will not associate Himself with such a Temple; hence ‘your sanctuaries’, not ‘My sanctuary” as in v.2. The plural may refer to the different divisions of the Sanctuary.
I will not smell. Since the incense symbolized prayer, the phrase means ‘I will ignore your petitions.’ Sanctuary and sacrifice are valueless, if unaccompanied by moral obedience.
32 And I will make-desolate, I myself, the land,so that your enemies that settle in it will be appalled-at-the-desolation in it.
astonished. Amazement will seize them at the appalling desolation, and they will perceive that it is due to superhuman agency.
33 And you I will scatter among the nations;I will unsheath the sword against you,
so that your land becomes a desolation and your cities become a wasteland.
you will I scatter among the nations. ‘There is a marvelous and grand display of the greatness of God in the fact that He holds out before the people whom He has just delivered from the hands of the heathen the prospect of being scattered again among the heathen, and that even before the land is taken by the Israelites, He predicts its return to desolation. These could only be spoken of by One who has the future really before His mind, who can destroy His own work, yet attain His end, certain of victory notwithstanding all opposing difficulties’ (quoted in Keil-Delitzsch).
the sword after you. An expression for the hot pursuit of fugitives. Malbim explains these words as an essential qualification of the first part of the verse, scatter among the nations. ‘Israel’s dispersion is not a curse in itself: it is a means of fulfilling God’s purpose of spreading His word among the nations. The tragedy lies in being scattered because of the sword.’
4 Then the land will find-acceptance regarding its Sabbaths,all the days of desolation-when you are in the land of your enemies-
then the land will enjoy-cessation, and find-acceptance regarding its Sabbaths.
be paid her sabbaths. Better, satisfy its sabbaths: i.e.make compensation for the years of release which the Israelites did not observe according to the dictates of the Law (Leeser). Driver explains that the Heb. word rendered ‘be paid’ is the technical term in connection with the settlement of an account. When the people are exiled, the land, here personified, will receive payment of an overdue account in the long Sabbath-rest which it will then enjoy.
35 All the days of desolation it will enjoy-cessation,since it did not enjoy-cessation during its Sabbaths when you were settled on it.
36 Now those that remain among you-I will bring faintness into their hearts, in the lands of their enemies,
they will be set-in-pursuit by the sound of a leaf blown-about,
they will flee as if in flight from a sword and will fall, though there is no pursuer!
left of you. The two preceding verses are a parenthesis, describing the ‘rest’ which the land would have, when its inhabitants had been carried into captivity. This verse resumes v. 33, and alludes to the fate, with its resulting cowardice and ‘spiritual slavery’, that would be in store for those who escaped. ‘The author possessed the imagination of a poet as well as the eloquence of an orator (Kennedy).
37 They will stumble, each-man over his brother, as before the sword, though pursuer there is none.And you will not be able to stand-your-ground before your enemies;
stumble. In their panic, caused by demoralization and not by a real enemy, they would forget the need for mutual help; and each would endeavour to escape, even at the cost of sacrificing his brother—true psychology of the Golus.
38 rather, you will perish among the nations-it will devour you, the land of your enemies.
[eat you up. For the image of a land consuming those who dwell in its soil, see Num. III,32.]
39 Those that remain among you will rot away in their iniquity, in the lands of their enemies,yes, because of the iniquities of their fathers, with them they shall rot away.
in their iniquity. From the consequences of their guilt, i.e. their punishment. To this guilt (and punishment) their fathers have contributed.
with them. Refers to the fathers. There will be an added agony to the wretched lot of sinful parents, that they will behold their children, who had followed their evil example, experiencing the hard fate which was so bitter to themselves. This explanation is supposed by the Traditional accentuation of the words.
40-45. REPENTANCE SHALL BRING RESTORATION
40 Now should they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their breaking-faith by which they broke-faith with me-yes, since they have walked with me in opposition,
confess. God desireth not the death of the sinner; and, therefore, every threat of punishment for disobedience is followed by a promise of mercy. If there is repentance and amendment, Divine discipline is for moral ends; and in truth the Exile proved a purifying furnace unto Israel.
treachery. Implying that faithlessness to the Covenant is a wrong committed directly against God.
41 yes, I myself will walk with them in opposition,and will bring them into the land of their enemies-
if then their foreskinned heart should humble itself,
if then they should find-acceptance regarding their iniquity,
I also will walk. Better, I also walk. They will acknowledge that the calamities which had overtaken them were God’s method of humbling their arrogance.
uncircumcised. Unconsecrated, unclean; closed to the Divine call or appeal.
be paid. Acknowledge that the punishment was deserved.
42 I will bear-in-mind my Yaakov covenant,and yes, my Yitzhak covenant, and yes, my
Avraham covenant
I will bear-in-mind, and the land I will bear-in-mind.
Jacob . . . Isaac . . . Abraham. God is stirred to mercy by recalling the noble ancestors of Israel and the Covenant He entered into with each. In retrospect, the last comes first to mind.
the land. Which was itself a symbol of the Covenant with the Patriarchs, and prominently figured in the promises which God had made to them.
43 -The land will have to be left-behind by them, attaining-acceptance through its Sabbaths by being-desolate-of them,and they will have to find-acceptance regarding their iniquity,
because, because my regulations they spurned, and my laws they repelled.-
shall lie forsaken without them. Because the Israelites had failed to observe the Sabbatical year, they had wronged the soil of the Holy Land, and that wrong had to be expiated before they could return and resettle there.
44 And yes, even then, when they are in the land of their enemies,I will not spurn them, I will not repel them, to finish them off, to abrogate my covenant with them, for I YHVH am their God!
yet for all that. The chapter ends characteristically on a note of hope. God’s anger may be severe, but it is not everlasting. He will grant His people every opportunity to renew the ancient Covenant. Israel—‘a people who have been overthrown, crushed, scattered,; who have been ground, as it were, to very dust, and flung to the four winds of heaven; yet who, though thrones have fallen, and empires have perished, and creeds have changed, and living tongues have become dead, still exist with a vitality seemingly unimpaired’ (Henry George).
45 I will bear-in-mind to their (benefit) the covenant of the former-ones
whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, before the eyes of the nations,
to be for them a God,
I am YHVH!
their ancestors. lit. ‘the first’ generations. It alludes not only to the Patriarchs, but to the founders of the Twelve Tribes and their descendants who left Egypt.
46 These are the laws, the regulations, and the instructionsthat YHVH gave between himself and the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moshe.
these are the statutes. This verse is the subscription not only to chaps. XVII-XXVI, but to the whole of Leviticus, the following chapter being an appendix to the Book.