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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
L E V I T C U S
CHAP. XXVI.
This chapter is a solemn conclusion of the main body of the levitical
law. The precepts that follow in this and the following book either
relate to some particular matters or are repetitions and explications
of the foregoing institutions. Now this chapter contains a general
enforcement of all those laws by promises of reward in case of
obedience on the one hand, and threatenings of punishment for
disobedience on the other hand, the former to work upon hope, the
latter on fear, those two handles of the soul, by which it is taken
hold of and managed. Here is,
I. A repetition of two or three of the principal of the commandments,
II. An inviting promise of all good things, if they would but keep
God’s commandments,
III. A terrible threatening of ruining judgments which would be
brought upon them if they were refractory and disobedient,
IV. A gracious promise of the return of mercy to those of them that
would repent and reform,
&c.
is parallel to this.
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1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you
up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone
in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am
the LORD.
3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do
them;
4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall
yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their
fruit.
5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the
vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your
bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and
none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of
the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before
you by the sword.
8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you
shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall
before you by the sword.
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and
multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because
of the new.
11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall
not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye
shall be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the
land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have
broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
Here is,
I. The inculcating of those precepts of the law which were of the
greatest consequence, and by which were of the greatest consequence,
and by which especially their obedience would be tried,
They are the abstract of the second and fourth commandments, which, as
they are by much the largest in the decalogue, so they are most
frequently insisted on in other parts of the law. As, when a master has
given many things in charge to his servant, he concludes with the
repetition of those things which were of the greatest importance, and
which the servant was most in danger of neglecting, bidding him,
whatever he did, be sure to remember those, so here God by Moses, after
many precepts, closes all with a special charge to observe these two
great commandments.
1. “Be sure you never worship images, nor ever make any sort of images
or pictures for a religious use,”
v. 1.
No sin was more provoking to God than this, and yet there was none that
they were more addicted to, and which afterwards proved of more
pernicious consequence to them. Next to God’s being, unity, and
universal influence, it is necessary that we know and believe that he
is an infinite Spirit; and therefore to represent him by an image in
the making of it, to confine him to an image in the consecrating of it,
and to worship him by an image in bowing down to it, changes his
truth into a lie and his glory into shame, as much as any
thing.
2. “Be sure you keep up a great veneration for sabbaths and religious
assemblies,”
v. 2.
As nothing tends more to corrupt religion than the use of images in
devotion, so nothing contributes more to the support of it than
keeping the sabbaths and reverencing the sanctuary. These
make up very much of the instrumental part of religion, by which the
essentials of it are kept up. Therefore we find in the prophets that,
next to the sin of idolatry, there is no sin for which the Jews are
more frequently reproved and threatened than the profanation of the
sabbath day.
II. Great encouragements given them to live in constant obedience to
all God’s commandments, largely and strongly assuring them that if they
did so they should be a happy people, and should be blessed with all
the good things they could desire. Human governments enforce their laws
with penalties to be inflicted for the breach of them; but God will be
known as the rewarder of those that seek and serve him. Let us
take a view of these great and precious promises, which, though they
relate chiefly to the life which now is, and to the public national
concerns of that people, were typical of the spiritual blessings
entailed by the covenant of grace upon all believers through Christ.
1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. They should have
seasonable rain, neither too little nor too much, but what was
requisite for their land, which was watered with the dew of heaven
that it might yield its increase,
v. 4.
The dependence which the fruitfulness of the earth beneath has upon the
influences of heaven above is a sensible intimation to us that every
good and perfect gift must be expected from above, from the
Father of lights. It is promised that the earth should produce
its fruits in such great abundance that they would be kept in full
employment, during both the harvest and the vintage, to gather it in,
v. 5.
Before they had reaped their corn and threshed it, the vintage would be
ready; and, before they had finished their vintage, it would be high
time to begin their sowing. Long harvests are often with us the
consequences of bad weather, but with them they should be the effects
of a great increase. This signified the abundance of grace which should
be poured out in gospel times, when the ploughman should overtake
the reaper
(Amos ix. 13),
and a great harvest of souls should be gathered in to Christ. The
plenty should be so great that they should bring forth the old
to be given away to the poor because of the new, to make room
for it in their barns, which yet they would not pull down to build
greater, as that rich fool
(Luke xii. 18),
for God gave them this abundance to be laid out, not be hoarded up from
one year to another. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall
curse him,
Prov. xi. 26.
That promise
(Mal. iii. 10),
I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough
to receive it, explains this,
And that which crowns this blessing of plenty is
(v. 5),
You shall eat your bread to the full, which intimates that they
should have, not only abundance, but content and satisfaction in it.
They should have enough, and should know when they had enough. Thus
the meek shall eat and be satisfied,
Ps. xxii. 26.
2. Peace under the divine protection; “You shall dwell in your land
safely
(v. 5);
both really save, and safe in your own apprehensions; you shall lie
down to rest in the power and promise of God, and not only none shall
hurt you, but none shall so much as make you afraid,”
v. 6.
See
They should not be infested with wild beasts, these should be rid
out of the land, or, as it is promised
(Job v. 23),
should be at peace with them. Nor should they be terrified with
the alarms of war: Neither shall the sword go through your land.
This holy security is promised to all the faithful,
&c. Those must needs dwell in safety that dwell in God,
Job ix. 18, 19.
3. Victory and success in their wars abroad, while they had peace and
tranquility at home,
They are assured that the hand of God should so signally appear with
them in their conquests that no disproportion of numbers should make
against them: Five of you shall have courage to attack, and
strength to chase and defeat, a hundred, as Jonathan did
experiencing the truth of his own maxim
(v. 6),
that it is all one with the Lord to save by many or by few.
4. The increase of their people: I will make you fruitful and
multiply you,
v. 9.
Thus the promise made to Abraham must be fulfilled, that his seed
should be as the dust of the earth; and much more numerous they
would have been if they had by their sin cut themselves short. It is
promised to the gospel church that it shall be fruitful,
5. The favour of God, which is the fountain of all good: I will
have respect unto you,
v. 9.
If the eye of our faith be unto God, the eye of his favour will be unto
us. More is implied than is expressed in that promise, My soul shall
not abhor you
(v. 11),
as there is in that threatening, My soul shall have no pleasure in
him,
Heb. x. 38.
Though there was that among them which might justly have alienated him
from them, yet, if they would closely adhere to his institutions, he
would not abhor them.
6. Tokens of his presence in and by his ordinances: I will set my
tabernacle among you,
v. 11.
It was their honour and advantage that God’s tabernacle was lately
erected among them; but here he lets them know that the continuance and
establishment of it depended upon their good behaviour. The tabernacle
that was now set should be settled if they would be obedient, else not.
Note, The way to have God’s ordinances fixed among us, as a nail in a
sure place, is to cleave closely to the institution of them. It is
added
(v. 12),
“I will walk among you, with delight and satisfaction, as a man
in his garden; I will keep up communion with you as a man walking with
his friend.” This seems to be alluded to,
where Christ is said to walk in the midst of the golden
candlesticks.
7. The grace of the covenant, as the fountain and foundation, the
sweetness and security, of all these blessings: I will establish my
covenant with you,
v. 9.
Let them perform their part of the covenant, and God would not fail to
perform his. All covenant-blessings are summed up in the
covenant-relation
(v. 12):
I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and they are all
grounded upon their redemption: I am your God, because I
brought you forth out of the land of Egypt,
v. 13.
Having purchased them, he would own them, and never cast them off till
they cast him off. He broke their yoke, and made them go
upright, that is, their deliverance out of Egypt put them in a
state both of ease and honour, that, being delivered out of the hands
of their enemies, they might serve God without fear, each
walking in his uprightness. When Israel rejected Christ, and was
therefore rejected by him, their back is said to be bowed down
always under the burden of their guilt, which was heavier than that of
their bondage in Egypt,
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14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all
these commandments;
15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor
my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but
that ye break my covenant:
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you
terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the
eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in
vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain
before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and
ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I
will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make
your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land
shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land
yield their fruits.
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto
me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to
your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you
of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in
number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but
will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you
yet seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the
quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together
within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye
shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women
shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you
your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be
satisfied.
27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk
contrary unto me;
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even
I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of
your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your
images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols,
and my soul shall abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your
sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of
your sweet odours.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies
which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out
a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your
cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth
desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall
the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did
not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a
faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and
the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee,
as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a
sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand
before your enemies.
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your
enemies shall eat you up.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their
iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of
their fathers shall they pine away with them.
After God had set the blessing before them (the life and good which
would make them a happy people if they would be obedient), he here sets
the curse before them, the death and evil which would make them as
miserable if they were disobedient. Let them not think themselves so
deeply rooted as that God’s power could not ruin them, nor so highly
favoured as that his justice would not ruin them if they revolted from
him and rebelled against him; no You only have I known, therefore I
will punish you soonest and sorest.
Observe,
I. How their sin is described, which would bring all this misery upon
them. Not sins of ignorance and infirmity; God had provided sacrifices
for those. Not the sins they repented of and forsook; but the sins that
were presumptuously committed, and obstinately persisted in. Two things
would certainly bring this ruin upon them:–
1. A contempt of God’s commandments
(v. 14):
“If you will not hearken to me speaking to you by the law, nor
do all these commandments, that is, desire and endeavour to do
them, and, wherein you miss it, make use of the prescribed remedies.”
Thus their sin is supposed to begin in mere carelessness, and neglect,
and omission. These are bad enough, but they make way for worse; for
the people are brought in
(v. 15)
as,
(1.) Despising God’s statutes, both the duties enjoined and the
authority enjoining them, thinking meanly of the law and the Law-maker.
Note, Those are hastening apace to their own ruin who begin to think it
below them to be religious.
(2.) Abhorring his judgments, their very souls abhorring them.
Note, Those that begin to despise religion will come by degrees to
loathe it; and mean thoughts of it will ripen into ill thoughts of it;
those that turn from it will turn against it, and their hearts will
rise at it.
(3.) Breaking his covenant. Though every breach of the
commandment does not amount to a breach of the covenant (we were undone
if it did), yet, when men have come to such a pitch of impiety as to
despise and abhor the commandment, the next step will be to disown God,
and all relation to him. Those that reject the precept will come at
last to renounce the covenant. Observe, It is God’s covenant which they
break: he made it, but they break it. Note, If a covenant be made and
kept between God and man, God must have all the honour; but, if ever it
be broken, man must bear all the blame: on him shall this breach
be.
2. A contempt of his corrections. Even their disobedience would not
have been their destruction if they had not been obstinate and
impenitent in it, notwithstanding the methods God took to reclaim them.
Their contempt of God’s word would not have brought them to ruin, if
they had not added to that a contempt of his rod, which should have
brought them to repentance. Three ways this is expressed:–
(1.) “If you will not for all this hearken to me,
v. 18, 21, 27.
If you will not learn obedience by the things which you suffer, but be
as deaf to the loud alarms of God’s judgments as you have been to the
close reasonings of his word and the secret whispers of your own
consciences, you are obstinate indeed.”
(2.) “If you walk contrary to me,
v. 21, 23, 27.
All sinners walk contrary to God, to his truths, laws, and counsels;
but those especially that are incorrigible under his judgments. The
design of the rod is to humble them, and soften them, and bring them to
repentance; but, instead of this, their hearts are more hardened and
exasperated against God, and in their distress they trespass
yet more against him,
2 Chron. xxviii. 22.
This is walking contrary to God. Some read it, “If you walk at all
adventures with me, carelessly and presumptuously, as if you heeded not
either what you do, whether it be right or wrong, or what God does with
you, whether it be for you or against you, blundering on in wilful
ignorance.”
(3.) If you will not be reformed by these things. God’s design
in punishing is to reform, by giving men sensible convictions of the
evil of sin, and obliging them to seek unto him for relief: this is the
primary intention; but those that will not be reformed by the judgments
of God must expect to be ruined by them. Those have a great deal to
answer for that have been long and often under God’s correcting hand,
and yet go on frowardly in a sinful way; sick and in pain, and yet not
reformed; crossed and impoverished, and yet not reformed; broken with
breach upon breach, yet not returning to the Lord,
Amos iv. 6,
&c.
II. How the misery is described which their sin would bring upon them,
under two heads:–
1. God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of
all their misery.
(1.) I will set my face against you
(v. 17),
that is, “I will set myself against you, set myself to ruin you.” These
proud sinners God will resist, and face those down that confront his
authority. Or the face is put for the anger: “I will show myself highly
displeased at you.”
(2.) I will walk contrary to you
(v. 24, 28);
with the forward he will wrestle,
Ps. xxviii. 26
[margin]. When God in his providence thwarts the designs of a people,
which they thought well laid, crosses their purposes, breaks their
measures, blasts their endeavours, and disappoints their expectations,
then he walks contrary to them. Note, There is nothing got by striving
with God Almighty, for he will break either the heart or the neck of
those that contend with him, will bring them either to repentance or
ruin. “I will walk at all adventures with you,” so some read; “all
covenant loving-kindness shall be forgotten, and I will leave you to
common providence.” Note, Those that cast off God deserve that he
should cast them off.
(3.) As they continued obstinate, the judgments should increase yet
more upon them. If the first sensible tokens of God’s displeasures do
not attain their end, to humble and reform them, then
(v. 18),
I will punish you seven times more, and again
(v. 21),
I will bring seven times more plagues, and
(v. 24),
I will punish you yet seven times, and
(v. 28),
I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. Note, If
less judgments do not do their work, God will send greater; for, when
he judges, he will overcome. If true repentance do not stay
process, it will go on till execution be taken out. Those that are
obstinate and incorrigible, when they have weathered one storm must
expect another more violent; and, how severely soever they are
punished, till they are in hell they must still say, “There is worse
behind,” unless they repent. If the founder have hitherto
melted in vain
(Jer. vi. 29),
the furnace will be heated seven times hotter (a proverbial
expression, used
and again and again seven times hotter; and who among us can
dwell with such devouring fire? God does not begin with the sorest
judgments, to show that he is patient, and delights not in the death of
sinners; but, if they repent not, he will proceed to the sorest, to
show that he is righteous, and that he will not be mocked or set at
defiance.
(4.) Their misery is completed in that threatening: My soul shall
abhor you,
v. 30.
That man is as miserable as he can be whom God abhors; for his
resentments are just and effective. Thus if any man draw back,
as these are supposed to do, God’s soul shall have no pleasure in
him
(Heb. x. 38),
and he will spue them out of his mouth,
Rev. iii. 16.
It is spoken of as strange, and yet too true, Hath thy soul loathed
Zion?
Jer. xiv. 19.
2. The whole creation would be at war with them. All God’s sore
judgments would be sent against them; for he hath many arrows in his
quiver. The threatenings here are very particular, because really they
were prophecies, and he that foresaw all their rebellions knew they
would prove so; see
This long roll of threatening shows that evil pursues sinners. We have
here,
(1.) Temporal judgments threatened.
[1.] Diseases of body, which should be epidemical: I will appoint
over you, as task-masters, to rule you with rigour, terror,
consumption, and the burning ague,
v. 16.
What we translate terror, some think, signifies a particular
disease, probably (says the learned bishop Patrick) the falling
sickness, which is terror indeed: all chronical diseases are
included in the consumption, and all acute diseases in the burning ague
or fever. These consume the eyes, and cause sorrow both to those that
are visited with them and to their friends and relations. Note, All
diseases are God’s servants; they do what he appoints them, and are
often used as scourges wherewith he chastises a provoking people. The
pestilence is threatened
(v. 25)
to meet them, when they are gathered together in their cities for fear
of the sword. The greater the concourse of people is, the greater
desolation does the pestilence make; and, when it gets among the
soldiers that should defend a place, it is of most fatal consequence.
[2.] Famine and scarcity of bread, which should be brought upon them
several ways; as, First, By plunder
(v. 16):
Your enemies shall eat it up, and carry it off as the Midianites
did,
Secondly, By unseasonable weather, especially the want of rain
(v. 19):
I will make your heaven as iron, letting fall no rain, but
reflecting heat, and then the earth would of course be as dry and hard
as brass, and their labour in ploughing and sowing would be
in vain
(v. 20);
for the increase of the earth depends upon God’s good providence more
than upon man’s good husbandry. This should be the breaking of the
staff of bread
(v. 26),
which life leans upon, and is supported by, on which perhaps they had
leaned more than upon God’s blessing. There should be so great a dearth
of corn that, whereas every family used to fill an oven of their own
with household bread, now ten families should have to fill but one
over, which would bring themselves and their children and servants to
short allowance, so that they should eat and not be satisfied.
The less they had the more craving should their appetites be.
Thirdly, By the besieging of their cities, which would reduce
them to such an extremity that they should eat the flesh of their
sons and daughters,
v. 29.
[3.] War, and the prevailing of their enemies over them: “You shall
be slain before your enemies,
v. 17.
Your choice men shall die in battle, and those that hate you shall
reign over you, and justly, since you are not willing that the God
that loved you should reign over you;”
Miserable is that people whose enemies are their rulers and have got
dominion over them, or whose rulers have become their enemies and
under-hand seek the ruin of their interests. Thus God would break
the pride of their power,
v. 19.
God had given them power over the nations; but when they, instead of
being thankful for that power, and improving it for the service of
God’s kingdom, grew proud of it, and perverted the intentions of it, it
was just with God to break it. Thus God would bring a sword upon
them to avenge the quarrel of his covenant,
v. 25.
Note, God has a just quarrel with those that break covenant with him,
for he will not be mocked by the treachery of perfidious men; and one
way or other he will avenge this quarrel upon those that play at fast
and loose with him.
[4.] Wild beasts, lions, bears, and wolves, which should increase upon
them, and tear in pieces all that come in their way
(v. 22),
as we read of two bears that in an instant killed forty-two children,
This is one of the four sore judgments threatened
which plainly refers to this chapter. Man was made to have dominion
over the creatures, and, though many of them are stronger than he, yet
none of them could have hurt him, nay, all of them would have served
him, if he had not first shaken off God’s dominion, and so lost his
own; and now the creatures are in rebellion against him that is in
rebellion against his Maker, and, when the Lord of those hosts pleases,
they are the executioners of his wrath and the ministers of his
justice.
[5.] Captivity, or dispersion: I will scatter you among the
heathen
(v. 33),
in your enemies’ land,
v. 34.
Never were any people so incorporated and united among themselves as
they were; but for their sin God would scatter them, so that they
should be lost among the heathen, from whom God had graciously
distinguished them, but with whom they had wickedly mingled themselves.
Yet, when they were scattered, divine justice had not done with them,
but would draw out a sword after them, which would find them out, and
follow them wherever they were. God’s judgments, as they cannot be
outfaced, so they cannot be outrun.
[6.] The utter ruin and desolation of their land, which should be so
remarkable that their very enemies themselves, who ha helped it
forward, should in the review be astonished at it,
First, Their cities should be waste, forsaken, uninhabited, and
all the buildings destroyed; those that escaped the desolations of war
should fall to decay of themselves. Secondly, Their sanctuaries
should be a desolation, that is, their synagogues where they met for
religious worship every sabbath, as well as their tabernacle where they
met thrice a year. Thirdly, The country itself should be
desolate, not tilled or husbanded
(v. 34, 35);
then the land should enjoy its sabbaths, because they had not
religiously observed the sabbatical years which God appointed them.
They tilled their ground when God would have them let it rest; justly
therefore were they driven out of it; and the expression intimates that
the ground itself was pleased and easy when it was rid of the burden of
such sinners, under which it had groaned,
&c. The captivity in Babylon lasted seventy years, and so long the land
enjoyed her sabbaths, as is said
with reference to this.
[7.] The destruction of their idols, though rather a mercy than a
judgment, yet, being a necessary piece of justice, is here mentioned,
to show what would be the sin that would bring all these miseries upon
them: I will destroy your high places,
v. 30.
Those that will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God
shall be parted from them by his judgments; since they would not
destroy their high places, God would. And, to upbraid them with the
unreasonable fondness they had shown for their idols, it is foretold
that their carcases should be cast upon the carcases of their
idols. Those that are wedded to their lusts will sooner or later
have enough of them. Their idols would not be able to help either
themselves or their worshippers; but, those that made them being like
them, they should both perish alike, and fall together as blind into
the ditch.
(2.) Spiritual judgments are here threatened. These should seize the
mind; for he that made the mind can, when he pleases, make his sword
approach to it. It is here threatened,
[1.] That they should find no acceptance with God: I will not smell
the savour of your sweet odours,
v. 31.
Though the judgments of God upon them did not separate them and their
sins, yet they extorted incense from them; but in vain–even their
incense was an abomination,
[2.] That they should have no courage in their wars, but should be
quite dispirited and disheartened. They should not only fear and flee
(v. 17),
but fear and fall, when none pursued,
v. 36.
A guilty conscience would be their continual terror, so that not only
the sound of a trumpet, but the very sound of a leaf, should chase
them. Note, Those that cast off the fear of God expose themselves
to the fear of every thing else,
Their very fears should dash them one against another,
v. 37, 38.
And those that had increased one another’s guilt would now increase one
another’s fears.
[3.] That they should have no hope of the forgiveness of their sins
(v. 39):
They shall pine away in their iniquity, and how should they
then live?
Ezek. xxxiii. 10.
Note, It is a righteous thing with God to leave those to despair of
pardon that have presumed to sin; and it is owing to free grace if we
are not abandoned to pine away in the iniquity we were born in and have
lived in.
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40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of
their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against
me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have
brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their
uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the
punishment of their iniquity:
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my
covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I
remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her
sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall
accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because
they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my
statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their
enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to
destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I
am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their
ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the
sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the
LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai
by the hand of Moses.
Here the chapter concludes with gracious promises of the return of
God’s favour to them upon their repentance, that they might not (unless
it were their own fault) pine away in their iniquity. Behold,
with wonder, the riches of God’s mercy to a people that had obstinately
stood it out against the judgments of God, and would never think of
surrendering till they were reduced to the last extremity. Yet turn
to strong-hold, you prisoners of hope,
Zech. ix. 12.
As bad as things are, they may be mended. Yet there is hope in
Israel. Observe,
I. How the repentance which would qualify them for this mercy is
described,
The instances of it are three:–
1. Confession, by which they must give glory to God, and take shame to
themselves. There must be a confession of sin, their own and their
fathers’, which they must lament the guilt of because they feel the
smart of it; that thus they may cut off the entail of wrath. They must
in their confession put sin under its worst character, as walking
contrary to God; this is the sinfulness of sin, the worst thing in
it, and which in our repentance we should especially bewail. There must
also be a confession of wrath; they must overlook the instruments of
their trouble and the second causes, and confess that God has walked
contrary to them, and so dealt with them according to their
sins. Such a confession as this we find made by Daniel just before
the dawning of the day of their deliverance
(ch. ix.),
and the like,
Remorse and godly sorrow for sin: If their uncircumcised heart be
humbled. An impenitent, unbelieving, unhumbled heart, is called an
uncircumcised heart, the heart of a Gentile that is a stranger
to God, rather than the heart of an Israelite in covenant with him.
True circumcision is of the heart
(Rom. ii. 29),
without which the circumcision of the flesh avails nothing,
Now in repentance this uncircumcised heart was humbled, that is, it was
truly broken and contrite for sin. Note, A humble heart under humbling
providences prepares for deliverance and true comfort.
3. Submission to the justice of God in all his dealings; if they then
accept of the punishment of their iniquity
and again
v. 43),
that is, if they justify God and condemn themselves, patiently bear the
punishment as that which they have well deserved, and carefully answer
the ends o it as that which God has well designed, accept it as a
kindness, take it as physic, and improve it, then they are penitents
indeed.
II. How the mercy which they should obtain upon their repentance is
described.
1. They should not be abandoned: Though they have despised my
judgments, yet, for all that, I will not cast them away,
v. 43, 44.
He speaks as a tender Father that cannot find in his heart to
disinherit a son that has been very provoking. How shall I do
it?
Hos. xi. 8, 9.
Till he had laid the foundations of a church for himself in the Gentile
world, the Jewish church was not quite forsaken, nor cast away.
2. They should be remembered: I will remember the land with
favour, which is grounded upon the promise before, I will remember
my covenant
(v. 42),
which is repeated,
God is said to remember the covenant when he performs the
promises of it, purely for his faithfulness’ sake; not because there is
any thing in us to recommend us to his favour, but because he will be
as good as his word. This is the church’s plea.
Have respect unto the covenant. He will remember the
constitution of the covenant, which is such as leaves room for
repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance; and the Mediator of
the covenant, who was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was
sent, when the fulness of time came, in remembrance of that holy
covenant. The word covenant is thrice repeated, to intimate that God is
ever mindful of it and would have us to be so. The persons also with
whom the covenant was made are mentioned in an unusual manner, per
modum ascensus–in the ascending line, beginning with Jacob, to
lead them gradually to the most ancient promise, which was made to the
father of the faithful: thus
he is said to perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to
Abraham. He will for their sakes
(v. 45),
not their merit’s sake, but their benefit’s sake, remember the covenant
of their ancestors, and upon that score show kindness to them, though
most unworthy; they are therefore said to be, as touching the
election, beloved for the fathers’ sake,
Rom. xi. 28.
Note, When those that have walked contrary to God in a way of sin
return to him by sincere repentance, though he has walked contrary to
them in a way of judgment he will return to them in a way of special
mercy, pursuant to the covenant of redemption and grace. None are so
ready to repent as God is to forgive upon repentance, through Christ,
who is given for a covenant.
Lastly, These are said to be the laws which the Lord made
between him and the children of Israel,
v. 46.
His communion with his church is kept up by his law. He manifests not
only his dominion over them, but his favour to them, by giving them his
law; and they manifest not only their holy fear, but their holy love,
by the observance of it; and thus it is made between them, rather as a
covenant than a law; for he draws with the cords of a man.
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