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Outline of Leviticus 26
The Seeds of many Biblical Prophecies are buried here
I. Simplified Summary of God’s requirements
A. NO Idols
B. Observe all sabbaths
C. Uphold the honor of the sanctuary
II. Blessings God intended for Israel
1. Rain on time = successful grain and fruit production
= abundant harvests will overlap planting and require removal of old stored food
= abundant food and security (no dangers due to crop failure)
2. Peace in the land = no one will threaten you
= no danger from wild beasts
= no wars on your land
3. Victory in battle = when you go to war, your success will be way out of proportion to your numbers
4. Many children = population growth
5. Covenant with God = fellowship with God
III. Penalties for Disobedience
Things considered offenses punishable by God under the Covenant.
A. Disobedience = failure to fully carry out the commands
B. Rejection of God’s Statutes = failure to fully carry out the commands
C. Abhorrence of the Ordinances = failure to fully carry out the commands
1. First Degree of Punishment (v. 14-17 Loss of health and security)
A. Sudden Terror, Consumption, and Fever
= These three result in a rapid loss of health, both physical and mental
B. Your enemies will eat all your crops
C. Your enemies will defeat you in battle
D. Those who hate you will rule over you
E. You will be paranoid and flee when no one is chasing you
F. If your repentance is incomplete, then you will receive the Second Degree
2. Second Degree of Punishment (V. 18-20 Loss of the ability to produce food)
(7 more times)
A. This punishment is seven times greater than the first.
= I think this means seven times longer.
B. Break down your pride of power = collapse of your army
C. Prolonged Drought = no rain and ground too hard to plow
D. All farming efforts are wasted = the land and the trees will not produce
E. If your repentance is incomplete, then you will receive the Third Degree
3. Third Degree of Punishment (V. 21-22
(Increase the Plague 7 times according to your sins)
A. Compared to the First Degree, is this a period of 7 or 49?
B. Beasts of the field = loss of your children
= loss of your cattle
= your population will collapse
= your roads will be empty
C. If your repentance is incomplete, then you will receive the Fourth Degree
4. Fourth Degree of Punishment (V. 23-26 A Sword will execute “covenant” vengeance)
(7 times)
A. Cities under siege
B. Pestilence in the cites during the siege
C. You will be captured by your enemies
D. There will be very little food. No one will have enough to eat.
E. If your repentance is incomplete, then you will receive the Fifth Degree
5. Fifth Degree of Punishment (V. 27-33 God Destroys His own Sanctuary)
(7 times)
A. Cannibalism: You will eat your own children.
B. God will destroy all places of worship, including His own Temple.
C. Even your enemies will be appalled at the devastation of your land.
D. I will scatter you among the nations, yet even there a sword will chase you.
E. Your land and your cities will become desolate wastes.
F. The Land will have its Sabbaths. (V. 34-39 The missing “fallow” years)
(The land will have its “Sevens”)
For every missed Sabbatical year, the Land will lie fallow, while you waste away and die among the nations. Anyone left in the land will die in fear and weakness and paranoia. This implies that the punishment of deportation will last one year for every Sabbatical year that was not observed. In the days of the destruction of the Temple, someone who knew how many Sabbatical years had been missed could calculate the duration of the deportation.
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Speculation: If this last “seven times” relates to the 70 weeks, then this entire passage really is a prophecy. It also would mean that the sin of disregarding the “Land’s Sabbath” happened a total of 490 years, a total of 70 Sabbath Years. It also means that the prophecy of 490 years, the “Seventy Weeks of Daniel” is an exact match for the duration of their disobedience concerning this one law.
If we assume that the Land had missed 70 consecutive Sabbatical years, and that the depopulation of the Land which began in 606 BC was the starting date for this punishment, then we go back to 1096 BC as the last time the Land had its Sabbath Fallow Year. This predates the birth of David, and Saul. I don’t know if a particular event or person can be associated with this. The possibility exists that the land had one or more Sabbaths under David, Solomon, or Josiah. So, the 1096 BC date is the last possible date, but not necessarily the most likely.
Another issue is the period of the Divided Kingdom. Does the 722 BC Fall of Samaria have any relationship to Leviticus 26? Did the South keep the Land’s Sabbaths more faithfully than the north?
How could one discover these things?
This is the End of the Punishments for the violation of the Sabbaths.
There is No Israel.
There is No Mosaic Covenant.
There is No Temple.
Most of the Tribes have assimilated.
Only Judah can defend its bloodline.
The Sons of David (the Princes of Judah) become known as the Nazarenes.
Some Levites and Benjamin are still known.
The priesthood has no occupation.
The king has no throne.
The people have no nation.
Everything they have ever known is in the past.
But…. What happens after the Land has had its Sabbaths?
Only Jeremiah knows that it will be exactly 70 years.
And then, in Jeremiah 25 & 29, he tells this to the Exiles
IV. Two Ways To Repent (V. 40-41)
1. Confess the sin they and their ancestors have done….
A. If they confess their own sin
B. And if they confess the sins of their ancestors
C. “…Their unfaithfulness to Me”
D. “…Their hostility against Me”
OR...
2.Humble themselves and start acting correctly….
A. ...if their “uncircumcised heart” heart becomes so humbled that they
Make amends for their iniquity…
V. The New Beginning: (V. 42-46)
God Will Remember His Covenants
A. With Jacob
B. With Issac
C. With Abraham
D. And He will remember the Land
E. He will not break His covenants with them
F. He will not completely destroy them
G. He will remember the covenant He made with their
ancestors who had been in Egypt.
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Observations…The description of two ways of repentance seems to imply that God does not know which they will choose. However, I think it is more likely that both forms of repentance took place thousands of times in many places. The nations must repent, but how many of them? They have these two starting points. Both must eventually be fully implemented. Confession without a return to correct living is not acceptable, nor is it enough to merely start over without accepting responsibility for one’s own guilt. Confessing the sins of the forefathers is not a way of avoiding one’s own guilt. It is a way of bringing everyone to the same level place for a new start. If we are all descendents of those whose sin is responsible for our present situation, then there is no pride of heritage, no tribal division, no basis in the past for disunity in the future. Remember that at the time of Daniel, the reunification of the two kingdoms has to happen in the context of what happens after Leviticus 26 has run its course.
The New Beginning… The Patriarchs are listed backwards! I don’t know of any other place in Scripture where this happens. Are there three distinct covenants that have to be renewed in reverse order? Are they listed this way because Abraham’s is the greater covenant?
When did God renew those three covenants?
Has God remembered the Land yet?
Finally, God will even remember the covenant He made with Israel in the days of the Exodus
I believe that Jesus fulfilled the first three covenants.
The full renewal of the land and a renewed version of Moses Covenant will happen after Jesus returns.
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