Blessings and Curses, Part 3 of Leviticus 26: the God who Remembers

Part 3.

Leviticus 26:40-45 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; 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: 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. 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. 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. 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.

       The word for “iniquity” is Nwe `avon. No, not the cosmetic company. It means perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or the consequence or punishment for iniquity. It is also translated as “fault” and “mischief” and “sin.” It comes from a root word meaning to be bent, twisted, distorted, to do perversely.

       A theme you will see throughout scripture is the concept of confessing both one’s iniquity and the iniquity of one’s forefathers. I don’t know why, exactly, except that God says this in Exodus 20:5b

         … for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.…

and in Exodus 34:7

            Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

       If iniquity’s punishment continues to 3 and 4 generations, it does seem like a good idea to spiritually clean the gene pool. How? Through repentance.

       In part 1, I asked whether the “if…then” is a contractual agreement. For myself, I conclude it is rather a covenant, a matter of the heart and devotion to the Giver of the Law, not just the Law.

       Here in the third part of Leviticus 26, we again see “if…then.” If we confess walking contrary to God and meet the other parts of this repentance, then God will remember his covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not only that, God will remember the land.

       Remember is rkz zakar, which means to remember. I believe God is saying that not only will He remember, but He’ll also do something about it. If we look at the 233 times this word appears in the Old Testament, when it refers to God remembering, God also does something:

Genesis 9:15 (Noah), Judges 16 (Samson), II Kings 20 (Hezekiah); Jeremiah (all over), and so forth.

       Even in the cases of an unrepentant nation of Israel, God says in Leviticus 26:44-45
         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. 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.

       I just can’t say it enough: what a compassionate, kind God we have!

Shalom,

exodus15

Blessings and Curses, Part 2 of Leviticus 26

Part 2.

Leviticus 26:14-15

But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 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:

       Brace yourself for a litany of fates far worse than a thousand camels infesting your sleeping bag.

       First, please remember that these awful results come from despising [oam ma'ac] God’s statutes and abhorring [leg ga`al] His judgments [jpvm mishpat]. The choice to follow God’s ways and the choice to not follow His ways are yours and yours alone.

       Verses 16-39 describe the awful consequences of actively going against God’s laws, among them are fear, sorrow, illness, triumph of one’s enemies. There won’t even seem to be logic to it, such as fleeing when no one is pursuing.

       Were I to dump all obedience to God, were I to dump everything to defy Him, what would bother me most are verses where God says things like “I will set my face against you” and “my soul shall abhor you.” I am reminded of (and sobered by):

Hebrews 6:4+
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

       Regardless of how you feel about “eternal security,” (the permanence of salvation by faith), the writer of Leviticus 26 spends a large amount of time describing the imminent dangers of deliberately tossing out God’s commands.

       Were these imminent dangers applicable to the Israelites? Yes, the Bible tells us so. History also tells us so. The cannibalism in verse 29 is also forewarned in Deuteronomy 28, Jeremiah 19 and Ezekiel 5. It is described as having happened in II Kings 6 and Lamentations 4.

       Does this passage apply to us as well? If so, how on earth do we apply this warning in Leviticus 26? First, I should do all I can to not despise God’s laws. Second, if I’m experiencing any of these consequences, is it not worth self-examination? Am I ridiculously nervous? phobic? No matter what I do, am I still losing? Does heaven seem like iron when I pray?

       My faith, our faith, is not a game. It is a war. I am not going to let a particular theology stand in the way of getting myself right before God. When unmistakably bad stuff is happening in my life, I shall ask God to show me where I’m despising His statutes and abhorring His judgments. It’s worth a shot and it might save my life.

       Furthermore, it is definitely pleasing to God when we say,

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

       In part 3, we will come full circle and meet the God who remembers.

Blessings and Curses, part 1.

Leviticus 26:3

If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

Leviticus 26:14

But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

Leviticus 26: 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.

Part 1.

Leviticus 26:3

If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

       If you want to see good stuff in your lifetime, you must understand and apply Leviticus 26. I’m not saying that God is mean spirited and vengeful. Don’t get hung up on Leviticus 26’s curses. Remember that Scripture reveals God’s character to be merciful as well as holy and just.

       God proclaimed this about Himself in Exodus 34:5-8. And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

       In light of God’s mercy and amazing love for us, I recommend that believers look at the curses in a special light. It’s not an angry, grumpy, distant, human god pronouncing curses. It is a loving Father urging His children.

Jeremiah 31:9b for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

       Don’t we warn our children to not touch the hot stove? We don’t want them to get burned. God doesn’t want us to get burned.

       My favorite Bible is over 20 years old. The cover is held together by every Vermonter’s, Mythbusters’ and Redd Greene’s favorite: duct tape. My mom, a former librarian, first fixed it with library tape. That wasn’t enough, so I moved to the big guns. But even the miracle tape is showing its age. The strings are permanent but the silver backing is rolling up and no stickier than the pages it protects.

       This Bible has one word underlined more than any other. What word?

         If.

       “If… then… else….” God was the original writer of computer logic.

       Leviticus 26:3 opens with if. In order to experience the phenomenal blessings of Leviticus 26, the believer is to follow three conditions.

1.    Walk in my statutes

2.   Keep my commandments

3.    Do them

       Is this really a contractual agreement between God and man? Was it only meant for the Israelites, or does the principle apply to us today? Do these principles also work for non-believers?

       As God is perfect in His love and wisdom and goodness, is it safe to assume that, if these blessings are contractual in nature, it’s not God’s fault when we don’t experience all of them? Before we get mad at God for reneging on His part of the deal, let’s look at the conditions of the deal.

1. Walk [Kly yalak] in my statutes [hqx chuqqah].

       Yalak means to go, walk, come, depart, proceed, move, etc. It also means to die, live, manner of life. Moving ahead to Judges 4, here is part of the conversation between Barak and Deborah. Deborah has just told Barak he is to war against the oppressive Sisera and King Jabin. (Warning! shameless self-promotion: My screenplay Deborah was the one that made quarterfinalist in the Blue Cat screenplay competition a few years ago.)

       Oops, back to Judges 4:8-9.

And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go [yalak] with me, then I will go [yalak]: but if thou wilt not go [yalak] with me, then I will not go [yalak]. And she said, I will surely go [yalak] with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went [yalak] with Barak to Kedesh.

       It’s quite possible that Barak and Deborah understood the second use of yalak, but admittedly, this is extrabiblical. I haven’t heard that many sermons about their conversation (actually, I’ve heard none). The point is, for illustration, that walking in God’s statutes is to be a way of life, a manner of living.

       Chuqqah means statute, ordinance, limit, enactment, something prescribed, custom, manners, rites. In other words, statutes means “statutes.” Ah.

2. Keep [rmv shamar] my commandments [hwum mitsvah].

       Shamar is a wonderful word. It means to keep, guard, observe, give heed, preserve, watch/watchman, watch for, wait for, keep oneself, keep, pay heed…. What a rich, thick word!

       We get bar/bat mitzvah from this word. Mitsvah means commandments, precepts, law, ordinances.

       To shamar mitsvah requires more than a surface obedience. Like walking in His statutes, this is a way of life. It seems the mitsvah is to be cherished and protected as a treasure, not just as a code of conduct.

3. Do [hse `asah] them.

       The Hebrew definitions for `asah are many. In English, we would say, “and do them.”

       To sum up, the blessings God wants to give are much less of a contract than a matter of the heart. May we, like the psalmist say,

Ps 119:97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.