The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 446

PART V. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION. EXPOSITION. and oil, and ye shall be satiefled therewith,• CHAPTER X.XVL and" yesball eat in plenty, and be satisfied;,. THE first two verses of this chnpter con- the clause, "I uriU gioe peaC6 in the land, tain a prohibition of idolatry, and a and ye shall lie do1D11, and none shall make you command to observe the sabbe.th and to afraid," a.s " I will no more make yon a re- reverence God's se.nctoa.ry ; the.t is, they proach among the heathen," and" my people repeat in somme.ry the substance of the shall never be a.shamed ; " and the clause, Israelites, religioUB duty, negative and '' I u,ill rid evil creatures [notbeaeta] out of the positive, e.s comprised in the first table of land, neither 1haU the ltDOf'd go tJirough your the Deoe.logue. They form, therefore, e. pro- land," as, " I will remove fa.r off from yon the logue to the remainder ofthe chapter, whioh northern," and " I will restore to you the solemnly announces : 1. The blessings years that the locust hath eaten, the canker- which should result from obedience (vers. worm, and the oaterpiller, and the palmer- 3-13). 2. The curses which should follow worm, my great army which I sent among disobedience (vers. 14-39). 3. The gracious you." treatment whioh would ensue on repentance The blessings and the curses rise one (vers. 40-45). above the other in regular gradation : on the Hitherto the Book of Leviticus he.s con- one side, rain, abundauoe, peace, deliverance, sisted of ceremonial and more.I injunctions, victory, incrense in numbers, communion with two historical pe.sse.ges interposed. In with God; on the other side, (1) horror, the preaent ohe.pter it rises in its subjeot wnsling, and the burning fever, hostile and its diotion from legal precepts and a spoiling of the fields, defeat, and ea.useless lege.l style to prediction and the style which flight ; (2) the heaven iron, and the earth became e. prophet. We may trace in Joel brass, failure of orope and fruits io spite of (ii. 22-27) an intimate o.cque.iote.nce on the labour spent upon them; (3) wild beasts for pa.rt of the earliest prophet of J ude.h with the destruction of cattle, childreD, and meD, this chapter. The first promise there, e.s desolation of the highways; (4) the sword, here, is that of rain, and as here it is to be pestilence, and fa.mine; (5) ce.nnibulism, " in due uaaon," so there it is " the former and overthrow of their heathen idoll! and of God's the latter rain," that is, the regular autumn own house and worship, destruction of their and spring raiUB. " The land 1/,aU yield her oities, utter desolation of their lands, and incTease, and the trees of the .field 1/,all yield their captivity among the heathen. And their fruit," appears in the prophet as, "the even yet the full measure of their misery is pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the not nccomplished, for while the land enjoys tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the her sabbaths, the captives, if unrepentant, vine do yield their strength." 'fhe following are to fall from one misery to another, till clause, " your thre,hing 1l1all reaeh unto the they pine away and a.re consumed. Euoh vintage, and the fl'intage ,hall reach unto the of these grades is deSOJ:ibed ns being eowing ti~" e.s, " the floors shall be full of symbolically seven times worse, that is, wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine incompnrably worse, than that which he.s nod oil ; " the ned olause, "111 ,hall eat your gone before. Because those plagues would bread to the fuU, and dtoeU in 11our land come, and in fe.ot diJ. come, upon them aa eafely," 111, "I will send you corn, and wine, the immediate re11ult of physico.J. or moral 412 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [en. XXVI. 1-46.