The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 448

tree.d the olives, but thou she.It not e.noint Romana (see Lam. ii. 20; lv.10; Josephus, t.hee with oil") . . . and ye shall be slain 'Bell. Jud.,' v. 9, 3; and the terrible case of before your enemies (as took ple.ce often Mary daughter of Eleazer, Josephus, 'Bell. in their after history, see J ndg. ii. 14 ; iii. Jud.' vi. 3, 4). And I will destroy your high 8; iv. 2); they that he.ta you shall reign- plaoee. By high place, is meant the tops of that is, rule-over you; and ye shall fiee hills or eminences chosen for worship, whether when none pursueth you. of Jehovah (see Judg. vi. 26; 1 Kings iii. Vere. 18-20.-Punishment in its second 2: 2 Kings xii. 3; 1 Chron. xxL 26), or of degree. I will make your heaven u iron, false gods. The high places intended here and your earth u brass; the result of are the spots where the "enn-images " were no rain in a land scorched by the fiery erected (see 2 Chron. xiv. 5; Isa. xvii. 8: Ea.stem sun. Your land shall not yield her Ezek. vi 4)-and out down your images, and increase, neither shall the trees of the land caat your caroasea upon the oaroasea of your yield their fruits. Cf. 1 Kings viii 35 ; Hag. idols-that is, they should roll in the dost i. 10, 11. together. And I will make your oitiee waste Vere. 21, 22.-Pnnwhment in its third -as Be.maria and Jerusalem-and bring degree. I will also send wild beasts among your aanotnariea unto deeolation,-by the you, which shall rob you of your children, ,anctuaries, which are to be desolated, is and destroy your cattle, and make you few in meant all the consecrated things: the holy number. So in the case of the Assyrians of holies, the holy place, the court, the ark, transported to Palestine," At the beginning the altar of incense, the o.ltar of burnt se.cri- of their dwelling there, they feared not the fice - and I will not smell the 1&vour of Lord : therefore the Lord sent lions among your sweet odoura -so in Jer. vi. 20, "To them, which slew some of them" (2 Kings what purpose cometh there to me incense xvii 25)-and your high ways shall be deso- from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far late. Cf. J uJg. v. 6, •• In the days of Shamge.r country? your burnt offerings are not accept- the son of Anath, in the days of Jae!, able, nor your saorifices eweet" (cf. Isa. i. the highways were unoccupied, and the 11-15). And I will bring the land into travellers walked through byways." desolation (cf. Jer. ix. 11): and your enemiea Vere. 23-26.-Pnnishment in its fourth which dwell therein shall be astonished at degree. I will bring a aword upon you, it (cf. Ezek. v. 15). And I will 1GBtter you that shall avenge the quarrel of my oove- among the heathen, and will draw out a nan\ : . . . I will send the pestilenoe 11.Jllong sword after you. See J er. ix. 16, " I will you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand scatter them also among the heathen, whom ,rt the enemy-the.t is, ye ,hall go into neither they nor their fathers have known: captivity . . • and ye shall ee.t, and not and I will send a eword ufter thom, till l be satisJied. Cf. Ezek. v. 12, "A thud have consumed them." part of thee shall die with pestilence, e.nd Vere. 8'1, 35.-The le.ad had not parti- with Cu.mine she.ll they be consumed in the cipated in the sins of its inhabitants. The midst of thee: and a thud part shall full by latter hnd thought that, by the negleot of the sword round about thee ; 1md I will the aabbatioal years, they had euriohed scatter a third part into e.11 the winds, and themael ves by the fruits of those yenrs I will draw out a sword aftor them." 'fhe which would otherwise have been wnsted. famine that is to come upon them ia de- The result was that they lost the land alto- scribed as making ten women bake bree.d gether for a period equnl to th11t during in one oven,-whereas in ordinary times one which it ought to huve kept su.bbath, uud oven was only sufficient for one woman's the land "as long as she lay dcsolute baking-and they shall deliver you your kept sabbuth, to fulfil tbreescore aud ten broe.d again by weight; thnt is, the quantity years" (2 Chron. xnvL 21), From the baked will have to be weighed out in rations, entrance into the holy land until the before u.ny 0110 is allowed to take it. Bee Bubylonish Cnptivity there elapsod eight 2 Kings vi. 25; Isa. iii. 1; Jer. xiv. 18; and hundred aud sixty-three years, in whioh ns illustrative of the last point, Ezek. iv. 16, time there ought to havo been kept one " Behold, I will break tbo staff' of broad in hundred nnd twenty-tbree sabbalicul years. Jeruse.lem: and they shall eat bread by Ae only seventy nre made up by tbe dura- weight, and with care; and they shall drink tion of the Captivity, it muy be concluded w11ter by measure, and with astonishment." that fifty-three sabbatical years wore ob- Vere. 27-83.-Punishment in the fifth served by the Isruolitce; but this couclusion degree. Ye shall eat the fieah of your aona, is vory doubtful. It is more likely thut and the fieah of your daughteIH shall ye eat. seventy, being a multiple of the so.cred We find tbut thie threat was fulfilled in number seven, wae regarded as sufficient to Samariu (2 Kings vi. 28), and in Jerusalem purge all previous neglects, whatever they at the time both of the earlier sioge by the might have been. Chaldmans, and of the later siege by the Vere. 86-89. -The dnal pnnilhment. 411 THE BOOK OF LEVITICL:S. [ell. XXVI, 1-4.6,