Leviticus 26:9-13 - I will make you fruitful

26:9,10

26:9 expresses God’s desire for mankind. He wants us to be fruitful and to increase in numbers. This is the same purpose as expressed in Gen 1:28. Despite the fall, God’s plans have not changed. And God will keep His covenant with us. God’s plans are for abundance. He also desires to dwell with us. God does abhor sinful man, but this is not the way He wants things to be. Man’s solution to this is that God should stop being bothered about sin! God’s solution was to send His Son to pay the price for our sins. 

26:11-13

26:12 expresses the oft repeated purpose, “I will be your God and you will be my people”. This crops up again and again in the Old Testament, and God will fulfil this purpose. God’s desire is to be with His people, to live in fellowship with us. God had set them free from slavery in Egypt. He broke the yoke of slavery and set them free so that they could “walk with heads held high”. This is what God does with every sinner He frees. He sets us free from the things that bind us, and the things that have brought shame upon us.

Romans 11:1-4 - Has God rejected His people?

11:1

So Paul has been making the point as strongly as he can that the assumption of the Jews that they had some sort of special right to be in the kingdom was badly mistaken, that faith was God’s chosen way in, and the only way in, and that the Gentiles who believed were as much part of the kingdom as anyone else. In this chapter he deals with two primary issues. First, has God rejected Israel? Or more pertinently, has God rejected His people? Secondly he warns the Gentiles in no uncertain times not to become proud! Pride was a big part of the Jewish problem, it would be a serious mistake for the Gentiles to become proud! 

To the first issue the answer is that God has definitely not rejected His people. Paul himself is an illustration of this, and Paul, as Saul, vigorously persecuted the church. Paul was a most Jewish Jew and he believes, he has been saved. 

11:2-4

“God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” “Foreknew” means more than simply having knowledge of what is going to happen. It is more a matter of God having determined to save people. So this really means God saves those He intends to save, and this number is greater than we think. Elijah thought he was the only one left who was faithful to the Lord, but God told him that He had kept seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 18:1-46). Now, things were bad in Elijah’s time, and in Paul’s time many Jews had rejected Christ, but that was not the end of the matter. God’s plans are better than we imagine.

Leviticus 26:3-8 - If you walk in my statutes

26:3-5

Obedience to God has an effect on the natural environment. If they followed the Lord’s decrees then He would send the rains at the proper time, and the ground would be fruitful. This does not mean that they would not work, quite the opposite. It did mean that their work would be fruitful. Our success and safety depends upon the Lord.

26:6-8

Peace and security are a fruit of following the Lord. Danger would be absent from the land. They may be attacked, but every attack would be easily repelled. It would be their enemies who would fall before them. It wouldn’t matter how big the attacking force was, five would repel a hundred, and a hundred would repel ten thousand. 

Romans 10:20,21 - I have been found by those who did not seek me

10:20

The problem was that Israel had too high an opinion of herself, she was not willing to admit her guilt, her inherent sinfulness. This is true of all humanity. So God was found by those who did not seek Him, and He has shown Himself to those who did not ask for Him (Is 65:1). Salvation all stems from God, not from man. People sometimes speak of men seeking God, a more accurate way of looking at things is God seeking man.

10:21

Paul then quotes Is 65:2. God spoke to them again and again. He revealed Himself again and again. He did many awesome acts on their behalf, but they refused to listen or to learn. Israel had no one to blame but herself. So far it looks grim for Israel, but that is not the case. For everything depends upon the Lord, not Israel nor any other man. And in the next chapter we will learn of God’s plan of salvation for Israel.

Leviticus 26:1,2 - You shall not make idols for yourselves

26:1

This chapter, like chapter 28 in Deuteronomy, contains a list of blessings and curses. This pattern is found in other law codes from the second century BC, though first century BC codes and treaties do not (see Hess). This lends credence to Leviticus having a second century BC date. 

Before we come to the blessings, there is a reminder of the command not to worship idols, not to set them up. Worshipping something other than the Lord is a constant danger, and one that we are equally prone to. If we put our trust in anything or anyone other than the Lord we are worshipping that thing or person.

26:2

Conversely, they are to observe the Lord’s Sabbaths, and to have reverence for His sanctuary. Observing the Sabbaths was a key aspect of worship. It applied not just to the weekly Sabbath, but also the seven year and Jubilee Sabaths. Observing or not observing these demonstrated whether or not someone’s trust was actually in the Lord or not.This is followed by the oft stated phrase “I am the Lord”. Everything comes from God.

Romans 10:18,19 - The voice has gone out to all the earth

10:18

So had those who did not believe not heard? Was that the problem? No, for Israel had received the Law and the Prophets which looked forward to the gospel, and the gospel had been going out to the nations of Europe and Asia Minor. The focus here, however, is on Israel. Israel certainly had heard. Indeed the Messiah Himself had come to Israel. The quote is from Ps 19:4.

10:19

So not hearing was not the problem for Israel. Perhaps the message was unintelligible. But this was not the case either. For Gentiles had understood and believed the message, and they were “not a nation”, “a foolish nation”. God would make Israel angry, which indeed He succeeded in doing. For Israel was angry that the Gentiles were coming into the kingdom. Paul here is quoting from Dt 32:21.

Leviticus 25:47-54 - Shall be released in the Jubilee Year

25:47-49

We now come to the situation where an Israelite has become poor and sells himself to a foreigner. Foreigners in the land were still subject to the Israelite laws. It seems that they were allowed to have an Israelite as a slave, but the slave could be redeemed, and blood-relative could redeem them. They could even redeem themselves if they prospered (25:49). This last bit reminds us that slavery was not quite like a common picture of it. This does not mean that it was pleasant! It may often have been brutal and harsh, but sometimes it was possible for a slave to amass sufficient money to buy themselves out.

25:50-54

The Israelite slave still had to take account of the years to the Jubilee, so the foreigner is treated fairly. So if many years were left, the price was higher than if only a few years remained. Then we learn that they were to be treated as hired workers, and not ruled over ruthlessly. The Israelite slave was still to be freed at the Jubilee. They belonged to the Lord. The circumstances and actions did not alter the fact that the man belonged to the Lord. And again we get the reminder that they were rescued by the Lord.