Ez – The Redemption of Isra’el 26: 40-46

The Redemption of Isra’el
26: 40-46

The redemption of Isra’el DIG: What Covenant had ADONAI made with Isra’el’s forefathers? In what sense does God’s reaffirmation of the Covenant seek the same thing as the list of His discipline in 26:14-39? How does Paul pick up on this same theme?

REFLECT: What is most difficult for you about sustaining a right relationship with God? How have you experienced the forgiveness and restoration of YHVH? What was that experience like? What was that experience like? With whom can you share it with this week?

Confession and repentance are the prescription for redemption.

Just as after six days of labor there is a seventh day of Shabbat, and after six years of service, the Hebrew slaves were released, so too after the six stages of discipline (to see link click Ey – Discipline for Disobedience), the seventh stage is one of redemption. If Isra’el will only repent, YHVH will return to her.⁵³⁵ ADONAI is a God of love and mercy, as well as an attentive Father, who knows how to discipline His children. Therefore, here, we learn that despite all the rebellion of the Israelites, YHVH will, in the end, remember that He also made an unconditional Covenant with Isra’el’s forefathers.⁵³⁶

Repentance and forgiveness (26:40-43): ADONAI pleads for Isra’el to confess her wickedness and the wickedness of her forefathers. Then they will confess their offenses and those of their ancestors which they committed against Me in their rebellion; they will admit that they went against me. They were to humble their uncircumcised hearts and make amends for their sins. At that time, I will be going against them, bringing them into the lands of their enemies (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). If Isra’el will repent, YHVH promised that He would remember the Covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob if their uncircumcised hearts would grow humble, and they paid the punishment for their misdeeds. Though she might stray far from the Covenant at Sinai (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Bi – The Stipulations of the Covenant), God would remember the older Covenant, the Covenant with the patriarchs. Then YHVH will remember My Covenant with Jacob, also My Covenant with Isaac and My Covenant with Abraham (Ezeki’el 16:60). And I will remember the Land. This statement is unique in Scripture. The personification of the Land is, in itself, a frequent theme, but nowhere else is it said that ADONAI remembers the Land.⁵³⁷

On the basis of that Covenant, He would return to her, and He would return her to the Land. For the Land will lie abandoned without them, and it will be paid its Shabbats while it lies desolate without them; and they will be paid the punishment for their misdeeds, because they rejected my rulings and despised My regulations (26:43). While the children of Isra’el would be in exile, the desolate land of Isra’el would enjoy its Sabbath years (see El – The Sabbath Year). There is some bitter irony in this warning. The Torah assumes that the Israelites will violate the Shabbat mitzvot. So, the cherem judgment (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Ff – Cherem) are both cautionary and prophetic. They are cautionary in as much as they are meant to caution the Israelites from disobeying the Covenant. And they are prophetic in as much as they assume that the events will come to pass, even specifying that the Sabbath Years will be neglected.

The faithfulness of ADONAI (26:44-45): Yet, in spite of all that, I will not reject them when they are in the lands of their enemies, nor will I reject them to the point of utterly destroying them and thus break my Covenant with them, because I am ADONAI their God. No matter how disloyal the Israelites have been, the LORD remains their God and will restore them. Rather, for their sake, I will remember the Covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt – with the Gentile nations watching – so that I might be their God. I am ADONAI.

Paul measures the Covenant relationship along similar lines. Undergirding the Covenant at Sinai is the Covenant with Abraham (see the commentary on Genesis Ef – Abram Believed the LORD and He Credited It to Him as Righteousness), Isaac (see Genesis Gr – Isaac Went Up to Beersheba and the LORD Appeared to Him), and Jacob (see Genesis Hd – Jacob Saw the Angels of God Ascending and Descending). It was the Covenant of the righteous seed of Abraham through whom all the Gentile nations will be blessed (see the commentary on Galatians Bl – The Promises were Spoken to Abraham and to His Seed). Paul argues for the Gentile inclusion on the basis that Abraham was uncircumcised and the forefathers were not technically Jews or Israelites. The promise of Abraham’s blessing all the Gentile nations predates the revelation at Sinai.

Paul’s appeal to the Covenant with the forefathers is something that the Torah itself teaches us. God Himself declares that when Isra’el has broken the Sinai Covenant, He will remember the Abrahamic Covenant on their behalf (26:42). Neither will He break the Sinai Covenant, but will remember it. Nor will I reject them to the point of utterly destroying them and thus break my Covenant with them . . . (26:44). All Isra’el had to do was repent. Confession and repentance are the prescription for redemption.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that though You are absolutely holy, You mercifully forgive. In heaven, the beautiful 6-winged Seraphim praises God. One called out to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is ADONAI-Tzva’ot! The whole earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3). You do not put our sins a little way aside to be brought out later, but in Your great and awesome mercy You put the sins of those who fear You, far away where they can never be brought up again. They are completely gone for the east never touches the west and so our sins are completely covered over! Praise God! For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12).

ADONAI, it is with sadness that I think of family and friends who know about you but they live for themselves. They foolishly claim that Your love forgives all sins. Dear Heavenly Father, Please give them a moment of spiritual clarity, so they can see their sin for what it is and repent. Though you are so very gracious, Your holiness is only given to those who in love turn in repentance from their sins to love and honor You. You desire salvation for all, and You graciously hold out the gift of salvation to all (Romans 5:17) but the gift can only be received when by faith when someone repents and turns to You. We know that God’s judgment on those who practice such things is based on truth . . . Or do you belittle the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience – not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance (Romans 2:2, 4)? Confession and repentance are the prescription for redemption. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you – not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:9). Thank You for being so mercifully gracious to forgive the sins of all who love You and repent of their sins. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

This is the power of repentance. Is it any wonder that the Master came with the essential message of repentance? Yet, Messiah did not find repentance when He came (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Lc – The Rejection of King Messiah). Instead, the terrible cycle of curses was set into motion. Yet even in the long and lonely years of exile, Isra’el has never been abandoned. The Lord has been with His people. When they are in the lands of their enemies, nor will I reject them to the point of utterly destroying them and thus break my Covenant with them, because I am ADONAI their God (26:44). Even though the Jewish people have wandered far from Jerusalem and the fresh fields of Galilee, the Lord has remained loyal to them.⁵³⁸ For the believer today, God’s faithfulness means that the salvation He has begun a good work in our lives will carry it on to completion until the day of Messiah Yeshua (Philippians 1:6).

Though it is sad and difficult to read the curses in light of Jewish history, it is actually good news because the same God who foretold the curses (which all have been fulfilled to a certain degree) has also promised blessings. If the curses are true, the blessings must also be true. We eagerly await the culmination of time when the Messiah will usher in the age of blessing, wiping away every tear. Then the Land and the people both will indeed have their Sabbath. Then will be the great Sabbath rest of the Lord.⁵³⁹

Conclusion (26:46): These are the mitzvot, rulings and teachings that ADONAI Himself gave to the people of Isra’el on Mount Sinai through Moshe. This verse forms a fitting conclusion to Leviticus. Chapter 27 constitutes an addendum. The references to God’s speaking on Mount Sinai through Moses to the Israelites parallel the statement made in 25:1-2 and thus form a bookend construction linking Chapters 25 and 26. But it is as a conclusion to the entire book that these verses serve their purpose. They demonstrate that all the words of Leviticus must be understood as bearing the authority of God’s Word given through Moshe.⁵⁴⁰