Leviticus 26 Summary: A Short Breakdown in 5 Minutes

Leviticus 26 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Leviticus picks up where Exodus left off. The children of Israel are on their way through the wilderness to the Canaan land.

• According to Leviticus 8, the Tabernacle had already been erected, which would place the year at approximately 1490 B.C. (one year after the Israelites left Egypt).

DEFINITIONS:

• Covenant – An agreement between two people (in this case an agreement between God and the nation of Israel).

TABERNACLE DIAGRAM

OUTLINE:

• GOD PROMISES TO BLESS THE ISRAELITES IF THEY ARE OBEDIENT (26:1-13):

  • If the Hebrews refrained from worshipping idols, kept the Sabbath days, reverenced the Tabernacle, and obeyed the Lord’s commands, God promised to bless them and make them prosper in Canaan.

  • He promised He would send them rain for their crops and cause their fields to produce an abundance.

  • He promised to remove “harmful beasts” from the land and give them victory over their enemies.

  • God told them He would multiply their children and walk amongst them as their God.

• GOD PROMISES PUNISHMENT FOR DISOBEDIENCE (26:14-39):

  • If the Israelites ignored God’s commands and broke covenant with Him, He assured them they would be punished.

  • Instead of giving them peace, God would cause them to live in constant anxiety of their enemies, disease, and famine.

  • If they persisted in disobedience, God told them He would increase their punishment and break their pride.

  • He would take their food away and give them over to the power of their enemies.

  • If things got worse, God would destroy their cities and scatter them among the nations.

• THE OPPORTUNITY FOR FORGIVENESS (26:40-46):

  • If the Israelites were disobedient and were punished by God, but later had a change of heart, God promised not to forget the covenant He made with their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

  • If they would repent, confess their evil deeds, and humble themselves, God would not destroy them, and He would once again be their God and their protector.

APPLICATION:

• This chapter gives us some insights into the rest of the Old Testament story and into the reliability of God’s promises.

• You’ll notice the larger part of this chapter discusses God’s punishments for unbelief and the section about God’s blessings for obedience is much shorter.

• This imbalance is reflected in the story of Israel.

• The Israelites spent a lot more time disobeying God than they did obeying Him.

• As we read the upcoming books in the Old Testament, we’ll see all of God’s promises, both of blessing and of punishment, playing out in the lives of His people.

• Israel enjoyed blessings when they were obedient, and they were inflicted with every punishment mentioned in this chapter due to their persistent disobedience.

• One application for us is that God keeps His promises, both of blessing and of punishment.

• If God promises Heaven to the faithful and Hell to the unfaithful, we have every reason to believe both promises will be kept.