Leviticus 26 outlines the blessings and curses included in God’s covenant with Israel. If they upheld the covenant’s requirements, God would bless them. However, if they turned away from God and broke the covenant, they accepted that the following curses would come upon them.
Here is a summary of Leviticus 26.14-33 highlighting the consequences of disobedience:
- Physical Suffering: Illness, fever, and terror leading to life wasting away.
- Crop Failure and Famine: Enemies will consume the harvest, and the earth will become barren.
- Defeat and Fear: Enemies will rule over them; they will flee even without pursuit.
- Wild Animal Attacks: Harm to children, loss of livestock, deserted roads.
- Military Defeat and Pestilence: Enemy invasions, plagues, and hunger in besieged cities.
- Severe Famine: Rationed bread will not satisfy, signaling extreme scarcity.
- Exile and Scattering: Israel will be dispersed among nations, and the land will become desolate.
Ezekiel 14:12-23 vividly illustrates how Jerusalem, Judah, and the exiles in Babylon faced the covenant curses due to their complete disregard for their covenant relationship with God.
God reveals to the exiles that even if three of the most righteous figures in Israel’s history—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were present in the land, their righteousness would only save themselves; they would not be able to save even their sons or daughters.
The word of the Lord came to me:
Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it human beings and animals,
Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 14.12-14).
The following verses describe the consequences that fall upon God’s people when they break the covenant’s obligations. In each refrain, only these three prominent figures from Israel’s history would survive.
Verse 21 summarizes God’s judgment on the nation: “For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!” (Ezekiel 14.21).
Verse 23 reminds Ezekiel’s audience that God was completely justified in bringing judgment on His people.
They shall console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord God (Ezekiel 14.23).
God’s Message for Today
I was taught to interpret the Bible by first understanding what the scriptures meant to their original recipients. These people lived in a specific time and place, and God had a unique message for them.
From there, we apply that message to our own lives. The key question to ask as we seek to understand the Bible is this: How are we similar to that group of people, and is God speaking a similar message to us today?
God established a covenant relationship with Israel, declaring that He would be their God and they would be His people (Exodus 6:7). He provided them with guidance for living in this relationship, expressed through the Ten Commandments and additional instructions (Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5).
In this covenant, God promised blessings for their obedience and warned of judgment for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28).
I believe it is a misinterpretation of the Bible to equate the United States with Israel. Nowhere does Scripture suggest that Israel would be replaced by another nation.
Instead, we can take the message God gave to Israel and apply it to the church. This allows us, as the church, to examine how we are following God or, conversely, how we might be disobeying Him.
Members of God’s Church understand that, like Israel, we have been chosen by God’s grace (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Ephesians 2:8-9).
Yet, we must not take His grace for granted or view it merely as a way to enhance our own lives. Instead, we are called to reflect His character to those around us.
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) provide us with a model for living this out.
In light of God’s judgment on Israel, we should ask ourselves: Are we truly reflecting His character, or are we abusing His grace?
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 