Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 26:15
And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, [but] that ye break my covenant:
Verse 15. If ye shall despise my statutes – abhor my judgments] As these words, and others of a similar import, which point out different properties of the revelation of God, are frequently occurring, I Judge it best to take a general view of them, once for all, in this place, and show how they differ among themselves, and what property of the Divine law each points out.
1. STATUTES. chukkoth, from chak, to mark out, define, c. This term seems to signify the things which God has defined, marked, and traced out, that men might have a perfect copy of pure conduct always before their eyes, to teach them how they might walk so as to please him in all things, which they could not do without such instruction as God gives in his word, and the help which he affords by his Spirit.
2. JUDGMENTS. shephatim, from shaphat, to distinguish, regulate, and determine meaning those things which God has determined that men shall pursue, by which their whole conduct shall be regulated, making the proper distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice; in a word, between what is proper to be done, and what is proper to be left undone.
3. COMMANDMENTS. mitsvoth, from tsavah, to command, ordain, and appoint, as a legislator. This term is properly applied to those parts of the law which contain the obligation the people are under to act according to the statutes, judgments, c., already established, and which prohibit them by penal sanctions from acting contrary to the laws.
4. COVENANT. berith, from bar, to clear, cleanse, or purify because the covenant, the whole system of revelation given to the Jews, was intended to separate them from all the people of the earth, and to make them holy. Berith also signifies the covenant-sacrifice, which prefigured the atonement made by Christ for the sin of the world, by which he purifies believers unto himself, and makes them a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Besides those four, we may add the following, from other places of Scripture.
5. TESTIMONIES. edoth, from ad, beyond, farther, besides; because the whole ritual law referred to something farther on or beyond the Jewish dispensation, even to that sacrifice which in the fulness of time was to be offered for the sins of men. Thus all the sacrifices, c., of the Mosaic law referred to Christ, and bore testimony to him who was to come.
6. ORDINANCES. mishmaroth, from shamar, to guard, keep safe, watch over those parts of Divine revelation which exhorted men to watch their ways, keep their hearts, and promised them, in consequence, the continual protection and blessing of God their Maker.
7. PRECEPTS. pikkudim, from pakad, to overlook, take care or notice of, to visit; a very expressive character of the Divine testimonies, the overseers of a man’s conduct, those who stand by and look on to see whether he acts according to the commands of his Master; also the visiters, because God’s precepts are suited to all the circumstances of human life; some are applicable in adversity, others in prosperity; some in times of temptation and sadness, others in seasons of spiritual joy and exultation, c., c. Thus they may be said to overlook and visit man in all times, places, and circumstances.
8. TRUTH. emeth, from am, to support, sustain, confirm because God is immutable who has promised, threatened, commanded, and therefore all his promises, threatenings, commandments, c., are unalterable and eternal. Error and falsity promise to direct and sustain, but they fail. God’s word is supported by his own faithfulness, and it supports and confirms them who conscientiously believe it.
9. RIGHTEOUSNESS. tsedakah, from which, though not used as a verb in the Hebrew Bible, seems to convey, from its use as a noun, the idea of giving just weight or good measure, see Le 19:36. This is one of the characters which is attributed to the revelation God makes of himself (see Ps 119:137-144) and by this the impartiality of the Divine testimonies is pointed out. God gives to all their due, and his word distributes to every man according to his state, circumstances, talents, graces, c. to none too much, to none too little, to all enough.
10. WORD of JEHOVAH. debar Yehovah, from , dabar, to drive, lead, bring forward, hence to bring forward, or utter one’s sentiments; so the word of God is what God has brought forth to man from his own mind and counsel; it is a perfect similitude of his own righteousness, holiness, goodness, and truth. This Divine law is sometimes expressed by: –
11. imrah, speech or word, variously modified from amar, to branch out, because of the interesting details into which the word of God enters in order to instruct man and make him wise unto salvation, or, as the apostle expresses it, “God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets,” , in many distinct parcels, and by various tropes or figures; a curious and elegant description of Divine revelation; Heb 1:1.
12. All these collectively are termed the LAW torah, or torath Yehovah, the law of the Lord, from yarah, to direct, set straight and true, as stones in a building, to teach and instruct, because this whole system of Divine revelation is calculated to direct men to the attainment of present and eternal felicity, to set them right in their notions concerning the supreme God, to order and adjust them in the several departments of civil and religious society, and thus to teach and instruct them in the knowledge of themselves, and in the true knowledge of God. Thus those who receive the truth become the city of the living God – the temple of the Most High, built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. To complete this description of the word law, See Clarke on Ex 12:49, where other properties of the law of God are specified.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Break your part or conditions of that covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from the blessings promised on my part.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And if ye shall despise my statutes,…. Which is an aggravated sin; to be negligent hearers of the commands of God is bad, not to be doers of them worse, but to treat them with contempt is worse still:
or if your soul abhor my judgments: which is worst of all, to despise them as if not wisely or righteously made is a dreadful reflection upon the Maker of them; but to abhor them as bad things, not fit to be regarded, but to be had in the utmost detestation, is shocking impiety:
so that ye will not do all my commandments; nor any of them, but are set against them, and determined and resolved on the contrary:
[but] that ye break my covenant; the covenant made with them at Sinai, when they promised, on their part, that they would hearken and be obedient, Ex 24:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15. And if ye shall despise my statutes. This seems only to apply to ungodly and depraved apostates, who deliberately revolt from the service and worship of God: for if a person falls through infirmity, and offends from levity and inconsideration, he will not be said to have despised God’s Law, or to have made void His covenant. And certainly it is probable that God designedly spoke of gross rebellion, which could not be extenuated under the pretense of error. Still it must be borne in mind that all transgressors, whether they have violated the Law in whole or in part, are brought under the curse. But God would remind His people betimes to what lengths those at last proceed who assume the liberty of sinning; and also from what source all transgressions arise. For, although every one who turns out of the right path into sin does not altogether repudiate or abominate the Law, yet all sins betray contempt of the Law, and tend to break the covenant of God. He justly, therefore, denounces them as covenant-breakers, and proud despisers, unless they obey His commandments: and, first, He threatens that He will destroy them with “terror, consumption,” and other diseases; and then adds external calamities, such as scarcity of corn, violent invasions of enemies, and the plunder of their goods; of which it will be more convenient to speak more fully in expounding the passage in Deuteronomy.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) And if ye shall despise my statutes.From passive indifference to the Divine statutes mentioned in the preceding verse, their falling away is sure to follow. Hence what was at first mere listlessness now develops itself into a contemptuous education of Gods ordinances.
Or if your soul abhor my judgments.Better, and if your soul, &c, as the picture of their Apostasy goes on developing itself.
But that ye break my covenant.Better, that ye break, &c, without the but, which is not in the original, and obscures the sense of the passage, since it is the fact of their abhorrence of Gods law which breaks the Divine covenant with them. (See Gen. 17:14.) The sense is more correctly given by rendering this clause Thus breaking my covenant, or Thereby breaking my covenant.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Despise my statutes In all deliberate rejection of God’s law, there is the offensive element of pride lifting itself above the divine wisdom and majesty. All wilful sin contemns Jehovah. Herein is the very essence of its turpitude. The following judgments are not for single transgressions, but for an inward contempt of all the divine commandments, breaking out in presumptuous and incorrigible rebellion against Jehovah, who had openly set his name in Israel.
Break my covenant The successive clauses of this verse are in the form of a climax, rising step by step till the culminating sin is reached a violation of that solemn compact whose seal was upon the person of every male, and which was pregnant with blessings, to the seed of Abraham. This would be national suicide. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, [but] that ye break my covenant:
Ver. 15. Or if your soul abhor my judgments. ] As, so it may prove; such is the vile canker of your corrupt natures.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
your soul = you (emphatic). Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
break = violate. Hebrew. parar, break asunder, as in Lev 26:46; not shabar, as in verses: Lev 26:13, Lev 26:19, Lev 26:26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
despise: Lev 26:43, Num 15:31, 2Sa 12:9, 2Sa 12:10, 2Ki 17:15, 2Ch 36:16, Pro 1:7, Pro 1:30, Jer 6:19, Zec 7:11-13, Act 13:41, 1Th 4:8
soul: Psa 50:17, Pro 5:12, Rom 8:7
break: Gen 17:14, Exo 19:5, Exo 24:7, Deu 31:16, Isa 24:5, Jer 11:10, Jer 31:32, Eze 16:59, Heb 8:9
Reciprocal: Lev 26:30 – my soul Deu 17:2 – in transgressing Deu 28:58 – If thou wilt Jdg 2:15 – had said 2Ki 22:16 – all the words Isa 42:25 – he hath poured Jer 2:17 – Hast thou Lam 1:5 – for Eze 20:13 – and they Eze 44:7 – broken Amo 2:4 – because Mic 3:9 – that Mar 12:9 – he will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 26:15. Break my covenant That is, your part of the covenant made between me and you, and thereby discharge me from giving you the blessings promised on my part.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, [but] that ye break my {f} covenant:
(f) Which I made with you in choosing you to be my people.