Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 26:16

I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

16. terror ] i.e. terrible things, viz. those that follow.

the soul ] your life.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 16. I will even appoint over you terror, &c.] How dreadful is this curse! A whole train of evils are here personified and appointed to be the governors of a disobedient people. Terror is to be one of their keepers. How awful a state! to be continually under the influence of dismay, feeling indescribable evils, and fearing worse! Consumption, shachepheth, generally allowed to be some kind of atrophy or marasmus, by which the flesh was consumed, and the whole body dried up by raging fever through lack of sustenance. See Clarke on Le 11:16. How circumstantially were all these threatenings fulfilled in this disobedient and rebellious people! Let a deist read over this chapter and compare it with the state of the Jews since the days of Vespasian, and then let him doubt the authenticity of this word if he can.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I will even appoint over you; I will give them power over you, that you shall not be able to avoid or resist them. Shall consume the eyes, by the decay of spirits, and affluence of ill humours.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

16. I will even appoint over youterrorthe falling sickness [PATRICK].

consumption, and the burningagueSome consider these as symptoms of the samediseaseconsumption followed by the shivering, burning, andsweating fits that are the usual concomitants of that malady.According to the Septuagint, “ague” is “thejaundice,” which disorders the eyes and produces greatdepression of spirits. Others, however, consider the word asreferring to a scorching wind; no certain explanation can be given.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

I also will do this unto you,…. Henceforward follow threatenings of dreadful evils to the transgressors and despisers of the commandments of God, which thus begin:

I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart; some, as Aben Ezra observes, take these to design what may affect the seed sown and the increase of it, such as blasting and mildew, because it follows: “ye shall sow in vain”; but no doubt diseases of the body are intended; for what we translate “terror” does not signify terror of mind, but some sudden, hasty, terrible distemper; perhaps the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan; some have thought of the falling sickness, as Bishop Patrick, because the word has the signification of haste and precipitance; and the second is a disease well known among us, and so called from its wasting and consuming nature; Jarchi interprets it of a disease which swells the flesh, either fills it with tumours and pustules, the Septuagint calls it the itch; or with wind or water, which has led some to think of the dropsy; and the last of them seems to be rightly rendered a burning ague or fever, though the Septuagint takes it for the jaundice, but that seems not to be so threatening, terrible, and dangerous, as what may be here supposed: now these diseases and all others are by the appointment of God, they come and go by his order, and while they continue have the power over persons, nor can they rid themselves of them at pleasure; and these have such an effect on persons seized by them, as to cause dimness of sight, a hollowness of their eyes, which sink into the head, as well as fill the heart with grief and sorrow; either through present pains and agonies, or in a view of future judgment and wrath to come:

and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it; either eat it up for forage before it is ripe, or, if ripe and gathered in the barn, should come and besiege their cities and plunder their granaries.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(16) I also will do this unto you.That is, He will do the same unto them; He will requite them in the same way, and abhor them.

I will even appoint over you terror.Better, and I will appoint, &c, that is, God will visit them with terrible things, consisting of consumption and burning ague. These two diseases also occur together in Deu. 28:22, the only passage in the Bible where they occur again. The second of the two, however, which is here translated burning ague in the Authorised Version, is, in the Deuteronomy passage, rendered simply by fever. The two passages ought to be uniformly rendered.

That shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart.Better, that shall extinguish the eyes, and cause life to waste away. The rendering of the Authorised Version, consume the eyes, though giving the sense, is misleading, inasmuch as it suggests that the verb consume is the same as the disease, consumption mentioned in the preceding clause. For the phrase extinguish the eyethe eye failingsee Job. 11:20; Job. 17:5; Job. 31:16, &c, and for the whole phrase, comp. Deu. 28:65; 1Sa. 2:23.

And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.Besides these terrible diseases, the production of the soil, which is necessary for the sustenance of life, and which is to be so abundant and secure against enemies when the Israelites obey the Divine commandments (see Lev. 26:4-6), will be carried off by strangers. Similar threatenings in case of disobedience are to be found both in the Pentateuch (Deut. xxviii, 33, 51) and in the prophets (Jer. 5:17). The most striking parallel is the one in Micah, Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil (Mic. 6:15). For the reverse state of things, see Isa. 62:8; Isa. 65:22-23.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

16. Appoint over you This is the very verb used to indicate that Potiphar made Joseph overseer in his house. Gen 39:5. They who throw off allegiance to Jehovah will fall under the dominion of the ministers of his vengeance who, as the satraps of the rejected king, shall rule these rebels with the utmost rigour till they sue for pardon and peace.

Terror Appalling fear, ever present by day and by night a state of the utmost insecurity and alarm, of which the subjects of a stable and strong government in time of peace have no conception.

Consumption Emaciation naturally results from terror. Many a culprit, carrying a guilty secret in his bosom, has been wasted to a skeleton.

The burning ague Rather, the burning of fever. See R.V. When a tide of fire courses through the veins, the helpless victim realizes that he is under the rod of Omnipotence.

Consume the eyes The eye is the organ of grief. When sunken, it indicates extreme and long-continued suffering.

Sorrow of heart Causing the soul to grieve. The entire being, soul and body, shall be the vehicle of anguish.

Ye shall sow in vain The insecurity of the people in some portions of the Holy Land, especially east of the Jordan, even now destroys the motive to activity in agriculture and turns the fertile plains into a desert.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Lev 26:16. Appoint over you terror See Deu 28:28. Psa 78:33 compared with the 36th verse of this chapter, which fully explains the meaning of the word. Houbigant reads, bechle, here, after the Samaritans which he renders diseases. One cannot read these blessings and denunciations upon the Jews without an awful admiration of that providence, which, in future times, so amply and fearfully fulfilled both the one and the other. Remarkable are the words of Josephus: “In proportion to their neglect of the law, easy things became unsurmountable; and all their undertakings, how just soever, ended in incurable calamities.” Antiq. lib. 5: cap. 1. See the Divine Legat. Book 5: sect. 2: p. 68.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Reader, remark with me the gentleness with which GOD begins his punishment. Sickness is among the kind rods with which the LORD manifests his love, as a Father to his children. Heb 12:6 ; Deu 8:5 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Lev 26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

Ver. 16. I will even appoint. ] Put them in commission; send them with such authority as shall be irresistible.

Terror, consumption, and the burning ague, ] i.e., Terrible sicknesses of all sorts, such as was the sweating sickness, called Sudor Anglicus, quia Anglis perpetuum malum. a It reigned b here some forty years together, and slew so many, that strangers wondered how this island could be so populous to bear and bury such incredible multitudes. No stranger in England was touched with this disease, and yet the English were chased therewith, not only in England, but in other countries abroad: which made them like tyrants, both feared and avoided, wherever they came. c

a Sennert., De Febrib., lib. iv. cap. 15.

b Coepit anno 1486.

c Life of King Edward VI, by Sir John Heywood.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

burning ague. Probably = fever.

consume the eyes = causing the sight to fail.

heart = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

appoint: Psa 109:6

over you: Heb. upon you

terror: Deu 28:65-67, Deu 32:25, Job 15:20, Job 15:21, Job 18:11, Job 20:25, Psa 73:19, Isa 7:2, Jer 15:8, Jer 20:4, Heb 10:31

consumption: Exo 15:26, Deu 28:21, Deu 28:22, Deu 28:35

consume: Deu 28:32, Deu 28:34, Deu 28:67, 1Sa 2:33, Psa 78:33, Eze 33:10, Zec 14:12

and ye shall: Deu 28:33, Deu 28:51, Jdg 6:3-6, Jdg 6:11, Job 31:8, Isa 65:22-24, Jer 5:17, Jer 12:13, Mic 6:15, Hag 1:6

for your: Isa 10:4

Reciprocal: Jdg 6:4 – destroyed 1Sa 23:1 – rob the 2Sa 24:13 – three days’ 1Ki 8:37 – in the land famine 2Ch 6:28 – if there be dearth Job 11:20 – the eyes Isa 3:24 – burning Isa 17:10 – shalt thou Isa 62:8 – Surely I will no more give Isa 65:21 – General Jer 11:8 – therefore Jer 15:3 – I will Eze 25:4 – they shall eat Amo 4:10 – pestilence Mic 6:13 – I make Mat 15:9 – in

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Lev 26:16. I will appoint over you terror The original word, , behalah, properly signifies a sudden and grievous consternation, and may be intended to denote that slavish fear, pusillanimity, and dejection which are consequent on the loss of confidence in God, and the testimony of a good conscience. Consumption The word , shachpeth, thus rendered here, and Deu 28:22, is of very uncertain signification. In the Septuagint it is translated , psoran, a scab, scall, the itch, or some cutaneous eruption, perhaps the small pox, or some such grievous complaint. The burning ague (or fever, as the word , kaddachath evidently signifies) that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart Two remarkable effects of this distemper, when it continues long. It eminently weakens the sight, and sinks the spirits. All chronical diseases are here included in the consumption, all acute in the burning ague or fever.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments