“The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependant upon God, and know it” (Alan Redpath). The last two chapters in Leviticus show how disobeying God through pride and independent spirit results in both personal and city-wide tragedy, but obeying God through confession of sin and complete dependence upon Him leads to fruitfulness in all areas of life. 

Do not make and bow down to an idol, image, sacred pillar or prefigured stone for He is the Lord your God. Keep His Sabbaths and reverence His sanctuary. Obeying His commandments caused rains in season so the land yielded produce and trees bore fruit to live securely in peace with no one making you tremble. He eliminated the harmful beasts and protected you from the sword. Five chased 100 with 100 chasing 10,000 so your enemies fell by the sword. God turned toward you, made you fruitful, multiplied you and confirmed His covenant with you. Make His dwelling and let Him walk among you to be His people. God brought you out of Egypt and broke the bars of yoke as slaves and made you walk erect (Lev. 26:1-13). Obeying God’s commandments results in provision, well-being and security.

By rejecting His statutes, He would appoint sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever to destroy your sight and sap your strength. Rejecting God caused you to sow seed in vain since your enemies would eat it and defeat you. Those who hated you would rule over you causing you to flee even when no one pursued you. He would punish you seven times for your sins and break down your stubborn pride by making the sky like iron and the earth like bronze. Your strength would be spent uselessly since the land would not yield produce or the trees yield fruit (Lev. 26:14-20). Disobeying God through pride causes drought, fear, sickness and weakness.

If you remained hostile and disobeyed God, He would multiply afflictions seven times according to your sins. He would set beasts against you to rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and reduce your number so the roads lie deserted. If you don’t turn to Him, then He would strike you seven times for your sins. He would bring a sword to execute vengeance and send pestilence so you would be delivered into enemy hands. Ten women would break bread in one oven that would be brought back in rationed amounts (Lev. 26:21-26). Disobeying God devours you financially, socially and in family relationships.

You would eat the flesh of your sons and daughters. He would destroy your high places, cut down incense altars and heap dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols. He would turn your cities into ruins and waste, make your sanctuaries desolate and not smell your soothing aromas. He made your land desolate and scattered you among nations to appall your enemies. The land enjoyed Sabbath years during the days of desolation in enemies’ land that it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.  Those left had fearful hearts, stumbled with no one pursuing them and wasted away because of their own and ancestors’ sins (Lev. 26:27-39). Turning away from God causes separation and devastation.

If they confessed their own and forefathers iniquity by humbling their heart, then God would remember His covenant and land with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. For the land would be deserted by them, but enjoy its Sabbaths while it lied desolate without them. They would pay for their sins because they rejected his laws and abhorred His statutes. God would not reject them by destroying them completely, but would remember the covenant with their ancestors. He them brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. These were the statutes, ordinances and laws Lord established between Himself and sons of Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai (Lev. 26:40-46). Confessing your own and fathers’ sins restore your cities to fruitfulness.

When a man made a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving equivalent values–male from 20 to 60 years old at 50 shekels of silver and female 30 shekels, male from 5 to 20 years at 20 shekels and female 10 shekels, male from one month to 5 years old at 5 shekels and female 3 shekels, male from 60 years and older at 15 shekels and female 10 shekels. If a vow was given as an acceptable offering to the Lord, it became holy. He would not replace the animal with a good for bad or bad for good. If they substitute one animal for another, both became holy. A priest would value any unclean animal not presented as an offering to Lord. If the owner wished to redeem the animal, add one-fifth to its value (Lev. 27:1-13). God values a person’s dedication to His purposes. 

The priest judged the value and quality (good or bad) of a house dedicated as holy to the Lord. If the person wished to redeem it, they added a fifth to its value and the house was theirs. If a man dedicated part of their family land to the Lord, its value would be set according to the amount of seed required proportionate to the years left until the year of Jubilee. If they wished to redeem it, they added a fifth to its value and the field would become theirs. If they did not redeem the field or sold it, it would never be redeemed.  When the field was released in Jubilee, it became holy as priestly property. In Jubilee, the field would return to the one from whom he bought it (Lev. 27:14-25). God deems the redemption of individuals through Christ’s blood priceless compared to material things.

No one could dedicate the firstborn of an animal since it belonged to the Lord. Anything sets apart to the Lord out of all he had would not be sold or redeemed.  Nothing set apart among men would be ransomed, but put to death. The tithe of the land, seed and fruit was holy to the Lord. If a man wished to redeem part of his tithe, he added one-fifth to it. Every tenth part of a herd or flock would be holy to the Lord. He would not be concerned whether it was good or bad (Lev. 27:26-34). God protects and values material goods set apart for His kingdom purposes.

Turn away from pride and independence and pursue humility and confession of sin to become fruitful in your life. 


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