~~~~~Lesson: Leviticus: Chapters 26-27

Today's reading covers both the blessings God promised to bestow upon the Israelites if they obeyed his commands and the punishments for not doing so.

Can you list one blessing God has given you?
God, in this section, also lays down the many curses that will fall on the Israelites if they don’t follow his commands.
Do you think that God curses us today as punishment? Why or why not?

~Reading: Chapters 26 & 27

Chapter 26:3-16

"If you live in accordance with my precepts and are careful to observe my commandments, I will give you rain in due season, so that the land will bear its crops, and the trees their fruit; your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will have food to eat in abundance, so that you may dwell securely in your land. I will establish peace in the land, that you may lie down to rest without anxiety. I will rid the country of ravenous beasts, and keep the sword of war from sweeping across your land.

You will rout your enemies and lay them low with your sword. Five of you will put a hundred of your foes to flight, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand of them, till they are cut down by your sword. I will look with favor upon you, and make you fruitful and numerous, as I carry out my covenant with you. So much of the old crops will you stored up for food that you will have to discard them to make room for the new. I will set my Dwelling among you, and will not disdain you. Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people; for it is I, the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of the Egyptians and freed you from their slavery, breaking the yoke they had laid upon you and letting you walk erect.

"But if you do not heed me and do not keep all these commandments, if you reject my precepts and spurn my decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my covenant, then I, in turn, will give you your deserts. I will punish you with terrible woes- with wasting and fever to dim the eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will consume the crop...” [more descriptions of punishments].

Chapter 27: paraphrased

Redemption of votive offerings and things that cannot be redeemed (as they already belong to the Lord).