Leviticus 26 on Divine Blessings and Curses

Leviticus 26

Divine Blessings and Curses Are Based on Obedience to YHVH’s Torah-Word 

As divine blessings come upon people for Torah obedience, so do curses come upon a people who have forgotten their Elohim because they have been blessed materially and in their self-sufficiency have forgotten who is the source of their blessings as this chapter shows. These are immutable laws that are written in the universe and no human-devised philosophical or religious ideologies regardless of their cleverness can circumvent them. To go against these laws is like attempting to push a giant boulder up a steep mountainside. Eventually the boulder will role backwards crushing the pusher. What wisdom can be learned from this passage on blessings and curses?

 YHVH’s Torah instructions continually stresses that blessings are contingent upon obedience to YHVH. Similarly, Yeshua reveals that rewards in his everlasting kingdom are also contingent on obedience to his Torah-laws. The greater the obedience, the greater the reward (Matt 5:17).These principles are universal, yet how prone humans are to forget the cycles of history that repeat themselves over and over again like the unstoppable turning of giant millstone grinding into powder those who refuse to learn the lessons from the past. Each generation proudly asserts its exceptionalism and that, somehow, it is immune to YHVH’s inexorable and immutable principles of divine judgment. Only in the perfect hindsight of history can we see the fallacy of this assumption. Ancient Israel failed to learn these lessons as have subsequent people who are both ignorant of Scripture as well as many who claim to follow the Bible.

In the case of America, and Great Britain before her (and other formerly European Christian nations as well), there was in times past a national consciousness of core biblical values and, to one degree or another, a general public acknowledgement, acceptance of and respect for the Elohim of the Bible. However, as the historical record reveals, as a nation becomes blessed, it reaches an apogee of prominence, power and wealth where it becomes rich and increased with goods and no longer needs Elohim—or so it thinks. It then becomes materially fat and forgets the source of its wealth and falls into a state of self-sufficiency leading to spiritual blindness in that it fails to recognize its true spiritual state (recall YHVH’s warning to a lukewarm church in Rev 3:14–22). This can happen to individuals, churches and to whole societies.

Because YHVH loves his people and wants to walk among them, to be their Elohim and to bless them (Lev 26:12), when they disobey him and walk in ways that are harmful to their well-being, like any loving parent, he is forced to discipline them. Again and again he sends them his prophets and watchmen to warn them that they are on a path of self-destruction. But because of pride, most people refuse to humble themselves and repent (Lev 26:40–41). It is the same old story over and over again. Human pride insists that “judgments cannot happen to us because we are so special, ”  and “All things will continue as they have from the beginning and no evil shall befall us.” Such a self-assured individual and society retorts in mocking and scoffing tones in response to all those who would hold them accountable for their errant ways (2 Pet 3:3–7). If only the great people, nations and empires that have already trodden this well-worn path and are now in the dust bin of history could speak from their graves and this generation had heart ears to hear!

As a loving Father, YHVH does not lower the gavel of his full disciplinary judgments immediately upon his wayward children. He increases the dosage of his spiritual medicine incrementally in hopes that each successive ratcheting down of his judgments will bring healing to his spiritually apostate children such that they will humble themselves, confess their iniquity (or Torahlessness, Lev 26:40) and repent of their sin and submit to his laws, so that he can bless them. 

In this chapter, YHVH reveals four sets of judgments with each one becoming seven times more severe than the previous one (Lev 26:18, 21, 24, 28). This reminds us of YHVH’s end-times judgments upon a rebellious world that has given itself over to devil worship just prior to the return of Yeshua as prophesied in the book of Revelation. In that book, there are seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders and, finally, seven bowl judgments. 

What can you do? You may not be able to change society, but a societal change begins one step and one life at a time; it starts with your life! That is the only thing for certain that you can change. No one person can turn the whole earth into a beautiful garden, but you can start by eradicating the weeds from your own garden. You know what needs to be done. Just listen to your conscience—to YHVH’s Spirit knocking at the door of your heart (Rev 3:20), and then repent and obey YHVH and his commandments. It is that simple.

The corollary to this passage on blessings and curses with regard to Torah obedience is Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Some More Reflections on Divine Judgment

By dictionary definition, judgment is “a decision of a court or judge; a misfortune or calamity viewed as a divine punishment.”

The Bible speaks a lot about judgment. When we read about the subject of judgment in the Bible, it usually pertains to the “other guy” involving someone in the past, or someone in the future, or someone that we consider to be more sinful than we are. The problem is that our pride prevents us from thinking that Elohim’s judgment could happen to us. 

Judgment is nothing more than suffering the consequences of our actions. It’s simply a function of the law of cause and effect. If you jump off of a building, you’ll suffer the consequences of your actions when you hit the ground. Similarly, when we break YHVH’s commandments, we will suffer the consequences. Judgment is also a matter of degrees. To the degree that we obey his commandments, we’ll reap the blessings of obedience. Conversely, to the degree we disobey them, we’ll reap the negative consequences (Lev 26:3ff cp. 14ff) in the same way that jumping off a two foot ledge versus a 500 foot ledge has different consequence—a twisted ankle compared to death. For most of us, our actions with regard to obedience to YHVH’s laws are a mixture of both good and evil, so we’re reaping both blessings and curses at the same time. 

As a result of coming out of the mainstream church, most of us have been so indoctrinated with the concept of YHVH’s love and grace, that we have a skewed view of his judgments. Few preachers ever talk about divine judgment. Add to this the fable of the pre-tribulation rapture where it is believed that the saints will be taken to heaven before they have to endure any end times tribulation, and the idea of divine judgment is shoved further into the back of many believers’ minds. If a preacher does talk about divine judgment, they’re often accused of being judgmental, and this accusation, whether accurate or not, tends to shut down the conversation on the subject of divine judgment. No one wants to talk about it since it messes with people’s false view of an Elohim who is so loving and gracious that he would never judge anyone for anything. Any discussion of the subject of divine judgment also forces people to face the reality of their own sinfulness and wickedness and the fact that they deserve Elohim’s judgments for their disobedience to his laws.

Beyond this, most of us have contrived our own personal theology whereby we excuse and justify ourselves in the comfort zones of our sin. Our hearts become hardened as we justify our sin, and we often excuse our own sinfulness by comparing ourselves to someone who, in our mind, is a worse sinner than we are, thus making ourselves feel better about ourselves. This is a deceptive form of self delusion and is not based on the reality of YHVH’s righteous standards.

The Laodiceans of Revelation chapter three, for example, were followers of Yeshua. They weren’t adulterers, idolators or murderers. They were “good Christians.” What was their sin? Being lukewarm with regard to their faith and having an inflated view of their own righteousness. For this sin of pride, YHVH was willing to reject them! For this, they had to go through fiery judgments. It seems that YHVH’s standards of righteousness are much higher than most of us are willing to admit, and that our standards of righteousness are too low. Between these two standards, there’s a huge gap. To get from our low level of righteousness to YHVH’s high level, one of two things need to occur. We need to wake up to our true spiritual condition and repent of our sin, or YHVH will have to use the shock treatment of divine judgment on us to wake us up forcibly. It’s like the rebellious child for whom a verbal correction is insufficient, thus necessitating the parent to bring out the paddle—a more severe form of discipline. In reality, for most of us, it’ll probably be a combination of the two to get us where YHVH wants us to be—the rebuke and the paddle. Even then, after we’ve gone through judgment and repented of our sin, we will still need Yeshua’s imputed righteousness to make up the difference for the lack of our own righteousness. That’s how sinful, dark and evil our hearts really are in YHVH’s view! Remember, what the apostle says: The righteous are scarcely saved, and YHVH’s judgment must begin at the house of Elohim, which is the church—that’s you and me (1 Pet 4:17–18)!

Let us not squander any of the time of grace YHVH has given us to repent before his heavy judgments begin to fall on us in these last days. Remember this:

And the times of this ignorance Elohim winked at [overlooked]; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:30–31)

The church is being judged (refined) including those who have come out of the traditional, mainstream church system and come into a more Hebraic, pro-Torah view of Scripture and lifestyle. Sadly, many in the so called Hebrew Roots Movement have brought with them the same lukewarm attitudes they had when they were in the mainstream church. YHVH is now separating the wheat and tares—those who are true believers versus those who are playing religious mind games. 

For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. (1 Cor 11:18–19)

Spiritual leaders are especially being judged. Those who are self-appointed, and who are pursuing money and power using corporate American marketing techniques to build their ministries are being judged. Those who are merchandizing YHVH’s people will be judged (2 Pet 2:3; 1 Pet 5:2; Rom 16:18; 1 Tim 3:3, 8; Tit 1:7, 11). YHVH is separating out the hirelings from the true shepherds who mirror his own heart (Ezek 34; John 10:7ff). Leaders of congregations who don’t fit the biblical qualifications for eldership will be exposed and deposed. Those who have major sin skeletons in their closets, who have not repented of sin, and who have failed to make proper restitution for those sins will be exposed. If you’re a leader, beware of YHVH’s judgments. If you have hidden sin, or are self-appointed, or have ulterior motives for being a leader, YHVH will expose your sin. If you’re a sheep, be careful to know those who labor among you (1 Thess 5:12). Only associate with spiritual leaders who meet YHVH’s high standards of righteousness.

When trials (YHVH’s judgment?) come upon us (Jas 1:2), we must seek YHVH’s wisdom (Jas 1:5), so we will understand why these trials have come upon us. This is very difficult to do. Our pride usually causes us to excuse ourselves from any culpability for the trials that come upon us. We often blame others, or attribute the trials that come our way to time and chance. When we’re in the middle of a trial, it’s extremely hard to see the forest for the trees. Because of the spiritual beam in our own eye, it’s easy to be blind to the hand of YHVH’s chastening judgment on us as he tries to refine out of us the impurities that are preventing us from growing spiritually closer to him. On the other hand, with ease we are often able to see the splinter in our neighbor’s eye and it’s clear to us what his sins are and why he’s suffering divine judgment. This was the case with Job’s three wicked friends.

In the end times, YHVH is going to turn up the spiritual heat of refining judgment on his people. Those who refuse to repent will get hotter, more intense judgments (qv. Lev 26:14–39). Like a good parent, YHVH endeavors to instruct and correct his children through a light-handed approach at first, but when they refuse to hear him, he is forced to use more intense and painful means to get their attention (Ps 32:8–10). The old saying, “When they feel the heat, the see the light,” applies here. 

The four sets of successively intensifying judgments of Leviticus 26 relate to the judgments in the book of Revelation (the seven seals, trumpets, thunders and bowls). The time is coming when YHVH will judge the whole world. That judgment begins first at the church (1 Pet 4:17). Yeshua YHVH wants to marry a holy, spotless and pure bride. The foolish virgins of Matthew 25 lacked the oil of YHVH’s Torah and Spirit. That’s why they were excluded from the wedding supper. Similarly, the Laodiceans Christians were spiritually tepid, naked, impoverished and blind, which is why they had to go through the refining fires of YHVH’s judgment. In the book of Revelation, there are the 144, 000 redeemed Israelites, and then there are those who, because of lukewarmness, must go through the refining fires of the great tribulation to get their spiritual robes washed pure. The latter group will be the larger number of believers—a great an innumerable multitude. This doesn’t even include those believers who have already fallen away in the great apostasy of the end times (2 Thess 2:1–12).

Remember this one thing: Heartfelt repentance is the key to averting YHVH’s judgments and experiencing his grace (Lev 26:40–41;1 John 1:9).

Please also remember this: It’s the divinely mandated responsibility of the proverbial watchman on the wall to warn the city of the judgments he sees coming. He’s likely to be unpopular with the people, who are complacent and apathetic in their status quo—all things continue as they have from the beginning (1 Pet 4:3), they say. But the watchman still has to warn, or the people’s fate will be on his head; their blood will be on his hands (Ezek 3:16–21).


Leviticus 26:17, I will set my face against you. This is an obvious Hebraic idiom or Hebraism meaning that YHVH will not bless those who goes against his ways. In other words, such people will reap the consequences of their Torahless or sinful actions. Similarly, in many places in Scripture, YHVH promises to  bless those who obey him. Instead of setting his face against them, he will favor them by making his face to shine upon them. This chapter lays out as well as any in the Bible the consequences of a person’s actions vis-à-vis their relationship to the Creator’s commandments.

Here is a list of Scriptures where YHVH promises to bless or make his face shine on those who obey him.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Lev 17:10)

And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. (Lev 20:3)

Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. (Lev 20:5)

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. (Lev 20:6)

And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. (Lev 26:17)

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith YHVH: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. (Jer 21:10)

Therefore thus saith YHVH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. (Jer 44:11)

And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am YHVH. (Ezek 14:8)

And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am YHVH, when I set my face against them. (Ezek 15:7)

By contrast, here is a list of Scriptures where YHVH promises to bless or make his face shine on those who obey him.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Lev 17:10)

And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. (Lev 20:3)

Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. (Lev 20:5)

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. (Lev 20:6)

And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. (Lev 26:17)

For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith YHVH: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. (Jer 21:10)

Therefore thus saith YHVH of hosts, the Elohim of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. (Jer 44:11)

And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am YHVH. (Ezek 14:8)

And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am YHVH, when I set my face against them. (Ezek 15:7)

By contrast, here is a list of Scriptures where YHVH promises to bless or make his face shine on those who obey him.

YHVH make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. (Num 6:25)

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake. (Ps 31:16)

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. Elohim be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. (Ps 67:1)

Turn us again, O Elohim, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Ps 80:3)

Turn us again, O Elohim of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Ps 80:7)

Turn us again, O YHVH Elohim of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psa 80:19)

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. (Psa 119:135)

Now therefore, O our Elohim, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. (Dan 9:17)

The problem with individuals or nations who are experiencing YHVH’s disfavor or him setting his face against them is that they are either spiritually blind or wilfully ignorant to connect the consequences of their actions to their disobedience to his commandments. Too many people only believe what they can see. For example, they know that if they were to jump off of a cliff their would be immediate disastrous consequences. But because, to them, Elohim is not plainly visible, they then rationalize in their minds that his laws are either non-existent or irrelevant to them. This hyper rationalism and the inability to recognize his laws of right moral conduct has caused people much grief and pain on the earth. 

What’s even more tragic is when people who once knew and followed Elohim’s commandments then walk away from them. Because they have turned their face away from Elohim, he will do likewise. And because these apostate rebels may not experience immediate consequences to their sinful actions, they often become emboldened to sin even more. To their darkened minds, this proves that Elohim does not exist, or if he does, he is irrelevant to them. After a while, their live becomes a mess and their consciences have become so seared that they are now unable to connect the dots or to add two and two to determine why they are suffering. 

If, however, in the course of time these sinners wake up from their spiritual stupor and repent of their sin, YHVH will mercifully forgive them and the healing and restoration process will begin, and the blessings will start flowing as he makes his face to shine on them once again.

Leviticus 27

Leviticus 27:28–29, Devote … devoted thing. Heb. charam and cherem meaning “a devoted or dedicated thing, ban, devotion.” According to The TWOT, the basic meaning of herem is the exclusion of an object from the use or abuse of man and its irrevocable surrender to Elohim. Cherem can refer to the dedication of something for YHVH’s exclusive use, and if one uses that which was devoted to YHVH for personal use, then the object is profaned and the person brings upon himself a curse or even the death penalty (Lev 27:28–29) because such activity displeases YHVH. The violation of this principle is what brought about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Therefore, cherem can refer to “a ban for utter destruction, the compulsory dedication of something which impedes or resists God’s work, which is considered to be accursed before God.” This word is also used in reference to all the cities that Joshua’s troops destroyed, thus indicating the Israelites’ rationale for their destruction, since otherwise the inhabitants of these heathen cities would have lured YHVH’s people away from him. In this case, it could be said that the heathen Canaanites were using YHVH charem (devoted) land in a displeasing manner to Elohim, thus he marked or devoted them for destruction. All objects or people who YHVH designates as charem (in the pejorative sense), he considers to be offensive or injurious to his work.

Related to this are objects to be set apart because they were pleasing and useful to him, which are referred to as qadosh.

It is related to the Arabic word harem meaning “to prohibit, especially to ordinary use,” and in popular usage refers to the special quarters for Muslim wives (The TWOT).

The name hermon as in Mount Hermon shares the same three letter root (HRM) with cherem and means “sacred.”

 

2 thoughts on “Leviticus 26 on Divine Blessings and Curses

  1. What happens then to us who don’t understand which laws were in the Torah other than the 10 commandments. We don’t know how to follow certain festivals or new moons. All me and my family know is that Yeshua is the Messiah and He died for us and redeemed us. We place our hope in what He has done for us as our exit from spiritual Egypt into the Holy Promise Land one day. I don’t even know how to have a proper Passover dinner but I know who my Passover Lamb is and I know what He has done for us. The heart of the law is mercy. We need to cry and mourn for our lost loved ones. We love them we want them to be saved. Will the Messiah spare them if they just acknowledge what He has done for them?. Will they make it if they don’t have works to show their faith?

    • There is no excuse to not understanding the Torah. You have found your way to the blog which has links to hundreds of videos and thousands of articles that show you how. All of your answers are on this website, and this is but one of many such websites that have the answers that you are looking for and is available free of charge to all those who truly have a heart to obey the Truth of Elohim.

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