1 Of Idolatry, 2 Religiousness. 3 A Blessing to them that keep the Commandments. 14 A Curse to those that break them. 40 GOD promiseth to remember them that repent. Ver. 1 V Eshall make you no Idols nor graven Image, neither rear ye up a standing Image, neither shall ye fet up any Image of Stone in your Land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your GOD. 2 Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am the LORD. 3 If ye walk in my Statutes, and keep my Commandments, and do them; 4 Then I will give you Rain in due Season; and the Land shall yield her Increase, and the Trees of the Field shall yield their Fruit. 5 And your Threshing shall reach unto the Vintage, and the Vintage shall reach unto the Sowing-time: and ye shall eat your Bread to the Full, and dwell in your Land fafely. 6 And I will give Peace in the Land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil Beasts out of the Land, neither shall the Sword go through your Land. 7 And ye shall chase your Enemies, and they shall fall before you by the Sword. As Mofes in this Chapter affures the Ifraelites of the great Succeffes, and many Felicities they should enjoy in the Land of Canaan, as long as they continue in their Obedience to the Divine Commands; so he foretels the terrible Judgments and great Calamities that shoud come upon them, for their Idolatries and Disobedience. The History of this Nation fully verifys the Truth of these Predictions, which will appear from the follow ing Instances: Ift. As the Red Sea was divided for the Deliverance of the Ifraelites from the Egyptians so was the River Fordan (when it had overflown it's Banks) for the Passage of their Army. 2dly, The Walls of Jericho, which the Spyes had reported to be impregnable, by an immediate and almighty Power, fell down before them. 3dly, Joshua fubdued, and took Pofsession of the whole Land of Canaan, (the Sun standing still upon his Prayer) by which the Promises to Abrabam were literally fulfilled. deon, Ba ak, Fonaihan, David, and his 4thly, In the Story of Sampion, GiCaptains, and other Kings, were accomplished the Promises of the great Victories they should obtain, while they confided in the LORD of HOSTS. sthly, In the Reigns of David and Solomon, all the Nations from the Banks of the great River Euphrates, to the Borders of Egypt, were fubjeded to them, and the divine Prefence Or Schekina was continued in the Santuary and first Temple. 6thly. Their Riches were so great, that David left to Solomon a greater Treasure than is now current in the whole known World, being an hundred thousand Talents of Gold, and a thousand thousand Talents of Sile ver, $ And sibly, After seventy Years Continuance in this Captivity, they are restored by Cyrus, as was foretold by So that this People became the Glory and Admiration of all Na But as theit Obedience was reward 8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thoufand to Flight: and your E-ed with these Bleflings, so their Rebellion, Idolatry, and Disobedience, nemies shall fall before you by brought upon them all the Curfes denounced against them by Moses: the Sword. 9 For I will have Respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my Covenant with you. 10 And ye shall eat old Store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11 And I will fet my Tabernacle amongít you: and my Soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your GOD, and ye shall be my People. 13 I am the LORD your GOD, which brought you forth out of the Land of E gypt, that ye should not be their Bond-men, and I have broken the Bands of your Yoke, and made you go upright. 14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these Commandments: 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 : 16 I also will do this unto you, I will even appoint over you Terror, Consumption, and the burning Ague; that shall confume the Eye, and that succeeded Joshua, they fell into Idolatry: For this they were chaftized by the several Enemies that were raised up against them. 1st, In the very Time of the Judges 2dly, In the Reigns of David and Solomon the Kingdom of Ifrael was fully established, but in the Time of Rehoboam his Successor, ten Tribes revolted and became a feparate King dom for the Idolatry of Solomon in his old Age, and the Tyranny of Rehoboam 3dly, Jeroboam causes two golden Calves to be fet up, and commands his Subjects to worship them. This publick Idolatry is continued during the Reigns of the several Kings of Ifrael, till the Time of Howhen the Tribes were carried Captive by Salmon Ezer, their Cities destroyed, and their Country laid defolate; from which Captivity they have never been restored. Which Difperfion has now lafted above 2400 Years. tinted, The Kingdom.co veral Kings for more than 100 Years after the Captivity of the Ten Tribes; in which Time it pleased God to raise 4thly, of Judah up feveral Prophets, who all fore warned them Calamities that were to come upon them for their great Impieties. But so mad were they upon their Idols, that in the Time of Manaffich and other Kings, the Temple itself was polluted with the Idolatry of the Gentiles; and both in their Impieties, that they murdered their Prophets, and despised all their Threatnings, till they were carried Captive to Babylon by the Chaldeans, who defolated their City, burnt their Temple, and laid waste the whole Countrey. Prince and People were so obstinate Aa caufe 178 4 : LEVITICUS. cause Sorrow of Heart: and ye shall fow your Seed in vain, for your Enemies shall eat it. 17 And I will fet my Face against you, and ye shall be flain before your Enemies : they that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you feven times more for your Sins. 19 And I will break the Pride of your Power; and I will make your Heaven as Iron, and your Earth as Brafs. 20 And your Strength shall be spent in vain: for your Land shall not yield her Increase, neither shall the Trees of the Land yield their Fruits. 21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more Plagues upon you, according to your Sins. 22 I will alfo fend wild Beasts among you, which Thall rob you of your Children, and destroy your Cattle, and make you few in Number, and your Highways shall be defolate. 23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these Things, but will walk contrary unto me: 24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your Sins. Isaiah, Feremiah, and other Prophets. It may be observed, that Babylın was the Place where Idolatry firft began after the Flood; and here it was that the Jews were cured of that Idolatry from which their Ancestors withstanding this Deliverance, upon never be reclaimed. But not own their Refettlement in their Countrey, they fell into many Impieties, for which they were feverely chastised, and at laft filled up the Measure of their Rebellions in rejecting the MESSIAH, whom they had so long, and at that very Time expected; and putting to Death the LORD of Life and Glory, and per fecuting those that believed in him, for which they were pursued by the divine Vengeance. 6thly, The City of Jerufalem, after enduring many terrible Calamities, and a long Siege, in which the tender and delicate Women eat their own Children, as was foretold by Mofes and other Prophets The City was taken, their Temple burnt, and the Nation dispersed, by the Emperors Titus, Trajan, and Adrian. For fo far had they provoked their Conquerors, that by an Imperial Edit, the Jews were prohibited to fet their Foot upon their own Land. The Emperor Julian, in order to confound the Chistian Religion.com mands the Temple to be rebuilt; but no sooner were the Foundations of the old Temple pulled up, but by Earthquakes and Balls of Fire, an End was put to this Attempt. And herein the Prediction of OUR SAVIOUR was literally fulfilled, That not one Stone should be left upon another. 7thly, The Jews are now fubfifting, a People scattered and dispersed thro all the Nations of the known World, without King, without Prieft, without Sacrifice, without Prophet, and without any fettled Property; as was foretold by Hofea. And they who were so forward upon every Occafion to run into Idolatry, are now the most averse to it. They carry with them the Books of the Prophets who forewarned them of all these Calamities and Difperfions, And fuch is their Ve25 And 25 And I will bring a Sword upon you, that shall avenge the Quarrel of my Covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your Cities, I will fend the Pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the Hand of the Enemy. 26 And when I have broken the Staff of your Bread, ten Women shall bake your Bread in one Oven, and they shall deliver you your Bread again by Weight: and ye fhall eat and not be fatisfied. The Application that all Christians ought to make of these direful Stories, is to fear left a Promise being made to us by the Gospel, of entring into the eternal Reft of Heaven, we come short of it by Unbelief. For because of Unbelief the Jews. were cast off, and the Christian Church stands by Faith. Therefore we should not be high minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural Branches, take heed left by Unbelief and Disobedience, those that call themselves Christians do not provoke the divine Vengeance. 27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me: 28 Then I will walk contrary unto you alfo in Fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your Sins. 29 And ye shall eat the Flesh of your Sons, and the Flesh of your Daughters shall ye eat. 30 And I will destroy your high Places, and cut down your Images, and caft your Carcases upon the Carcafes of your Idols, and my Soul shall abhor you. 31 And I will make your Cities waste, and bring your Sanctuaries unto Desolation, and I will not smell the Savour of your fweet Odours. 32 And I will bring the Land into Desolation, and your Enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the Heathen, and will draw out a Sword after you and your Land shall be defolate, and your Cities waste. 34 Then shall the Land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth defolate, and ye be in your Enemies Land; even then 'shall the Land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lieth defolate, it shall rest: because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it. 'n' they 36 And upon them that are left alive of you, I will fond a Faintness into their Hearts in the Lands of their L Γ and the Sound of a fhaken Leaf shall chase them ; shall flee, as fleeing from a Sword: and they shall f. 1 none purfueth. 1 Aaz 37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a Sword, when none purfsueth and ye shall have no Power to stand before your Enemies. 38 And ye shall perish among the Heathen, and the Land of your Enemies shall eat you up. 39 And they that are left of you, shall pine away in their Iniquity, in your Enemies Lands; and alfo in the Iniquities of their Fathers shall they pine away with them. 40 If they shall confefs their Iniquity, and the Iniquity of their Fathers, with their Trespass which they trefpaffed against me, and that alfo they have walked contrary unto me; 41 And that I alfo have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the Land of their Enemies; if then their uncircumcised Hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the Punishment of their Iniquity : 42 Then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob, and also my Covenant with Ifaac, and also my Covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the Land. 43 The Land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while the lieth defolate without them: and they shall accept of the Punishment of their Iniquity; because, even because they despised my Judgments, and because their Soul abhorred my Statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they be in the Land of their Enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor thein, to destroy them utterly, and to break my Covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will for their Sakes remember the Covenant of their Ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt, in the Sight of the Heathen, that I might be their GOD: I am the LORD. 46 These are the Statutes, and Judgments, and Laws, which the LORD made between him and the Children of If rael, in Mount Sinai, by the Hand of Mofes. He that maketh a fingular Vow must be the LORD's; 2 the Estimation of the Person, 9 of a Beast given by Vow, 14 of an House, 16 of a Field, and the Redemption thereof. 28 No devoted Thing may be redeemed. 32 The Tythe may not be changed. AN |