A Blessing and a Curse

In Leviticus 26, we have the second to last chapter of the book of laws as presented on Sinai during the 40 days that Moses was there talking to Jehovah. In all the types that are presented throughout this book which pertains mostly to the priesthood and their duties, this chapter stands out. The reason for that is that it is more general in its message to Israel and in that it is a blessing and a curse upon them. It carries within it a message that foretells what will happen to them across their history and even into their last days. In other words, Leviticus 26 deals with eschatology.
== Leviticus 26 ==
In verses 1-13 God reminds them that He is the one true and living God, that He brought them out of Egypt and has blessed them. He exhorts them to continue to keep His commandments, telling them that if they do, then He will bless them with all physical blessings. They will have land, food, shelter, and peace. They will have no enemies that will stand against them. Most importantly, God will be their God and dwell among them and they will be His people.
Note that this blessing is conditioned upon their obedient faith as it always is for men.
However, if they do not listen but rebel, then God gives the following curse to them:
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 consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.17 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. 18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
 So all the blessings in the first verses of the chapter are reversed. They will have all the hardships that would have been blessings. No home or land, no food, no shelter, no peace. Their enemies will conquer them and they shall live in such fear that they will cower even if there isn't any real enemy to face. Then Moses writes this peculiar statement:
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
What does that last part mean? Well, we know this prophecy makes no literal sense, but we can't just make up stuff. We have to let the Bible interpret itself. Where else are these metals used in conjunction with punishing Israel?
Daniel 2.
In Daniel there is the dream of Nebuchadnezzar of the great statue and the four great empires. The head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar, the silver the Medo-Persian empire, and the brass represented the Greeks while the iron represented the Romans. In the last days of the Jewish State...the remnant of Israel, God was no longer speaking to them or walking among them. There were 400 years where God was silent. Then the Herod's rose up by attaching themselves to the Caesars of Rome and the stage was set.
The Greeks had Hellenized the world, that is, the whole world surrounding Israel spoke Greek and had Greek culture. The New Testament is even written in Greek! Rome ruled at this time. So understanding the symbols of heaven and earth properly (see Isaiah 1:2, 10), we see that the earth - the people of the land - were Greek/brass and the heavens - the rulers of the land - were Roman/iron. Just as Moses prophesied in Leviticus 26!
Note also that in Leviticus 26, there are references to other things that would happen to them. They would be taken into captivity for their disobedience, and so the land could have its sabbaths, its rest. During this time, if the people repented, God would lead them out of captivity and bring them back into the land and bless them again. This exactly happened. The Book of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles records the fall of the Jewish Kings and how the people were taken into Babylonian captivity. Then we read of Daniel and the people repented and stayed in captivity for 70 years. Enough to let the land have those sabbaths they missed under the wicked kings. Then they were released (Ezra and Nehemiah) and allowed to return to the land just as Moses prophesied, just as Daniel and Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 44:28; 45:1).
== Deuteronomy 28 ==
Deuteronomy is written after the 40 years of wandering when the Israelites were about to enter into the Promised Land. In this chapter, Moses reminds them of the conditional blessings and curses that God promised them in Leviticus 26 at the beginning of their journey. If you obey Me, I will bless you bountifully. If you rebel, I will curse you and all the blessings you would have had will be turned against you as curses instead. Then there is this statement in verse 23:
And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
Sounds familiar, but it's not quite right. The iron and the brass are reversed. What does this mean? Is it a contradiction? Let's take a detailed look at the cursing portion of Deuteronomy 28 and see if Moses can clear this up for us.
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
God is about to list all the curses they will face if they do not obey Him. This is a conditional promise, but a promise nonetheless. We know from the rest of the Old Testament that Israel did not obey and God keeps His promises. So did each of these curses come about? Yes.
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Everything they touched, every part of their lives, would be cursed and despite their physical labor and trying, their self-righteous works, they would not be blessed. This is a contrast to Exodus 1 where God blessed them and made them fruitful and they went from 70 males entering Egypt in Genesis 46 to around 2 million population by Numbers 1. Where before their numbers were as the stars of heaven (Deut. 1:10), they would no longer be blessed and their numbers would dwindle.
20 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish...24 The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Pestilence and famine would consume them and all their resources. Where do we see this happening? Revelation. 
In Revelation 6, there are 4 horses, servants of God who have come to bring ruin to Jerusalem and the Jews.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Remember these because they will be seen throughout the rest of Deut. 28. Famine, plagues, wild beasts, all the things promised here in Deuteronomy visited upon the remnants of Israel who had not already faced these when dealing with the Assyrians when the 10 northern tribes were wiped out.
In Revelation 18 we see the harlot called Babylon which is Jerusalem (Jewish State) riding on the beast (Rome) and afflicted in verse 8:
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
 25 The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Their enemies would surround them and conquer them and drive them out and kill them. They would no longer possess the land of promise God had given to them. This is the 2nd rider on the red horse in Revelation 6, the Roman army that surrounded Jerusalem in the Olivet discourse and throughout the rest of Revelation.
26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
Again, the wild beasts of Revelation 6:8, and then in Revelation 19:17-21:
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
27 The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, hereof thou canst not be healed. 28 The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
Jerusalem was compared often with Egypt, a reminder of the evil that God had brought them out of and a comparison to the evil which He did not want them to become. In Isaiah 19 and in Revelation 11:8 we see examples where Jerusalem is referred to as Egypt. God is saying that as I plagued Egypt, so shall I plague you.
Even more potent is the comparison when we realize that Egypt was plagued for persecuting the Israelites and not letting them be free to worship God the way God wanted. By way of comparison, the Jews persecuted the Christians and would not let them be free to worship God the way God wanted. It's an exact parallel.
30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. 31 Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. 32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long; and there shall be no might in thine hand. 33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: 34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 35 The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. 36 The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
This happened first to the northern tribes when they went into Assyrian captivity and were never seen again. Their bloodlines, which were so important to them, were diluted and dispersed throughout the Assyrian Empire which then came to nothing itself. Later this happened to the Jews, the southern tribes, in the first century when Rome attacked and Jerusalem was sacked. Most were killed, many were captured and sold as slaves and the nation came to nothing. It was ended.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
See 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Chron. 7:20; Jeremiah 25:9-11; Jeremiah 29:18; and Ezekiel 5:5-15
38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
The idea of locusts harkens back to the plague of locusts in Egypt, associating disobedient Israel with Egypt on a spiritual level. We see this in Revelation 9 where an army is described covering the land as Jerusalem is besieged. The point Moses makes here is that all that they do in labor shall be in vain and they will not prosper. We see a little of this in throughout the history of Israel as they grow wicked and are conquered many times. However, it becomes ultimately true when the Assyrians capture the northern tribes and their land is left empty, desolate and again when the Romans attack the southern tribes and the Jewish State is wiped out forever.
41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. 42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. 43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. 45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
Ultimately their desire to be like other nations is something God gives them over to and it ends up enslaving them, consuming their wealth, and ultimately destroying them. This is God speaking, not me. The end point of Israel/Judah for disobedience is destruction. Once their purpose as the vehicle to fulfill God's promise to Abraham to bring the Messiah into the world and bless all nations is fulfilled, God has no reason to keep them around if they are willful and disobedient.
46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. 47 Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. 49 The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand 50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: 51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. 52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
This nation is of course Rome. It's interesting that God speaks of them not understanding their language. In the time of Christ, the Jews spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Rome proper spoke Latin.
So too, the emblem of the eagle is interesting. In many places, the idea of the eagle is a symbol of strength, swiftness, and God's divine protection (Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11; Isa. 40:31; Rev. 12:14). However, the eagle (an unclean animal - Lev. 11:13, 18; Deut. 14:12, 17) represents gentile nations and is used in the context of a swift and powerful army come to punish the Israelites/Jews when they are wicked (Jer. 48:40; 49:22; Lam. 4:19; Ezekiel 17; Dan. 7:4; Hos. 8:1; Habakkuk 1:8; Matt. 24:28; Luke 17:37).
53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: 54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: 55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, 57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
What a horrible end the disobedient Israelites/Jews would meet. That during the siege of their city things would get so bad, they would eat their own children! This actually happened during the siege against Jerusalem in AD 70. It is predicted here and described in Revelation. [Josephus the historian confirms this in his extra-Biblical work: The Wars of the Jews]
58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord Thy God; 59 Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. 60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. 61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
Moses is directly comparing Israel to Egypt here, showing that if they continually disobey God, He will treat them as He treated Egypt, bringing the plagues upon them and ultimately destroy them. Read Revelation. Read of the plagues that they faced there. This isn't about some future world. It's about Judea and Jerusalem! Jerusalem was the city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8).
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God. 63 And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: 66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: 67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
This is a final end, no more repentance is offered the nation. All their blessings with which God has blessed them, He took from them and cursed them with the opposite. From multitude as the stars to few in number, from doing great things with them and multiplying them, to destroy them and bring them to nothing. Those that survived would be sacattered, fearful, returned to bondage and not even valuable enough to be sold as slaves.
God's end for disobedient Israel was not just idol talk. It was prophetic in nature, specific in detail, and carried out in history after they crucified the Savior of mankind, God the Son.
In Truth and Love,
Ernie