◄ Leviticus 26:12 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
God Dwelling Amongst Men
Leviticus 26:11
S.R. Aldridge
All possible methods were employed to attach the Israelites to the Law. Solemnity of its promulgation, judgment executed on transgressors, enticing promises and terrifying threats. Chief among inducements to obedience was the promise of the text.

I. SETTING UP A TABERNACLE IMPLIES.

1. Settled residences in the midst of the people. This was more than an occasional appearance on the mountain-top or in the wilderness. A tent is, at least for a season, a fixed abode. The Almighty would never be far distant from his lieges as he had seemed to be in preceding years.

2. Friendly, familiar intercourse with the people. He condescended to their manner of life, inhabiting a home as they did, passing as it were from one to the other. This is expressed in verse 12, "I will walk among you." Naught of pollution was suffered for the reason given in Deuteronomy 23:14, "The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp." A special revelation of God is intimated, that he would be known, not as omnipresent in space, but as peculiarly present, interchanging visits with his people.

3. The assurance of Divine blessing. Guidance, assistance, forgiveness, - all are herein included. God would be always near to be entreated. At the tabernacle sacrifices could be offered to purge away defilement. "The heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore" (Ezekiel 37:28), God's presence is superior to any of his works; if we have him, we have all good things guaranteed.

II. THE PEOPLE OF GOD MAY WELL WONDER THAT HE SHOULD DELIGHT IN THEM AND NOT VIEW THEM WITH ABHORRENCE. To abide with man would be impossible if disgust were continually uppermost in the mind of God.

1. Consider man's sinfulness. How repugnant to the pure and holy One of Israel is every thought of iniquity, much less its overt commission! How often must he be shocked at the sights and sounds that gratify sinful creatures? Peter, awakened to a sense of his unworthiness, cried out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

2. Consider man's imperfections, his ignorance and frailty, his dullness of perception, his insensibility to refined and elevated tastes and emotions. If one nurtured in good society revolts at the idea of close communion with those inferior in the social scale, whoso manner of life and habits of thinking are so different, how great must be the disparity between heaven and earth! what a descent must God feel it to be to consort with creatures of such petty selfish alms and. uncultured ways! Only real pitying love, a desire to benefit and raise these miserable objects, a vision of what it was possible for them to become by such fellowship with the Most High, could have invested men with sufficient interest in the eyes of God to permit him to dwell amongst them. If the people strive to fulfill the behests of the Law, much of their degradation will vanish, and be succeeded by integrity and righteousness, which shall gradually beautify their character and customs. "My soul shall not abhor you," if you honour my precepts by strict fidelity.

III. THE PROMISE VERIFIED.

1. In the local habitation of God at Shiloh and Jerusalem. There God placed his Name and exhibited his power and favour.

2. In his personal manifestation in Christ Jesus. "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." "The Word... dwelt among us." Then was answered the question, "Will God in very deed dwell with man upon the earth?" Christ sojourned like ourselves in a house of clay, mingling with men and women in their daily tasks, sat at the same table with publicans and sinners.

3. In the presence of God spiritually in the heart of the individual believer, in the Church of Christ as a whole, making it the temple of God, and in the various assemblies, small or great, of the saints. "Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them." The grandest fulfillment will be when the Lord God Almighty shall himself constitute the temple in which they shall offer their worship and service. "He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among (spread his tabernacle over) them." No more hungering nor thirsting, no death, sorrow, nor crying, when God shall thus absolutely completely draw near to his people. - S.R.A.

Biblical Illustrator
If thy brother... be sold unto thee.
Leviticus 25:39-55
Slavery

—

I. TEXTS RELATING TO SLAVES.

1. Called bondmen (Genesis 43:18; Genesis 44:9).

2. By birth (Genesis 14:14; Psalm 116:16; Jeremiah 2:14).

3. By purchase (Genesis 17:27; Genesis 37:36).

4. Sometimes captives taken in war (Deuteronomy 20:14; 2 Kings 5:2).

5. Strangers, under certain restrictions (ver. 45).

6. Foreigners, might be purchased (ver. 44).

7. Debtors, liable to be sold (2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:4, 5; Matthew 18:25).

8. Thieves were sold (Exodus 22:3).

9. Israelites to be kindly treated (vers. 39, 40, 46), and to be liberated after six years (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12); or if they refused to be free, then (Exodus 21:5, 6; Deuteronomy 15:16, 17), when sold to foreigners might be redeemed (vers. 47-55), or be free at the jubilee (vers. 10, 40, 41, 54), but could not demand wife and child procured during bondage (Exodus 21:3, 4); were to be furnished liberally on regaining liberty (Deuteronomy 15:13, 14).

10. Foreign slaves to rest on Sabbath (Exodus 20:10), to share in national rejoicing (Deuteronomy 12:18; Deuteronomy 16:11, 14).

11. If ill-treated by masters, to be set free (Exodus 21:26, 27).

12. Laws respecting killing slaves (Exodus 21:20, 21).

13. If they ran away, not to be delivered up (Deuteronomy 23:15).

14. Sometimes rose to rank (Ecclesiastes 10:7), and might intermarry with master's family (1 Chronicles 2:34, 35).

15. Kidnapping condemned (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10).

II. NOTE ON THE ABOVE TEXTS. Consider —

1. The nature of slavery as practised by the heathen world (the treatment of Israelites by Egyptians).

2. The restraint laid upon these Israelites in their conduct to foreign bondsmen. But for these laws how might these people — who had been slaves of foreigners themselves — have treated foreigners when in their turn they became masters?

3. The relation of Israelitish slaves to Israelitish masters, with their privileges (social and religious), and certain freedom.

4. The causes for which alone they might become slaves.

5. Especially consider that while these laws ameliorated the condition Of slavery as it then existed — eliminating the elements of cruelty, &c., leaving, in fact, nothing of bondage but the name — they paved the way, by the training of justice and mercy, for the total extinction of slavery.

6. Christianity in spirit, precept, and practice against slavery.(1) Asserts that there is no bond or free, but that all are one in Christ.(2) Teaches the fraternity of the race. "God hath made of one blood," &c. "All we are brethren."(3) Strikingly illustrates this by the case of a runaway slave — Onesimus — whom Paul sent back to his master, whom in some way he had wronged, not as a slave, but as a brother beloved (Philemon). Learn:

1. No warrant for modern slavery in the Word of God (Isaiah 58:6).

2. Spiritual slavery the worst form (2 Timothy 2:26).

3. This may be the state of men who are politically free (John 8:34; 2 Peter 2:19).

4. Jesus the great Emancipator (John 8:32-36; Romans 6:18-22; Galatians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16).

(J. C. Gray.).

People
Egyptians, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Moses
Places
Mount Sinai
Topics
Habitually, Midst, Present, Walk, Walked
Outline
1. Of idolatry
2. Reverence
3. A blessing to those who keep the commandments
14. A curse to those who break them
40. God promises to remember those who repent

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Leviticus 26:12

     1110   God, present everywhere
     1210   God, human descriptions
     5197   walking
     5395   lordship, human and divine
     5734   relationships
     7021   church, OT anticipations

Leviticus 26:3-12

     6703   peace, divine OT

Leviticus 26:3-13

     1349   covenant, at Sinai

Leviticus 26:11-12

     2227   Immanuel

Library
Emancipated Slaves
I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.'--LEV. xxvi. 13. The history of Israel is a parable and a prophecy as well as a history. The great central word of the New Testament has been drawn from it, viz. 'redemption,' i.e. a buying out of bondage. The Hebrew slaves in Egypt were 'delivered.' The deliverance made them a nation. God acquired them for Himself, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Lii. Trust in God.
15th Sunday after Trinity. S. Matt. vi. 31. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." INTRODUCTION.--We read in ancient Roman history that a general named Aemilius Paulus was appointed to the Roman army in a time of war and great apprehension. He found in the army a sad condition of affairs, there were more officers than fighting men, and all these officers wanted to have their advice taken, and the war conducted in accordance with their several opinions. Then Aemilius Paulus …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

A Reformer's Schooling
'The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Repentance
Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.' Acts 11: 18. Repentance seems to be a bitter pill to take, but it is to purge out the bad humour of sin. By some Antinomian spirits it is cried down as a legal doctrine; but Christ himself preached it. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent,' &c. Matt 4: 17. In his last farewell, when he was ascending to heaven, he commanded that Repentance should be preached in his name.' Luke 24: 47. Repentance is a pure gospel grace. …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
The duty of Covenanting is founded on the law of nature; but it also stands among the arrangements of Divine mercy made from everlasting. The promulgation of the law, enjoining it on man in innocence as a duty, was due to God's necessary dominion over the creatures of his power. The revelation of it as a service obligatory on men in a state of sin, arose from his unmerited grace. In the one display, we contemplate the authority of the righteous moral Governor of the universe; in the other, we see …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
or, Gospel Light Fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let us More Easily into the Glory of New Testament Truths. 'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;--shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'--Ezekiel 43:10, 11 London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Appendix ix. List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in Ancient Rabbinic Writings
THE following list contains the passages in the Old Testament applied to the Messiah or to Messianic times in the most ancient Jewish writings. They amount in all to 456, thus distributed: 75 from the Pentateuch, 243 from the Prophets, and 138 from the Hagiorgrapha, and supported by more than 558 separate quotations from Rabbinic writings. Despite all labour care, it can scarcely be hoped that the list is quite complete, although, it is hoped, no important passage has been omitted. The Rabbinic references …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Mercy of God
The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy. Mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness. Psa 33:5. So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy. The most learned of the heathens thought they gave their god Jupiter two golden characters when they styled him good and great. Both these meet in God, goodness and greatness, majesty and mercy. God is essentially good in himself and relatively good to us. They are both put together in Psa 119:98. Thou art good, and doest good.' This …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Leviticus
The emphasis which modern criticism has very properly laid on the prophetic books and the prophetic element generally in the Old Testament, has had the effect of somewhat diverting popular attention from the priestly contributions to the literature and religion of Israel. From this neglect Leviticus has suffered most. Yet for many reasons it is worthy of close attention; it is the deliberate expression of the priestly mind of Israel at its best, and it thus forms a welcome foil to the unattractive …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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