Leviticus 26:41

41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies -1or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that 2they then make amends for their iniquity,

Leviticus 26:41 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:41

And [that] I also have walked contrary unto them
Showed no regard unto them, as if he took no care of them, or in a providential way concerned himself for them, but let what would befall them; yea, came out in the way of his judgments against them, as if he was an enemy to them, (See Gill on Leviticus 26:24);

and have brought them into the land of their enemies;
should acknowledge the hand of God in it, that he himself brought them out of their own country into an enemy's land, as Assyria, Babylon, and other nations: and that this was not the chance of war, or owing to the superior power or skill of their enemies, but to the just judgment of God upon them for their sins, who on that account delivered them up into the hands of their enemies:

if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled;
their foolish proud heart, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; it signifies a sinful, wicked, hard, and impenitent heart, brought to a sense of sin, to repentance and humiliation for it. Jarchi interprets it, "or if their uncircumcised heart" as in ( Exodus 2:23 ) ; and observes another sense of the word, "perhaps their uncircumcised heart" not only would in words confess their sins, but be truly humbled at heart for them:

and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;
take it well at the hand of God, bear it patiently without murmuring, or thinking themselves hardly dealt by, but freely owning it is less than their iniquities deserve; or complete and finish the punishment of their sins, as Aben Ezra, which upon their humiliation should be put an end to, and cease. Jarchi takes the word in the sense of atonement and pacification, as if by their chastisement their sins were expiated F4, and God was pacified toward them: but rather it denotes the free and full pardon of their sins, manifested to them upon their repentance and humiliation for sin.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Siphri apud Yalkut, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 197. 2.)

Leviticus 26:41 In-Context

39 'So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.
40 'If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me-
41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies -or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity,
42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.
43 'For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 9:25, 26; Ezekiel 44:7, 9; Acts 7:51
  • 2. Ezekiel 20:43
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