If ye walk in my statutes, and observe my commandments and do them,
Leviticus 26 hangs the nation's whole future on one small word: if. Before God lists what obedience would bring, He names the two evils man is most prone to.
Chapter 26 opens by forbidding image worship, and by requiring reverence for the sabbath and the sanctuary of Jehovah — the pillars of the law. Man was most prone to break exactly these (verses 1, 2). Then come His blessings on their obedience (verses 3-13).
The verse sums up the rest of the law in two words. Then it adds a third demand.
Verse 1 prohibits idolatry of any kind. Verse 2 enforces the sanctity of the sabbath and the sanctuary. Verse 3 sums up all the other laws as "My statutes" and "My commandments," which were to be carried out. Lip service was not enough. They were to "do them."
Everything promised in the verses that follow hangs on the opening clause. No such "If" hangs over the Christian's blessings.
Then come the details of the prosperity that would follow. But it was all provisional. It is, "If you walk … then I will give." Everything depended on their obedience, and that "If" proved fatal. The blessings promised were earthly and material. We can sum them up as fruitfulness, peace, victory and the realized presence of God among them. There is no mention of heaven or of the life to come. What a contrast with the Christian's portion — blessed "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3), and that without any "if" at all.
Israel never asked for this offer. It shows what God was willing to do for them.
What a beautiful picture we have here of a people enjoying the blessing of Jehovah, and of His delight in them… Then, if they would walk in God's statutes, keep His commandments, and do them, all these blessings would be theirs. Unasked by Israel, God here offers to bless them, and to do it according to the desire of His heart. We learn what He could do, and would do, if they proved obedient. Nothing seems missing for an earthly people's happiness, before the kingdom would be set up in power.
The condition did not control how Israel entered Canaan. It controlled how long they would stay.
God brought them out of Egypt by divine power. He brought them into the land too, in fulfilment of His promise. So their entrance into Canaan and their possession of it did not depend on their obedience. But to stay there, keeping the covenant was an absolute necessity. They stood before God on the ground of law, and they had to obey if the land was to support them.
So the terms of Leviticus 26 do not fulfil the unconditional promises made earlier to Abraham and his line.
The Israelites have never held the land of Canaan unconditionally. They never had more than a conditional hold on it, and a conditional gift is plainly no fulfilment of an unconditional promise. We are not left to our own judgment here. Paul tells us plainly that "the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise" (Galatians 3:17-18).
The chapter reads like a forecast. History matched it — including what came after the judgment.
It is a long chapter, and it promises blessings if they obey. He even undertakes to place His tabernacle among them, and He promised them every earthly blessing (verses 3-13). "But if you will not listen to me" (verse 14), He threatens them with the heaviest judgments, and at last they are to be cast out of their land (verses 31-39). This is exactly what happened to them when they went into captivity in Babylon… A promise follows this threat: "If they confess their iniquity … then I will remember my covenant with Jacob" (verses 40-42). That is, God would bring them back.
Grace saves without conditions. Enjoying the blessing afterwards is another matter.
It is different with Christians. They are saved by pure unconditional grace. But once saved, their blessing and their enjoyment of spiritual blessing depend on their walk, on obedience to the Word. We must always insist on this. They do not obey, we repeat, to be saved… God has brought them to Himself through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and now their blessing while they live in this world depends on their subjection to the mind and will of God.
- If. The whole promise of Leviticus 26 turns on one word, and that "If" proved fatal.
- Do. The verse names statutes and commandments, then adds a third demand. Lip service was not enough; they were to do them.
- Then. God offered it unasked, from the desire of His heart: fruitfulness, peace, victory, and His presence among them.
- After. Obedience never bought their entry into the land, only their stay in it. Such a conditional gift never fulfilled the unconditional promise made to Abraham. Disobedience finally carried them to Babylon, yet confession would bring God back to His covenant with Jacob.
- Now. Christians are saved by unconditional grace, and their enjoyment of that blessing still follows obedience to the Word.
then I will give your rain in the season thereof, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit;
God sets before Israel a picture of what life in the land would look like if they walked with Him. The first item on the list is rain. It is a promise about weather. Underneath it lies a deeper question: will a whole nation live from God's hand for its daily bread?
Verse 4 sits in the bright half of the chapter. The other half is its dark opposite.
Leviticus 26, which we have now reached, is a very solemn chapter. Verses 1-13 give a glowing picture of the earthly blessing and prosperity that would follow their obedience. Verses 14-39 give a terrible forecast of the evils that would follow if disobedience marked them.
Rain opens a list of blessings that leaves nothing out.
Here is a beautiful picture of a people enjoying the blessing of the Lord, and of His delight in them… Nothing seems lacking for the happiness of an earthly people, before the kingdom was to be set up in power. They could count on the fertility of the ground. Rain — the thing man cannot control — God promised He would not withhold in its season. He assured them of peace and plenty and security.
Egypt, where they had lived, ran on irrigation and human labour. The land they were entering ran on the sky.
What a vivid contrast between Egypt and Canaan! Egypt had no rain from heaven. It was all human effort there. Not so in the Lord's land. The human foot could do nothing there, and there was no need. The blessed rain from heaven fell on it, and the Lord Himself cared for it and watered it with the early and latter rain. Egypt depended on its own resources. Canaan depended wholly on God — on what came down from heaven… The habit in Egypt was to water with the foot; the habit in Canaan was to look up to heaven.
The rain is only the start. Each stage of the farming year would run so full that it overlapped the next.
Obedience to God's statutes and commandments would always bring the rain in its proper season. The land and the trees would yield healthy fruit. The harvest would be abundant, taking up all the time before the vintage of their vineyards. The vintage would be so great that it would continue until the time of sowing. Provision would then be enough for them, and they would also live safely in their land.
The whole promise hangs on the "if" of verse 3. That condition is not the same as the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God gave the promises to the patriarchs without any condition. But the Israelites have never had an unconditional possession of the land of Canaan. They entered on these terms — "If you walk in My statutes and observe My commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season," along with the other promised blessings… So the Israelites never had more than a conditional hold on the land. And a conditional gift is no fulfilment of an unconditional promise.
Later in the same chapter God describes the exact reverse of verse 4. The pictures He uses are physical, but the condition behind them is moral.
The beautiful blue heavens would no longer bring the promise of blessing. Instead the heavens would be like iron, strongly resisting Israel's bad condition. The earth would be like bronze, hard and unyielding, so that it would not produce.
A Christian reading this verse should not simply transfer the promise to himself. The blessings named here are earthly, and they come attached to a condition.
The blessings of the Church are spiritual blessings in heavenly places — not temporal blessings, as Israel's were. It was promised that they, if obedient, would be blessed in their basket and in their store, in the fruit of their body, the fruit of their cattle, and the fruit of the ground… And even in millennial times, when they will enjoy spiritual blessings also, the possession of every temporal comfort is a prominent feature in their predicted condition. "And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD" (Ezekiel 34:27). There are no such promises as these to the Church.
- Condition. Verse 4 hangs on the "if" of verse 3; obedience was the door, and everything that follows comes through it.
- Gift. The first promise is the one thing farming skill cannot supply — rain in its season, held in God's hand alone.
- Dependence. Canaan drank rain from the sky, not water from a river. Its habit was to look up to heaven, not to water with the foot.
- Overflow. Threshing would still be going when the grape harvest began. The grape harvest would run on to sowing time. The blessing had no gap in it.
- Contrast. When God withheld the rain, that same sky turned to iron and the soil to bronze. The plenty promised here was Israel's portion. The Church's blessings are spiritual and heavenly, and carry no "if".
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 securely.
This promise sits in a chapter with two futures before Israel: blessing if they obey, ruin if they rebel. The verse pictures a farming year with no gaps in it. So what would that abundance have looked like, and why did Israel never see it?
One crop is not yet in when the next is ready. One writer traces the chain from rain to safe dwelling:
If they obeyed God's statutes and commandments, the result would always follow. He would send the rain in its proper season. The land and the trees would yield healthy fruit. The harvest would be so large that it filled all the time before the vintage of their vineyards, and the vintage would be so great that it ran on till the time of sowing. They would then have more than enough to live on, and they would also live safely in their land (vv. 3-5).
The vintage is the grape harvest. Why did it stretch over a period instead of one day?
The time of rejoicing when the grapes were gathered. As there were different elevations in the land, the grapes would not be all ripe at the same time.
Eating "bread to the full" means more than food on the table. It means they never had to sell their grain to pay for other needs:
They would have bread to the full, instead of selling it to pay for their other needs. And they would have safety inside their homes. More than that: no dangerous animals and no enemy sword would alarm them.
The promise is the second half of a sentence. It begins with a condition, and that condition decided Israel's history:
Then come the details of the prosperity that would follow. But it was all conditional. It is, "If you walk … then I will give." All depended upon their obedience and that "If" proved fatal. The blessings promised were of an earthly and material sort. We can sum them up as fruitfulness, peace, victory, and the known presence of God among them… There is no mention of heaven or of the life to come. What a contrast with the Christian's portion — blessed "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3), and that without any "if" at all.
Kelly draws the same line. These blessings, he says, are "for Israel obedient to their God, Jehovah, and earthly, however rich; they are not those characteristic of the Christian, whatever special pleaders argue."
Full barns were not the point in themselves. Israel was to be a display of what life looks like under God's direct rule:
Two things must be obvious to every serious reader of the Old Testament. First, God designed the nation of Israel to stand as a witness against idol worship. It was a witness that God is one, and that Jehovah is the one true God. Second, God designed Israel to be a sample of the happiness — the prosperity — of a people living under the direct government of Jehovah.
Under Solomon, Israel saw something of this:
"Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea… And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 4:20-25). This fulfilled the word of Jehovah in Leviticus 26:5… The foolish people threw away all that they enjoyed in the golden days of Solomon, so that they might enjoy "the fleeting pleasures of sin."
But the promise still has a future:
These promised blessings were plenty of rain, great fruitfulness of their land, and peace in the land. They also included rescue from wild animals and the sword, and victory over their enemies. They would grow in number, and He would establish His covenant with them. More than that: "I will walk among you, and will be your God and you shall be My people." What blessings Jehovah held out to them! They never had them in full. Some day Israel and Israel's land will enter into these blessings.
- Condition. The promise hangs on an "if" — "If you walk … then I will give" — and that "if" proved fatal to Israel's enjoyment of it.
- Overlap. If they obeyed, no season would be lean. Threshing would run into the grape harvest, and the grape harvest into sowing time.
- Fullness. Bread "to the full" meant food they never had to sell to meet other needs, and homes where nothing could alarm them.
- Display. The prosperity had a purpose beyond comfort. Israel was to be a sample of how happy a people are under God's own rule.
- Ahead. Solomon's reign gave a glimpse. Israel never had the blessings in full, and one writer looks for them in a day still to come.
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will put away the evil beasts out of the land; and the sword shall not go through your land.
This promise is one line in a long list of "then I will" statements. They all hang on a single "if" at the start of the chapter. And this line moves past food and harvest to something harder to secure: a night's sleep with nothing to fear.
God offered every blessing in this section, peace included, on terms. One writer notes the small word the whole passage hangs on, then contrasts it with what believers have now.
Then follow the details of the prosperity that would follow. But it was all strictly provisional. It is, "If you walk … then I will give." Everything depended on their obedience, and that "if" proved fatal. The blessings promised were earthly and material. They come down to fruitfulness, peace, victory and the presence of God enjoyed among them. The Lord had broken the bands of the yoke that Egypt put on them. So they walked upright instead of being bent under heavy burdens. His presence would be their continual salvation. There is no mention of heaven or of the life to come. The Christian's portion is a great contrast. Believers are blessed "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3), and with no "if" attached at all.
The verse names what God would take away: fear, wild animals, and the invading sword. Another writer places this peace after full bread and a safe home, then adds what more it covers.
Bread to the full would be theirs, instead of selling it to meet their other needs, and safety within their homes. More than that, neither wild animals nor a hostile sword should alarm them. "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid."
What makes the offer striking is where Israel would enjoy it. This is not a promise of a new creation, but of untroubled life in the middle of the old one.
He assured them of peace and plenty and security. No wild animal would remain in the land, and the sword would not pass through it. Power in victory would be theirs, and they would multiply in their inheritance. Further, God's dwelling place would be among them. He would walk among them, and be their God, and they would be His people. As long ago in the garden God had delight in men, so He would take delight in His redeemed people. And as then, God kept back nothing the creature needed for his happiness. So it would be for the Israelites too. That held even though they lived on an earth where sin is, with nations around them that felt every bitter consequence of the fall.
The promise had a purpose beyond Israel's comfort. Their life as a nation was meant to show the watching nations what God's rule produces.
Two things must be obvious to every serious reader of the Old Testament. First, God designed the nation of Israel to stand as a testimony against idolatry. It was a testimony to the unity of God, and to the truth that the Lord is the one true God. Second, God designed Israel to be a sample of the happiness — the prosperity — of a people living under His direct government.
Israel did taste this, briefly. One writer points to Solomon's reign as the moment the words came true on the ground.
The prosperity and tranquillity of the people was as remarkable as the glory and power of the king. "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy … [they] lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 4:20-25). So this fulfilled what the Lord said in Leviticus 26:5: "Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid."
Israel's hold on the land in this chapter always came with terms. But one writer sets that arrangement apart from the earlier promise God made to Abraham.
The promises were given to the patriarchs absolutely, without condition. But the Israelites have never held the land of Canaan unconditionally… So the Israelites never had more than a conditional hold on the land. And a conditional gift is plainly no fulfilment of an unconditional promise.
- Condition. The peace of this verse sits behind an "if" — obedience first, then the promise. That "if" proved fatal.
- Gift. Peace is something God says He will give, alongside rain, harvest and safety. He gives it; Israel does not bargain for it.
- Scope. God cancels three fears at once: the fear that keeps you awake, wild animals, and the invading sword.
- Witness. A settled, unafraid Israel was God's sample to the nations of life under His direct rule.
- Guarantee. Israel lost the land it held on terms. The promise God made to Abraham carried no terms, and it stands. What obedience could not secure, that promise still holds.
And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword;
Leviticus 26 sets two futures before Israel: blessing if they walk in God's statutes, and ruin if they refuse. Verse 7 belongs to the first list, and the whole weight of it rests on the word "if" that opens the chapter.
The verse cannot be read alone. It is one item in a list, and the list has a matching opposite.
Leviticus 26, which we have now reached, is deeply solemn. Verses 1–13 give a glowing picture of the earthly blessing and prosperity that would follow their obedience. Verses 14–39 give a terrible forecast of the evils that would follow if disobedience marked them.
Military success here is not credited to Israel's skill or numbers. Other nations could trust their weapons; Israel had only one resource, and it could not be borrowed while they lived in sin.
The presence of God should always have been their shield and protection. No weapon formed against them could succeed. But only an obedient people could enjoy that presence. The Lord could not use His presence to approve disobedience or wickedness. The nations around them, outside God's covenant, might rely on their bravery and their military resources. Israel had only the arm of the Lord, and that arm could never reach out to shield unholiness or disobedience. Their strength was to walk with God in a spirit of dependence and obedience. As long as they walked like that, there was a wall of fire around them, to protect them from every enemy and every evil.
The next verse pushes the numbers further: five chasing a hundred. Later history proved it was no exaggeration.
Everything would be at peace, with no fear of animals or enemies (v. 6). If enemies did come, Israel would defeat them easily. Five men would defeat a hundred, and a hundred men would put ten thousand to flight (vv. 7–8). Something like this did happen in the book of Judges. God used only three hundred men led by Gideon to completely rout the huge army of the Midianites (Judges 7:19-22).
Owning a promise and enjoying it are not the same thing. When the Philistines crushed Israel, this promise sat unused. No one asked God what had gone wrong.
Israel's defeat appears to have been sudden — a collapse before their enemies almost without striking a blow… After the first four thousand fell, the elders did not turn to the Lord as the warrior Joshua had done. If they had cried out to God to learn the cause, they might have been spared the second and worse defeat… "You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight" was the promise given to them at the very start of their history as a nation.
The same chapter that promises pursuit also promises panic. Verse 7 and verse 36 show what disobedience cost.
Instead of the courage He once gave them against all odds, they would fall into utter terror. "I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall chase them. They shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues" (v. 36).
Commentators are careful here. The blessings of this chapter are land, harvest, safety and battlefield success — the portion of an earthly people.
These blessings come with a condition. They are for Israel when obedient to their God, the Lord. They are earthly, however rich they may be. They are not the blessings that mark out the Christian, whatever one-sided arguments some may make.
Yet the principle behind the promise carries over into another conflict.
In the warfare appointed to them there was no need to fear the enemies… God's promise had three parts: the Lord goes with you, He fights for you, He saves you. This presupposes their obedience. If they were obedient, they had nothing to fear. Victory was on their side. And we too need fear nothing in our warfare with the wicked spirits (Eph. 6). The Lord is on our side, and if we resist the devil he will flee from us.
- Condition — verse 7 sits among the blessings of obedience in verses 1–13. Verses 14–39 spell out the opposite. The promise is a test, not a guarantee.
- Presence — Israel's advantage was never its army. It was God's presence, and that presence could not shield disobedience. Walking with Him was their whole strength.
- Power — with obedience, the numbers stopped mattering. Five would chase a hundred, as Gideon's three hundred later routed the Midianites.
- Forfeit — the Philistines beat Israel while this promise sat unused. No one cried out to God to learn the cause. Later in the chapter the picture flips: they flee when no one is chasing them.
- Reach — the blessings themselves are earthly and belong to Israel. Still, the same principle holds in the believer's fight with evil spirits. The Lord fights for the obedient, and the devil flees when we resist him.
and five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; and your enemies shall fall beside you by the sword.
God offers everything in this part of the chapter on terms. One writer shows what that small word cost Israel, and what Christians have instead:
Then follow the details of the prosperity that would follow. But it was all strictly provisional. It is, "If you walk … then I will give." Everything depended on their obedience, and that "if" proved fatal. The blessings promised were earthly and material. They add up to fruitfulness, peace, victory and the presence of God truly known among them… There is no mention of heaven or of the life to come. What a contrast with the Christian's portion — blessed "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3), and with no "if" attached.
The figures are not random. Five stands for what is small and weak, and that is the point of the promise:
Five appears to stand for what is relatively small; the number marks weakness. In Lev. 26:8 we read, "Five of you shall chase a hundred." Israel's very smallness, if they stayed faithful, would easily rout their enemies in power. In Isaiah 30:17, on the other hand, it is said of them in the time of their judgment, "At the threat of five you shall flee."
The promise was not left as theory. One writer points to a battle where the same arithmetic appeared:
All would be at peace, with no fear of beasts or enemies (v. 6), and if enemies did come, Israel would easily defeat them. Five men would defeat 100, and one hundred men would put 10,000 to flight (vv. 7-8). Something like this did happen in the book of Judges. God used only 300 men led by Gideon to completely rout the huge army of the Midianites (Judges 7:19-22).
Later Scripture reverses the picture as a warning. The numbers only run Israel's way while God fights for them:
Also, let them reason soberly. How could one enemy chase a thousand Israelites, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them and the Lord had given them up? (v.31)… In fact, God promised Israel that while they obeyed the Lord, "One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you" (Josh. 23:10). This is a simple matter for God. We see it in David, who depended on Him in faith and defeated the giant Goliath and all the armies of the Philistines (1 Sam. 17:45-52). But when Israel disobeys, God withdraws, and the opposite results soon follow.
Israel was later struck down before its enemies. One writer traces the failure not to the battlefield but to a refusal to face the cause:
But note this: all these promises were conditional. They depended on Israel carrying out its responsibilities faithfully. The first condition was, "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them."… But Israel had sadly failed in all this. So they were stripped of their strength and struck down before their enemies. The only remedy left was to confess their backsliding and return to God with all their heart. But no. That would have required "great searchings of heart." It was humbling, and it would have taken too much time, they probably reasoned.
The same principle holds wherever God fights. A count of heads decides nothing:
When it is a matter of the Lord's battles we do not see men of God gathering their whole army together. It is rather the opposite. Gideon with three hundred men, Jonathan with a single companion, and many other captains won the most striking victories. God fought with them, and what are few or many soldiers to Him?… Numbers count for nothing in His victories.
- Condition — The victory is real, but conditional. "If you walk… then I will give" governs the whole passage, and that "if" is what broke Israel.
- Weakness — Five is the Bible's number for what is small. God promises the win to the few, so the strength on show is His.
- Fulfilment — It happened. Gideon and three hundred men scattered the whole Midianite army.
- Reversal — Disobedience runs the same equation backwards. One enemy then chases a thousand of them, and only because their Rock had handed them over.
- Remedy — When defeat came, the cure was not better tactics. It was searching of heart and a return to God — the very thing Israel judged too humbling and too slow.
And I will turn my face towards you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
Leviticus 26:9 sits in a list of promises God makes to Israel if they keep His commandments — rain, harvest, peace, victory, and now His face turned toward them. Two questions follow: did Israel ever see this, and what happens to a promise when its condition fails?
The chapter sets two futures side by side, and verse 9 belongs to the bright one:
Leviticus 26, which we have now reached, has a very solemn character. Verses 1-13 give a glowing picture of the earthly blessing and prosperity that would follow their obedience. Verses 14-39 give a terrible forecast of the evils that would follow if they disobeyed.
The favour promised here is not one good year. Read with the next verse, the picture is of harvests arriving faster than they can be eaten:
God would look on them favourably, making them fruitful and multiplying the nation. After eating the old harvest they would clear out the rest to make room for the new. So the blessing would be continual (vv. 9-10).
Israel never asked for any of this. The offer came from God's side, and it shows what He wanted for them:
Here God offers to bless them though they never asked, and to bless them according to the desire of His heart. So we learn what He could do, and would do, if they proved obedient. For an earthly people's happiness, before the kingdom would be set up in power, nothing seems to be lacking... Power in victory should be theirs, and they should multiply in their inheritance.
The whole list, this verse included, hangs on one small word at the head of the chapter:
Then follow the details of the prosperity that would follow. But all of it was entirely provisional. It is, "If you walk... then I will give." Everything depended on their obedience, and that "If" proved fatal. The blessings promised were earthly and material... There is no mention of heaven or of the life to come. What a contrast with the Christian's portion! The Christian is blessed "with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). And there is no "if" in it at all.
God promises to confirm His covenant. But the terms here are not the terms on which the land was first promised to Israel's ancestors:
The promises were given to the patriarchs absolutely, without any condition. But the Israelites have never had an unconditional possession of the land of Canaan. The terms on which they entered were these: "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season." The other promised blessings came on the same terms. "For I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you" (Lev. 26:3-9)... So the Israelites never had more than a conditional hold on the land. A conditional gift is no fulfilment of an unconditional promise.
Did Israel ever taste the fruitfulness of this verse?
But all of this was conditional. Did they ever enjoy it? Did they ever experience the fulness of it — the barns so filled with the new harvest that they brought out the old store and ate it?... Alas, no... The Lord foresaw it all. He warned them of what He must do in righteousness, if they would not obey and so let Him bless them in grace.
Israel's failure did not cancel the promise. It only moved the day of its fulfilment:
They would multiply, and He would establish His covenant with them. More than that: "I will walk among you, and will be your God and you shall be My people." What blessings Jehovah held out to them! They never had them in fulness. Some day Israel and Israel's land will enter into these blessings.
Writing on similar promises elsewhere, Grant says why the outcome will differ next time:
This would have been marvellous indeed, though we know it did not take place. But in the millennium it will be so, because God's covenant with the fathers cannot fail. The grace of God will do what law never could.
- Face. God's favourable look comes first. Fruitfulness and increase follow His turning to them, not the reverse.
- Fruit. The increase would be continual: they would clear out the old harvest to make room for the new.
- Heart. No one asked for this. God offered it unprompted, according to the desire of His heart.
- If. The whole list rested on obedience. That "If" proved fatal, and a conditional gift is no fulfilment of an unconditional promise.
- Grace. The covenant with the fathers cannot fail. What law never secured, grace will yet do.