Blessings and Curses of the Covenant
Exodus 24:7 And he took the book of the
covenant, and read in
the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said
will we do, and be obedient.
8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said,
Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you
concerning all these words.
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With any contract or
covenant there are requirements, benefits and penalties. But in
the case of this covenant between God and his people, there were
pronounced blessings and curses.
The requirements to
be met by the people as dictated by the contract are written throughout
the Books of Moses, but for our study here we are going to focus on
Leviticus 26:
Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make
you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image,
neither shall ye set 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;
Here we find the
blessings or benefits of the covenant found in verses 4-13
Leviticus 26:4 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 safely.
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.
8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall
put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by
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 set my tabernacle among 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
Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands
of your yoke, and made you go upright.
And here we have the curses or
penalties for breaking the covenant in verses 14-39:
Leviticus 26:14
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.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven
as iron, and your earth as brass:
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 also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your
children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your
high ways shall be desolate.
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.
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 send 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 shall eat, and not be satisfied.
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 also 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
cast your carcases upon the carcases 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 sweet 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 desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate,
and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and
enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest
in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into
their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken
leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and
they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when
none pursueth: 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 also in the iniquities of their fathers shall
they pine away with them.
These curses are very strongly
worded and have a prophetic warning in them; they are very precise in
their description of what would come to the nation should they break the
covenant. Over and over the curses mention
seven times in a very
deliberate way. What is this seven times?
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