Lev 26:27-33 | KD | STEP | Fourth and severest stage. - If they should still persist in their opposition, God would chastise them with wrathful meeting, yea, punish them so severely in His wrath, that they would be compelled to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, i.e., to slay their own children and eat them in the extremity of their hunger, - a fact which literally occurred in Samaria in the period of the Syrians (2Ki 6:28-29), and in Jerusalem in that of the Chaldeans ( ; ), and in the Roman war of extermination under Titus ( Josephus bell. jud. v. 10, 3) in the most appalling manner. Eating the flesh of their own children is mentioned first, as indicating the extremity of the misery and wretchedness in which the people would perish; and after this, the judgment, by which the nation would be brought to this extremity, is more minutely described in its four principal features: viz., (1) the destruction of all idolatrous abominations ( ); ( ) the overthrow of the towns and sanctuaries ( ); ( ) the devastation of the land, to the amazement of the enemies who dwelt therein ( ); and (4) the dispersion of the people among the heathen ( ). The “high places” are altars erected upon heights and mountains in the land, upon which sacrifices were offered both to Jehovah in an unlawful way and also to heathen deities. חמּנים, sun-pillars, are idols of the Canaanitish nature-worship, either simple pillars dedicated to Baal, or idolatrous statues of the sun-god (cf. Movers Phönizier i. pp. 343ff.). “ And I give your carcases upon the carcases of your idols .” גּלּלים, lit., clods, from גּלל to roll, a contemptuous expression for idols. With the idols the idolaters also were to perish, and defile with their corpses the images, which had also become corpses as it were, through their overthrow and destruction. For the further execution of this threat, see Eze 6:4. This will be your lot, for “My soul rejects you.” By virtue of the inward character of His holy nature, Jehovah must abhor and reject the sinner.

‏ Leviticus 26:27-33

Lev 26:27-30 Fourth and severest stage. - If they should still persist in their opposition, God would chastise them with wrathful meeting, yea, punish them so severely in His wrath, that they would be compelled to eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, i.e., to slay their own children and eat them in the extremity of their hunger, - a fact which literally occurred in Samaria in the period of the Syrians (2Ki 6:28-29), and in Jerusalem in that of the Chaldeans (Lam 2:20; Lam 4:10), and in the Roman war of extermination under Titus (Josephus bell. jud. v. 10, 3) in the most appalling manner. Eating the flesh of their own children is mentioned first, as indicating the extremity of the misery and wretchedness in which the people would perish; and after this, the judgment, by which the nation would be brought to this extremity, is more minutely described in its four principal features: viz., (1) the destruction of all idolatrous abominations (Lev 26:30); (2) the overthrow of the towns and sanctuaries (Lev 26:31); (3) the devastation of the land, to the amazement of the enemies who dwelt therein (Lev 26:32); and (4) the dispersion of the people among the heathen (Lev 26:33). The “high places” are altars erected upon heights and mountains in the land, upon which sacrifices were offered both to Jehovah in an unlawful way and also to heathen deities. חמּנים, sun-pillars, are idols of the Canaanitish nature-worship, either simple pillars dedicated to Baal, or idolatrous statues of the sun-god (cf. Movers Phönizier i. pp. 343ff.). “And I give your carcases upon the carcases of your idols.” גּלּלים, lit., clods, from גּלל to roll, a contemptuous expression for idols. With the idols the idolaters also were to perish, and defile with their corpses the images, which had also become corpses as it were, through their overthrow and destruction. For the further execution of this threat, see Eze 6:4. This will be your lot, for “My soul rejects you.” By virtue of the inward character of His holy nature, Jehovah must abhor and reject the sinner. Lev 26:31

Their towns and their sanctuaries He would destroy, because He took no pleasure in their sacrificial worship. מקדּשׁים are the holy things of the worship of Jehovah, the tabernacle and temple, with their altars and the rest of their holy furniture, as in Ps. 68:36; Psa 74:7. ניחח ריח (Lev 1:9) is the odour of the sacrifice; and ריח, to smell, an anthropomorphic designation of divine satisfaction (cf. Amo 5:21; Isa 11:3). Lev 26:32-33

The land was to become a wilderness, so that even the enemies who dwelt therein would be terrified in consequence (cf. Jer 18:16; Jer 19:8); and the Israelites would be scattered among the heathen, because Jehovah would draw out His sword behind them, i.e., drive them away with a drawn sword, and scatter them to all the winds of heaven (cf. Eze 5:2, Eze 5:12; Eze 12:14).