Leviticus 26
This chapter starts out by the Lord telling Moses all of the rewards that he will give them if he is obedient to the laws that he gave them. Then it goes on to list the punishment that they will receive if they do not follow these laws. And the punishments go on… and on. First some punishments are listed and then the Lord states that “If then you become defiant in you unwillingness to obey me, I will multiply my blows by another seven fold, as your sins deserve.” (Lev 26:21) The punishments go on and on like this. As I was reading this I began to think that this is cruel and unnecessary. Why is the Lord not content will giving them one or two punishments? If they don’t follow his laws why doesn’t he just give them a punishment and be done with them, just forget about them?
No, the Lord is not going to just give up on his people. This is to important for him to just give up. He tells Moses that the people will keep receiving punishments until they come back to him “humbled and they make amends for their guilt,” (Lev 26:41). The punishment will not stop until the people come back to the Lord. Only then can the Lord remember his covenant with his people.
The punishments are not because God is cruel and wants to see his people suffer, they are because he loves his people are wants them to come back to him. He love his people to much for him to just give up on them.
