shall be with thee, [and] shall serve thee unto the year of ju41 bilee: And (then) shall he depart from thee, [both] he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, 42 and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For they [are] my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, members of my church, as well as yourselves, and therefore not to be treated like slaves: they shall not be 43 sold as bondmen; (Heb. with the sale of a bondman.) Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.

44

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have [shall be] of the heathen that are round about you; of 45 them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that [are] with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your pos46 session. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit [them for] a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

47 And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger [or] sojourner by thee, or to the stock of 48 the stranger's family: After that he is sold he may be re49 deemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or [any) that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him, or if 50 he be able, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him: allowance shall be made for the time wherein he has served, proportionably to that which is given to an hired servant for so long service, 51 If [there be] yet many years [behind,] according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the 52 money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, [and] according unto his years shall he give him again the 53 price of his redemption. (And) as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: [and the other] shall not rule with 54 rigour over him in thy sight. And if he be not redeemed in these [years,) then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, 55 [both] he, and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel [are] servants; they [are] my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

F

REFLECTION.

ROM this part of the chapter we may learn tenderness and humanity to our servants; not requiring more work than their health and strength will bear; not making their lives a burden; but so ordering our affairs and commands, that their work may be pleasant, and cheerfully performed. We should provide for them the things that are convenient; give them sufficient wages, food, rest, liberty; and, above all, taking care of their best interests, remembering they are our brethren, and have souls to be saved. We should therefore give them time to serve God, and worship him; furnish them with good books, and exhort them to mind the one thing needful; ever remembering there is a Master in heaven, to whoin both they and we are accountable.

CHAP. XXVI.

This chapter principally consists of promises to Israel, if obedient, and threatenings, if disobedient; except the two first verses, which are a repetition of some important precepts that were delivered before.

Ye shall

E shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear a standing image, or pillar, neither shall ye set up [any] image of stone, or figured stone, in your land, to bow down unto it: for I [am] the LORD your God; as if he 2 had said, be sure to remember this. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I (am) the LORD.*

3

If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, 4 and do them: Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field 5 shall yield their fruit. 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; you shall have such a plentiful harvest, that before you can have threshed out your corn the vintage shall come; and such a rich vintage, that before that be ended it shall be time to 6 sow your seed. 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; ye shall have no sedition, no robbers, no wild beasts. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before 3 you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred,

This is the great principle and support both of natural and revealed religion.

and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword, they may invade you, but shall be disappointed; and a very few shall chase 9 and put to flight great multitudes. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish 10 my covenant with you. And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new ; ye shall have many inhabitants, and enough for them all; and shall bring out the old corn for want of room to put in the new, and give the old to the poor Il and needy. And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you; I will cause my grace and favour, 12 my word and worship, to abide continually among you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, to protect, conduct, instruct, and comfort you, and ye shall be my peculiar people, 13 whom I will delight to bless and honour. 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; have brought you into a state of liberty and security, am able to fulfil all my promises, and therefore have a right to expect your trust and obedience.

14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these 15 commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if

your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my 16 commandments, [but] that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, perpetual hurry and horror of spirit, the worst disease imaginable, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart, make you look thin and ghastly: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it, they shall break in upon you, and carry off your provisions; while you have neither strength to resist them, nor to

17 labour for more. 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, that is, many times more for your sins. 19 And I will break the pride of your power, your exceeding great strength, in which you pride yourselves; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; destroy both 20 your force and the fruitfulness of your ground: 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 21 fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon 22 you according to your sins. 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, there shall be no people to walk in them, 23 or it shall be dangerous to go there. And if ye will not be re

formed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto 24 me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will pun25 ish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of [my] cove. nant, my quarrel against you for breaking my covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities, or strong holds, which ye thought impregnable, I will send the pestilence among you: and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the 26 enemy. [And) when I have broken the staff of your bread, deprived you of that which is the support of life, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, an oven which used to be filled for one family shall serve ten, and they shall deliver [you] your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not 27 be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, 28 but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto

you also in fury; I will act like a man that meets an enemy in fury and in battle and I, even I, will chastise you seven 29 times for your sins. 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 carcasses upon the carcasses of your 31 idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries, your synagogues, or the tabernacle, the temple, and the several buildings about them, unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet

32 odours, will not accept your services, And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it, at the calamities that befall you; so grievous, 80 various, and so uncommon shall they be.

33

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you and your land shall be desolate, and 34 your cities waste. 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, those sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you, through 35 covetousness, oftentimes would not give it. 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

• This was fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and by the Romans. This is the most terrible threatening of all the rest; for when God abhors a people, the way is open to all evil.

↑ Which was seventy years during their captivity, and was a just punishment for their neglect of the sabbath and the sabbatical year.

flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none 37 pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no 38 power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat 39 you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands, through grief, hunger, and oppression; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them, if they walk in their fathers' steps.

40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, 41 and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And [that] I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies, and that all those things shall have come upon them by my just judgment, and not by chance; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, to justify God and condemn themselves, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, patiently and humbly submit to their

42 correction: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham, the most ancient of all, will I remember; and I 43 will remember the land, which seemed to be forgotten. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity : because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred

44 my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my cove45 nant with them for I (am) the Lord their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I [am] the LORD.t

46

These [are] the statutes, and judgments, and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

• This was the case with the ten tribes.

+ From these last verses we may observe, that such a reformation as there is at precent among the Jews from idolatry, would have restored them to favour, according to the Mosaic covenant: but they are still under national guilt, as having crucified Christ. Yet from this they shall at length be delivered; and the Jews themselves, we are told by some of their rabbies, expect it, and ground their expectation upon this promise, as christians also do. See Rom. xi.

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