February 25, 2025 -Sevens and Shabbats
- brooks16055
- Feb 25
- 3 min read
LEVITICUS 25:24-26:46
Leviticus 26:23 “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, 24 I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. 25 And I will bring the sword on you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.
We continue to see the number 7. God gives the warning that if the people do not turn from their sin when he corrects them things will get even worse.
Leviticus 26:27 “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, 28 then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.
And He says it more than once. He promises to give chance after chance to turn back to him
Leviticus 26:31 I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. 32 I myself will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 34 Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.
When He says "the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.". I take this to mean that their disobedience of Him commands included not allowing the land to have it's 7th year of rest. Just like we do not always to well to have our 7th day Sabbath. Here God says He will make it so they have to give the land a rest. He will remove their ability to work the land by removing them from the land. We know that these are all prophetic promises because we know that they do violate God's commands and that all this is what happens.
Leviticus 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
But God is always faithful and patient. He not only will give them opportunity after opportunity to turn back to Him before He allows their enemies to overcome them and take their land away from them, He will never forget His covenant. He will allow the land to rest while the people are in captivity but that time will also be used to turn the hearts of the people back to Him. He promises them that He will remember His covenant and restore them.
I just listened to chapter 6 & 7 of the podcast I shared yesterday. Which is by the way part 2 of a conversation about understanding the theme of a seventh day rest. Ch 6 & 7 are about the two Hebrew words Shabbat and Nuakh that are used in the 10 commandments and what it means for God to rest. It is giving me a much better understanding of what it means to remember the sabbath and keep it holy. I can't wait to listen to part 1 which I will share below.
Ch 6 & 7 also gives these verses about the sabbaths of the land more meaning.
Here is the link for part one which I am listening to now. Good stuff!!!
If you like listening to podcast to learn here is the link to The Bible Project podcast site.
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