Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. Sermons
I. THE INCENTIVES WHICH GOD HELD OUT TO HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE. These were importantly spiritual, but prominently temporal. If they did but "walk in his statutes, and keep his commandments, and do them" (verse 3), they might reckon on (1) fertility in the field (verses 4, 5, 10); (2) sense of security from without and disturbance from within (safety and peace, verses 5, 6); (3) victory in war (verses 7, 8); (4) national growth (verse 9); (5) God's presence with them (verses 11, 12); (6) his pleasure in them (verse 11); and (7) his guarantee of their liberty and self-respect (verse 13). II. THE PROMISES WHICH HE HAS MADE TO US. These are partly temporal, but principally spiritual. They include: 1. Sufficiency of worldly substance. God does not now say, "Serve me, and you shall be strong, wealthy, long-lived," but he does say, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God,... and all these things" (food, clothing, etc.) "shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). "Godliness has promise of the life that now is" (1 Timothy 4:8). Those who are his children in Christ Jesus may reckon upon all needful support from his bountiful hand. 2. Consciousness of spiritual integrity. As God made his people to be delivered from the yoke and to "go upright" (verse 13), so he makes those who have returned to him, and who have escaped from the yoke of sin, to "walk in uprightness of heart." Instead of shrinking in fear, bowing down with a depressing sense of wrong-doing, we have a happy consciousness of integrity of soul. We say with the psalmist, "As for me," etc. (Psalm 41:12). 3. Sense of reconciliation with God. God promises peace and a sense of safety (verses 5, 6) to those who seek his favour in Christ Jesus. Being justified by faith in him, we have peace with God; and we know that, whatever may be our circumstances, we are secure behind the shield of his almighty love. 4. Victory in the battle of life. If it be not wholly true that "our life is but a battle and a march," yet it is true that there is so much of spiritual struggle in it, from its beginning to its close, that we all understand only too well what is meant by "the battle of life." There are many foes with which to wrestle (Ephesians 6:12), and we need the invigorating power which only the Spirit of the Strong One can impart. If we are his, he will help us in the strife. "Our enemies will fall before us" (verse 7; see 2 Corinthians 2:14 and Romans 8:37). 5. His presence with us and his pleasure in us. "God will set his tabernacle among us;" he "will walk among us" (verses 11, 12). He will be "with us always," and his sustaining presence will uphold us in the darkest hour, in the most trying scene. "His soul will not abhor us" (verse 11); he will take Divine pleasure in us; we shall be his children, his guests, his friends, his heirs. 6. An everlasting heritage in him. He will be our God (verse 12). The sacred page does not speak of any duration; but that which is adumbrated in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality out into the light, and we know that "him that overcometh will the Son of man make a pillar in the temple of his God, and he shall go no more out," etc. (Revelation 3:12), and that "to him that overcometh will he grant to sit with him on his throne," etc. (Revelation 3:21). The present and the future, the best of the one and the whole of the other, are the heritage of those who "know the will of God and do it." Surely it is the choice of the wise to "make haste and delay not to keep his commandments." - C.
And five of you shall chase an hundred. During the Italian war a panic occurred in a whole reserve corps d'armee of the French forces, and the account is given us by the Hen. Mr. R —, the editor of a prominent American journal, who was there, partook of the fright, and ran himself with the fugitives. Five Austrians, whose retreat was cut off, rode rapidly into the village where the reserve forces were stationed, with the design of giving themselves up. The frightened inhabitants cried out, "The Austrians are coming!" and ran for their lives. The soldiers followed suit — horse, foot, and dragoons, pell-mell, without waiting to take care of the wounded, ran fifteen miles without stopping. One wounded French general offered a large reward to be carried to a place of safety. Mr. R — confesses to have run ten miles on foot before he stopped. A panic among the loyal troops in the first battle of Bull's Run in the American civil conflict, if not the cause of their defeat, greatly aggravated the disasters of the battle.(Lowrie.) People Egyptians, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, MosesPlaces Mount SinaiTopics Beside, Chase, Death, Enemies, Fall, Fallen, Flight, Hundred, Myriad, Pursue, Pursued, Sword, Swords, Ten, ThousandOutline 1. Of idolatry2. Reverence 3. A blessing to those who keep the commandments 14. A curse to those who break them 40. God promises to remember those who repent Dictionary of Bible Themes Leviticus 26:88728 enemies, of Israel and Judah Library Emancipated SlavesI 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.'--LEV. xxvi. 13. The history of Israel is a parable and a prophecy as well as a history. The great central word of the New Testament has been drawn from it, viz. 'redemption,' i.e. a buying out of bondage. The Hebrew slaves in Egypt were 'delivered.' The deliverance made them a nation. God acquired them for Himself, and … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Lii. Trust in God. A Reformer's Schooling a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet Repentance The Second Commandment Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. Solomon's Temple Spiritualized Appendix ix. List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in Ancient Rabbinic Writings The Mercy of God Leviticus Links Leviticus 26:8 NIVLeviticus 26:8 NLT Leviticus 26:8 ESV Leviticus 26:8 NASB Leviticus 26:8 KJV Leviticus 26:8 Bible Apps Leviticus 26:8 Parallel Leviticus 26:8 Biblia Paralela Leviticus 26:8 Chinese Bible Leviticus 26:8 French Bible Leviticus 26:8 German Bible Leviticus 26:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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