Левит 26:1

Lev 26:1 and Lev 26:2 form the introduction; and the essence of the whole law, the observance of which will bring a rich blessing, and the transgression of it severe judgments, is summed up in two leading commandments, and placed at the head of the blessing and curse which were to be proclaimed. Ye shall not make to you elilim, nugatory gods, and set up carved images and standing images for worship, but worship Jehovah your God with the observance of His Sabbaths, and fear before His sanctuary. The prohibition of elilim, according to Lev 19:4, calls to mind the fundamental law of the decalogue (Exo 20:3-4, cf. Lev 21:23; Exo 23:24-25). To pesel (cf. Exo 20:4) and mazzebah (cf. Exo 23:24), which were not to be set up, there is added the command not to put משׂכּית אבן, "figure-stones," in the land, to worship over (by) them. The "figure-stone" is a stone formed into a figure, and idol of stone, not merely a stone with an inscription or with hieroglyphical figures; it is synonymous with משׂכּית in Num 33:52, and consequently we are to understand by pesel the wooden idol as in Isa 44:15, etc. The construction of השׁתּחוה with על may be explained on the ground that the worshipper of a stone image placed upon the ground rises above it (for על in this sense, see Gen 18:2). - In Lev 26:3 the true way to serve God is urged upon the Israelites once more, in words copied verbally from Lev 19:30.

Here is, I. The inculcating of those precepts of the law which were of the greatest consequence, and by which were of the greatest consequence, and by which especially their obedience would be tried, Lev 26:1, Lev 26:2. They are the abstract of the second and fourth commandments, which, as they are by much the largest in the decalogue, so they are most frequently insisted on in other parts of the law. As, when a master has given many things in charge to his servant, he concludes with the repetition of those things which were of the greatest importance, and which the servant was most in danger of neglecting, bidding him, whatever he did, be sure to remember those, so here God by Moses, after many precepts, closes all with a special charge to observe these two great commandments. 1. "Be sure you never worship images, nor ever make any sort of images or pictures for a religious use," Lev 26:1. No sin was more provoking to God than this, and yet there was none that they were more addicted to, and which afterwards proved of more pernicious consequence to them. Next to God's being, unity, and universal influence, it is necessary that we know and believe that he is an infinite Spirit; and therefore to represent him by an image in the making of it, to confine him to an image in the consecrating of it, and to worship him by an image in bowing down to it, changes his truth into a lie and his glory into shame, as much as any thing. 2. "Be sure you keep up a great veneration for sabbaths and religious assemblies," Lev 26:2. As nothing tends more to corrupt religion than the use of images in devotion, so nothing contributes more to the support of it than keeping the sabbaths and reverencing the sanctuary. These make up very much of the instrumental part of religion, by which the ess…

26:1 Israel was to make no idols or carved images to worship (see Exod 20:4-6). Creating an image to worship would blaspheme God by confining him to time and space and by manufacturing a lifeless image to take the place of the living God. • Early in Israel’s history, stones were set on end as memorials to various events (Gen 28:18; Exod 24:4). However, pillars and sculptured stones were associated with pagan worship (2 Kgs 3:2; 10:26, 27), especially when the carved image of a god rested on them. Some sculpture was clearly allowed (e.g., 1 Kgs 7:25); the focus here is on objects that might be worshiped and thereby become idolatrous.