Day 37 Leviticus 26-27

In the Book of Leviticus, obedience always results in communion with the LORD, who promises that if the people are faithful he will walk with them and be their God (26:12). But disobedience always results in alienation and fear. Fear is the by-product of sin. When we find fear haunting the shadowy edges of our lives, it means that in some way we have drifted away from God and are in need of repentance and reconciliation.
In Chapter 26, verses 14ff we hear the Lord threaten to bring a series of curses upon his people if they do not observe his commandments. The first curse is fear. “I will bring terror on you,” he says (verse 16). The fears we experience as a result of our sin are often baseless—“You shall flee though no one pursues you” (27), but fear does not need to have a basis in reality in order for it to be life- destroying,
But the God who curses also offers blessings-- “If . . . their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquities, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob” (26:41-42). People--even the best of them—sometimes prove faithless, but God is always faithful to his covenant—that is the message here and everywhere in the Old Testament. .
Even though some—sometimes many—will be destroyed by their own sin, God is always ready and willing to save a remnant of his people to carry forward the memory of the promise made to Abraham. Even when they might end up as exiles in a strange land, the LORD promises that he “will not spurn” the remnant of his people, “or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break [his] covenant with them” (26:44). God is faithful, even when we are faithless—that is the good news of the Book of Leviticus.
The tabernacle was never intended to become a holding company for property, either real or personal. If persons or things were promised to God—“dedicated to the LORD”-- perhaps in a moment of crisis, Chapter 27 gives direction about how they could be redeemed for money. The currency to be used in these transactions was to be the sacred shekel (27:25), a special denomination which continued to be used for temple offerings even in the time of Jesus. This insured that nothing unclean should enter to the Tent of Meeting. And the money raised by redeeming things that had been promised to God could then be used for the maintenance of the holy place and the priests who served in it.
But things “devoted to destruction”—the booty of war, for instance--were not to be redeemed. They were to be destroyed utterly as promised and expected. The command in 27:28-29 is very clear. The holiness of God allowed for no exceptions to be made to his commands. His unconditional promise called for unconditional obedience.