131_Divine warnings Lev 26 1-13 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. Not long ago, a farmer in the Midwest shared his brush with disaster. It was a dry summer, and rain had been scarce. His irrigation system kept things growing, however. One morning, walking through his field, he spotted a tiny leak from a minute crack in the irrigation system. “I’ll fix it later,” he thought. Days passed, and the crack widened. By the time he returned to fix it, the pipe was ruptured and half the field was parched. He lost half of his crops. Regretfully he admitted, “I was warned. I just didn’t take it seriously.” Warnings—whether from a leaking pipe or the quiet voice of conscience—are meant not to condemn but to protect. God, in His goodness, warns us because he longs to preserve us, and not destroy us. In Leviticus 26, God speaks tenderly but firmly to Israel. This chapter is both a trumpet and a shield—it announces danger, so that the people can take shelter in Him. God had made a covenant with Abraham, a glorious, unilateral promise: to give him offspring, land, and a blessing that would bless the world. In Genesis 15, we see this covenant vividly enacted.