Page 90 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

Sometimes the echo of God’s original Sabbath comes to us from different cultures. Sometimes these
cultures have practices which speak to us and have the power to rebuke us.

“In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Coolies had been
engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far.
The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle
tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On
inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they
had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch
up with their bodies…. This whirling rushing life which so many of us live does for us
what that first march did for those poor jungle tribesmen. The difference: they know
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that they needed to restore life’s balance; too often we do not.

The last two chapters of Leviticus are also tied to the concept of Sabbath. Chapter
26 is God’s promise to the people. “If you follow my decrees and are careful to
obey my commands,” says YHWH, all kinds of blessings will follow (26:3-13). “If you
will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,” God’s hostile actions will
follow (26:14-45). At the beginning is the command to observe God’s Sabbaths (v.
2). At the end is God’s judgment that includes the land deserted of people, enjoying
its Sabbaths (v. 43). God is serious about his people resting in him. Refusal to do so
is the first step toward idolatry and comes out of a heart that thinks little of him,
even if words of blasphemy are never spoken.

The chapter recounts a series of events that amount to warnings from God to his
people. Their disobedience would bring about a series of increasingly severe
judgments marked by the phrase like “if after all this” (v. 18, 21, 23, 27). The
Fig. 61: Man working language implies God’s chastening (v. 18, 23, 28) with the purpose of calling them
back to him. He wants them to rest in him and has no alternative plan.

At any time in the process, a remedy is available. Translations vary, but the remedy has three parts
(26:41). They must confess their sins. They must humble their uncircumcised hearts. They must be
“pleased” with their sin. The last part is the most difficult to understand. The lexicons and all
translations have something like: “pay for their sins.” Yet the verb is the same as in 26:43 where the land
is described as “enjoying” its Sabbaths. (“Pay” occurs in the same verse: “they will pay for their sins
because they rejected my laws”.) The verb also occurs in the context of sacrifices that are acceptable
(Lev. 1:4; 7:18; 19:7; 22:23, 25, 27). The noun is used in a similar sense (1:3; 19:5; 22:19, 21, 29; 22:20;
23:11). Perhaps we should see the three parts to the sin remedy as near synonyms. Confession of sin is
humbling one’s heart is accepting one’s sin. In this way the sinner recognizes his sin and God’s
assessment of it. He is unable to change his heart, a distinctly NT possibility as is explained in
Deuteronomy 30:6. All he can do is bow before the assessment of God by confessing that he had done
wrong. Payment or the attempt at payment leads to destruction. (26:40-43)

Chapter 26 is about God’s promise to the people. Chapter 27 is about an individual making a promise to
God. These vows are voluntary, offered out of thankfulness to God. The dedication of a person is
considered first, and values are set. A poor person could dedicate himself, even if he did not have the

99 Lettie Cowman, Springs in the Valley. Quoted by Gordon MacDonald, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion
(Nashville: Nelson, 1986), 26.

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