Leviticus 26 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered
A response and reply to the notes on Leviticus 26 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).
King James Version
SAB comment
My comment
1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.
3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
Look at them with delight and pleasure, and with a careful eye on them, watch over them to do them good, and protect them from all evil; or turn himself to them from all others, having a particular regard for them and special care of them:
10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 I 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.
14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
Here are the gory details:
(26:14-15) "If ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments...."
If you don't follow all of the laws in the Old Testament, God will shower you with all of the curses in the next 25 verses. (See Deuteronomy 28:15-68 for an even longer and nastier list.)
Also God does not make people to eat the flesh of their children, but God foretells them to what lows they will fall, left to themselves.
15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
(26:16) "I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it."
What the Bible says about children and cannibalism
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
(26:17) "I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies."
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
(26:18) "And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins."
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
(26:21) "I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins."
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
(26:22) "I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle."
23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
(26:24) "I ... will punish you yet (another) seven times for your sins." (That makes either 14 or 21 times, unless count your children getting eaten by enemies or wild animals, or having a burning ague that consumes your eyes and whatnot.)
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
(26:25) "I will bring a sword upon you ... I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy."
26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
(26:26) "And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied."
(Oh no! Not ten women to cook my bread! Not that!)
And that it was delivered by weight as:they should have so little to bake every week, that one oven would be sufficient for ten families, which in a time of plenty each made use of one for themselves; and so Aben Ezra says, it was a custom in Israel for every family to bake in an oven by themselves, which they ate the whole week. Ten is a certain number for an uncertain, and denotes many, as in Zech. 8:23. Making and baking bread was the work of women in the eastern countries
there being not enough for everyone to eat what they pleased, but were obliged to a rationed allowance, therefore everyone in the family should have their share delivered to him by weight;
27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
(26:27-28) "And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me ... then ... I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins."
(7 more times! That makes 28, I think.)
28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
(26:29) "And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat."
(If any are left after your enemies and animals have eaten them.)
What the Bible says about children and cannibalism
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
(26:30) "I will ... cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you."
31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
(26:31) "And I will make your cities waste ... and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours."
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
(26:32) "And I will bring the land into desolation."
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
(26:33) "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste."
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
(26:36) "And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth."
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
(26:37) "And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies."
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
(26:38) "And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up."
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
(26:39) "And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them."
40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
(26:41) "If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled..."
But if you humble your uncircumcised heart, God won't do all these nasty things to you. It's your choice.
42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.
46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
Where did Moses receive the ten commandments?
God tells the Israelites to "chase" their enemies and make them "fall before you by the sword." He figures five of the Israelites will be able to "chase" a hundred of their enemies, and a hundred will be able to "put ten thousand to flight."