Leviticus 26: Blessings for obeying God’s laws; Curses for disobeying God’s laws.

Leviticus 26 outlines the conditional covenant between God and Israel, promising profound Blessings and Curses (Lev 26:1-46) — The Fellowship based on their obedience or disobedience to His commandments. [1]

Core Foundation (Verses 1–2)

• Idolatry forbidden: God commands Israel not to make idols, carve images, or set up sacred stones.
• Sabbath observance: They must keep God’s Sabbaths and revere His sanctuary. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Blessings for Obedience (Verses 3–13)

• Abundant harvest: Seasonal rains will yield massive crops, allowing them to thresh grain until the grape harvest and eat safely until full.
• Peace and security: God will grant peace in the land so they can sleep without fear, and hostile armies will flee before them.
• Increase and fertility: The nation will be fruitful and multiply.
• Divine presence: The ultimate reward is God walking among them to be their God while they remain His people.

Curses for Disobedience (Verses 14–39)

• Sickness and distress: God will bring sudden terror, wasting diseases, and burning fevers that consume the eyes and sap life.
• Unfruitful land: Their hard work will be wasted because the soil will yield no crops and the skies will turn to iron.
• Escalating discipline: If disobedience continues, punishment intensifies in four compounding, sevenfold stages—from wild animals robbing them of children to military siege and starvation.
• Exile: The disobedient nation will be scattered among enemy nations and their cities left desolate.

Promise of Restoration (Verses 40–46)

• Repentance: If the exiled people humble themselves and confess their sins, God will remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• Unbroken commitment: Even during severe correction, God promises never to utterly reject or destroy them to the point of breaking His covenant.

Numbers 1-3. The census and arrangement of the camp. These are the chapters you “skim” through. The book of Numbers is called “Numbers” b/c of the two numberings (censuses) of the people: the first at Mt Sinai during the year they are there (Numbers 1; 603,550 fighting men above the age of 20), and the second on the plains of Moab 40 years later after the disobedient generation has all died off in the wilderness (Numbers 26: 601,730 fighting men). The Levites were placed in the middle nearest the tabernacle along with Moses and the priests. The duties of the 3 Levitical families for taking care of and moving of the tabernacle are given. This is the way Israel would camp each time they would stop during the 40 years in the book of Numbers. Just imagine the logistics of this. Over 600,000 fighting men over the age of 20 would mean 1 1/2 to 2 milliion total people. They gather their manna every day. They get water from the rock every day. But I wonder what their daily life was like.

Numbers will contain the story of those 40 years in the wilderness, although 38 of the 40 years is only. told about in 6 of the 36 chapters in Numbers (chapters 15-20). A sad statistic: about 1 1/2 to 2 million Israelites die in the 40 years wandering in the wilderness. That’s about 37,000 per year and 100 per day. That had to be the most depressing time for everyone. Imagine disposing of the bodies (I assume they had to be buried to prevent diseases like cholera but the Bible doesn’t record burying them). Imagine knowing that you, if you were 20 or older, are going to die in this horrible wilderness and nothing can change that. All that for later in your reading in Numbers.

Here’s a great slide showing the contents of the book of Numbers.

Here is the map that we will be using as we study Numbers. Bible.ca is a great source of information. The map correctly (IMO) places Mt Sinai to the east of the Gulf of Aqaba instead of at the traditional site west of that gulf. That means Mt Sinai was in modern day Saudi Arabia. The Israelites spend a whole year at Mt Sinai, so that’s where Numbers begins.