Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Leviticus 26-27

26:19 heaven iron, earth brass?

Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass (H5154): 

Searching for heaven and iron...we get:

Deu_28:23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass (H5178), and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

Iron - H1270 - Perhaps from the root of H1269; iron (as cutting); by extension an iron implement.

Brass:

H5154 - Feminine of H5153; copper.

H5178 - For H5154; copper; hence, something made of that metal, that is, coin, a fetter; figuratively base (as compared with gold or silver).

Keil and Delitzsch Commentary:  "First stage of the aggravated judgments. - If they did not hearken אֵלֶּה עַד, “up to these” (the punishments named in Lev_26:16, Lev_26:17), that is to say, if they persisted in their disobedience even when the judgments reached to this height, God would add a sevenfold chastisement on account of their sins, would punish them seven times more severely, and break down their strong pride by fearful drought. Seven, as the number of perfection in the works of God, denotes the strengthening of the chastisement, even to the height of its full measure (cf. Pro_24:16). עֹז גְּאֹון, lit., the eminence or pride of strength, includes everything upon which a nation rests its might; then the pride and haughtiness which rely upon earthly might and its auxiliaries (Eze_30:6, Eze_30:18; Eze_33:28); here it signifies the pride of a nation, puffed up by the fruitfulness and rich produce of its land. God would make their heaven (the sky of their land) like iron and their earth like brass, i.e., as hard and dry as metal, so that not a drop of rain and dew would fall from heaven to moisten the earth, and not a plant could grow out of the earth (cf. Deu_28:23); and when the land was cultivated, the people would exhaust their strength for nought."

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