Leviticus 26:3-4, 14-17, 25, 30-31 – Why the LORD Departs.
Darkness, desperation, and disaster. God has been defeated and deported. That’s what it looks like anyway. If only someone had actually tried to answer the question asked in 1 Samuel 4:3: “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?” But no-one asked Samuel, the prophet of God bringing God’s Word to his people (3:19-4:1). The story opens (4:1) by telling us that he’s been bringing God’s Word to all Israel. Yet he is absent from this chapter. To have God’s Word and not consult it or listen to it, that is the route to disaster. If only Hophni and Phinehas had spent more time listening to the Law they were supposed to teach to Israel. But they were too busy feasting and frolicking.
The verses of today’s reading in Leviticus set out a simple deal for Israel. Serve God, and he will bless you. Don’t serve God, and he will curse, or punish, you. This is not salvation by works. Serving God in the Old Testament meant repenting of your sins and trusting in God’s provided sacrifice. Same as the New Testament. This is the deal between God and his people. It’s called a covenant. It’s like a contract, but less business-like and more loving. And Israel has broken their side of the agreement. If they do not live as the faith-filled people of God, God would not be their God. And so now, God departs from them. This is not just defeat in 1 Samuel 4. This is covenant-breaking defeat – punishment for unfaithfulness to their God. It is illustrated powerfully by the way God is referred to in 1 Samuel 4. Every time the ark is referred to in v3-11 the word ‘covenant’ or the covenant name ‘LORD’ is attached to it. From its capture in v11 onwards it is simply the “ark of God”. The covenant is broken.
Here is the sin that breaks the covenant. Bringing the ark to the battle was not an act of faith. It was a superstitious ritual designed to force God into blessing. When our religion looks only to external rituals like our attendance at church, giving, and good deeds, then we are breaking God’s covenant. Faith and repentance come from the heart. Where there’s no real faith, God departs.
Questions
- Someone says to you that Leviticus 26 sounds like God blesses us because of our works. How do you respond to them?
Prayer Points
- Ask God that our religion would not be mere outward ritual and routine but heart reality.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.