Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20080730.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Leviticus: Fellowship With A Holy God
Part III: Acceptable Living Before A Holy God, Leviticus 11:1-27:34
R. Learning To Heed God's Discipline From Israel's Five Levels Of Discipline, Leviticus 26:1-46
3. Learning To Heed God At The THIRD Level Of His Discipline
(Leviticus 26:1-13, 21-22)
  1. Introduction
    1. God is a gracious God, but He is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), a God to be revered and obeyed.
    2. Thus, after He has repeatedly disciplined us for sin, and we have still failed to heed Him, though He is gracious, He will intensify His discipline even MORE, SHARPLY warning us to REPENT (as follows):
  2. Learning To Heed God At The THIRD Level Of His Discipline, Leviticus 26:1-13, 21-22.
    1. We before learned that Leviticus 26 is written in a vassal treaty format with a section on blessings for obedience and an extended section on cursings for disobedience, Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 211-212.
    2. We thus learned that heeding the Law would bring rain and rich harvests (Lev. 26:3-5; Ibid., p. 212), peace and dominance over foes (Lev. 26:6-10; Ibid.) and the gift of God's presence (Lev. 26:11-13; Ibid.).
    3. Likewise, there would be extended divine discipline for disobedience (Lev. 26:14-39) where God would bring five increasingly painful levels of discipline for continued disobedience , J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, vol. I, p. 444-446. We view the THIRD level of discipline in Leviticus 26:21-22 as follows:
      1. God warned that if Israel kept failing to heed Him, as the third level of discipline, He would intensify His discipline sevenfold, bringing wild animals to kill their children and livestock, making them few in number, and their highways would become so dangerous they would be abandoned, Lev. 26:21-22.
      2. Samples of this discipline occurred according to Judges 5:6 in the days of judges Shamgar and Jael, in 2 Kings 2:23-25 in Elisha's day and in 2 Kings 17:24-27 in Samaria after the fall of Israel to Assyria.
      3. We view first the discipline that came in the period of the judges Shamgar and Jael of empty highways due to Israel's domination by foreign invaders for not heeding God, and how God rectified it:
        1. Judges 5:6 in Deborah's song testified that in the days of Shamgar and Jael, Israel used the side roads as the highways were controlled by the Canaanites, Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ju. 5:6.
        2. However, when Israel cried out to God in repentance for turning from Him to false gods (Judges 2:11-12, 14-18), He sent Shamgar to slay 600 Philistines with an ox goad (3:31), and the wife of Jael to kill Canaanite general, Sisera when he entered her tent to hide from Israel's forces, 4:17-21.
      4. We view second the discipline that came in the day of Elisha God punished young men who mocked God and His prophet's ministry, and that by furious female bears to maul them, 2 Kings 2:23-25:
        1. After Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:9-12), many young men (2:23, 24 NIV) evidently threatening Baal worshipers organized as a mob against God and Elisha (Ibid., Bib. Know., Com., O. T. , p. 542) taunted Elisha to ascend to heaven as Elisha claimed Elijah had done, mocking the reality of the event and of Elisha's call to replace Elijah as God's prophet, 2 Kings 2:23.
        2. To protect God's testimony and His calling of Elisha, Elisha cursed them, and God sent two female bears enraged as if robbed of their cubs to maul forty-two of these young men, 2 Kings 2:24-25.
        3. Elisha then went to Carmel where Elijah had defeated Baal worship in God's name to renew his commitment to that stand against Baal and for God in line with the work of the bears, 2 Kings 2:25.
      5. We view third the discipline that came on the people who settled Samaria after Israel fell to Assyria, discipline for a lack of respect for God, and how God used lions to correct this, 2 Kings 17:24-27:
        1. When Israel was defeated by Assyria, the Assyrians brought in many foreigners to intermarry with the remaining Jews, and the resulting mixed race lived with no respect for God, 2 Kings 17:24-25a.
        2. God thus sent lions to kill so many of them that Assyria's king sent back a Levitical priest from captivity to teach the people God's ways and end the killings by the lions, 2 Kings 17:25b-28.
Lesson: When Israel repeatedly sinned against God and His messengers, He caused them to fear the main highways, and to be killed by wild animals until they revered God and respected His messengers.

Application: If unusual trials occur, may we review our ways to see if we must repent of persistent sins, especially of repeat idolatry or of the disrespect for God or the calling and ministry of His messengers!