Leviticus 26:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Leviticus 26:5
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.
threshing-time · noun, common masculine singular absolute
reach
וְהִשִּׂ֨יגve.hi.Sig
H5381
to reach (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
vintage
בָּצִ֔ירba.Tzir
H1210
clipped · noun, common masculine singular absolute
vintage
וּבָצִ֖ירu.va.Tzir
H1210
clipped · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
reach
יַשִּׂ֣יגya.Sig
H5381
to reach (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
time
זָ֑רַעZa.ra'
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular absolute
eat
וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֤םva.'a.khal.Tem
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
bread
לַחְמְכֶם֙lach.me.Khem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
full
לָשֹׂ֔בַעla.Soa'
H7648
satisfaction (of food or (figuratively) joy) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
dwell
וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥םvi.shav.Tem
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
land
בְּאַרְצְכֶֽםbe.'ar.tze.Khem
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
safely
לָבֶ֖טַחla.Ve.tach
H983
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Amos 9:13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the m…
Joel 2:26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people s…
Leviticus 25:18-19 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
Joel 2:19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and…
Deuteronomy 11:15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
Psalms 91:1-14 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Ezekiel 34:25-28 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the w…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 26:1-13
Here is, I. The inculcating of those precepts of the law which were of the greatest consequence, and by which were of the greatest consequence, and by which especially their obedience would be tried, Lev 26:1, Lev 26:2. They are the abstract of the second and fourth commandments, which, as they are by much the largest in the decalogue, so they are most frequently insisted on in other parts of the law. As, when a master has given many things in charge to his servant, he concludes with the repetition of those things which were of the greatest importance, and which the servant was most in danger of neglecting, bidding him, whatever he did, be sure to remember those, so here God by Moses, after…
your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, &c.--The barley harvest in Judea was about the middle of April; the wheat harvest about six weeks after, or in the beginning of June. After the harvest came the vintage, and fruit gathering towards the latter end of July. Moses led the Hebrews to believe that, provided they were faithful to God, there would be no idle time between the harvest and vintage, so great would be the increase. (See Amo 9:13). This promise would be very animating to a people who had come from a country where, for three months, they were pent up without being able to walk abroad because the fields were under water.
Adam Clarke on Leviticus 26:5
Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage - According to Pliny, Hist. Nat., l. xviii., c. 18, the Egyptians reaped their barley six months, and their oats seven months, after seed time; for they sowed all their grain about the end of summer, when the overflowings of the Nile had ceased. It was nearly the same in Judaea: they sowed their corn and barley towards the end of autumn, and about the month of October; and they began their barley-harvest after the passover, about the middle of March; and in one month or six weeks after, about pentecost, they began that of their wheat. After their wheat-harvest their vintage commenced. Moses here leads the Hebrews to hope, if they continued faithful…
The wicked man is never secure but is always disturbed and wavering. He is tossed about by every wind of doctrine to deceitful error, by the craft of men. However, the just man who observes God's law dwells in security on his land, because he governs his body in fear of God and brings it into subjection. His understanding is firm when he says to God, "Strengthen me according to your words, O Lord." Strengthened, secure and well rooted, he dwells on the earth, founded in faith. His house is not built upon sand but is established on solid ground.
I do not consider this as a material blessing, as though the man who observes God's law will obtain that common bread in abundance. Why not? Do not wicked sinners also eat bread, not only in abundance but even in luxury? Therefore let us look rather to him who says, "I am the living bread that has come down from heaven." And "he who eats this bread shall live forever." As we notice that he who said this is the word with which our soul is fed, we realize of what bread it was said by God in blessing that: "You will have food to eat in abundance." Solomon proclaims something similar concerning the just man, when he says in the book of Proverbs, "When the just man eats, his hunger is appeased, but the souls of the wicked suffer want." If this is understood only according to the letter, it seems utterly false, for the souls of the wicked eat more greedily and strive for satiety, while the just sometimes even suffer hunger. Finally, Paul was a just man, and he said, "To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted";8 and again he says, "In hunger and thirst, in fastings often." How then does Solomon say that the just man eats and satisfies his soul? What we understood before concerning the rain we ought to consider at this point also with regard to the bread. That heavenly bread, that is, the Word of God who said, "I am the living bread," none but the just eat, to whom it is said, "Taste, and see how good the Lord is." With what kind of a conscience then do sinners who are defiled by many sins dare to eat?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alms — Not found in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New. The Mosaic legislation (Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7) tended to promote a spirit of charity, and to prevent the occurrence of destitution among…
Priest — The Heb. kohen, Gr. hierus, Lat. sacerdos, always denote one who offers sacrifices. At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office devolved…
Blessing · CONTINGENT UPON OBEDIENCE — CONTINGENT UPON OBEDIENCE
Bread · Plenty of, promised to the obedient — Plenty of, promised to the obedient
Contingencies · IN DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MAN — IN DIVINE GOVERNMENT OF MAN
Gifts From God · .Rain and fruitful sea — .Rain and fruitful sea
Gifts Of God, The · Temporal: Rain and fruitful seasons — Temporal: Rain and fruitful seasons
Harvest · And of wheat before harvest time — And of wheat before harvest time
Obedience · ENJOINED — ENJOINED
Reward · A MOTIVE TO FAITHFULNESS — A MOTIVE TO FAITHFULNESS
Threshing · Continued until the vintage in years of abundance — Continued until the vintage in years of abundance
Vineyards · The vintage or ingathering of: Sometimes continued to the time of sowing seed — The vintage or ingathering of: Sometimes continued to the time of sowing seed
John Gill on Leviticus 26:5
And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time,.... Signifying that there should be such plentiful harvests of barley and wheat, the first of which began in March, as would employ them in threshing them out unto the time of vintage, which may be supposed to, be in the month of July; for on the twenty ninth of Sivan, which was about the middle of June, was the time of the first ripe grapes, as appears; see Gill on Numbers 13:20; and that they should have such quantities of grapes on their vines, as would employ them in gathering and pressing them until seedtime, which was usually in October, see Amos 9:13,
and ye shall eat your bread to the…
Leviticus 26:3-13
3. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
3. Si in decretis meis ambulaveritis, et praecepta mea servaveritis, et feceritis ea:
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.
4. Dabo pluvias vestras tempore suo, dabitque terra fructum suum, et arbores agrorum dabunt fructum suum.
5. And your thrashing 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.
5. Apprehendetque vobis tritura vindemiam, et vindemia apprehendet sementem: comedetisque panem vestrum a…
The Blessing of Fidelity to the Law. - Lev 26:3-5. If the Israelites walked in the commandments of the Lord (for the expression see Lev 18:3.), the Lord would give fruitfulness to their land, that they should have bread to the full. "I will give you rain-showers in season." The allusion here is to the showers which fall at the two rainy seasons, and upon which the fruitfulness of Palestine depends, viz., the early and latter rain (Deu 11:14). The former of these occurs after the autumnal equinox, at the time of the winter-sowing of wheat and barley, in the latter half of October or beginning of November. It generally falls in heavy showers in November and December, and then after that only a…
Israel’s restoration following captivity also promised a harvest so plentiful that it would run over into the time of planting (see Amos 9:13; Joel 3:18).
Rashi on Leviticus 26:5
והשיג לכם דיש את בציר AND YOUR THRESHING SHALL REACH UNTO THE VINTAGE — This means that there will be plenty of threshing-work so that you will be busy with it till the vintage, and with the vintage you will be busy till the time of sowing (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 1 7).
ואכלתם לחמכם לשבע AND YE SHALL EAT YOUR BREAD TO THE FULL — This means, one will eat only a little and it will become blessed in his bowels (will fully satisfy him) (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 1 7; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 25:19).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
