amounted to a hostile rebellion against God, He would smite them sevenfold for their sin by sending beasts of prey and childlessness. By beasts of prey He would destroy their cattle, and by barrenness He would make the nation so small that the ways would be deserted, that high roads would cease because there would be no traveller upon them on account of the depopulation of the land (Isa 33:8; Zep 3:6), and the few inhabitants who still remained would be afraid to venture because of the wild beasts (Eze 14:15). עם קרי הלך (“to go a meeting with a person,” i.e., to meet a person in a hostile manner, to fight against him) only occurs here in Lev 26:21 and Lev 26:23, and is strengthened in Lev 26:24, Lev 26:27, Lev 26:28, Lev 26:40, Lev 26:41 into עם בּקרי הלך, to engage in a hostile encounter with a person. שׁבע מכּה, a sevenfold blow. “According to your sins,” i.e., answering to them sevenfold. In Lev 26:22 the first clause corresponds to the third, and the second to the fourth, so that Nos. 3 and 4 contain the effects of Nos. 1 and 2.
verses 23-24
The third stage. - But if they would not be chastened by these punishments, and still rose up in hostility to the Lord, He would also engage in a hostile encounter with them, and punish them sevenfold with war, plague, and hunger.
verses 25-26
He would bring over them “the sword avenging (i.e., executing) the covenant vengeance.” The “covenant vengeance” was punishment inflicted for a breach of the covenant, the severity of which corresponded to the greatness of the covenant blessings forfeited by a faithless apostasy. If they retreated to their towns (fortified places) from the sword of the enemy, the Lord would send a plague over them there, and give those who were spared by the plague into the power of the foe. He would also “break in pieces the staff of bread,” and compel them by the force of famine to submit to the foe. The means of sustenance should become so scarce, that ten women could bake their bread in a single oven, whereas in ordinary times every woman would require an oven for herself; and they would have to eat the bread which they brought home by weight, i.e., not as much as every one pleased, but in rations weighed out so scantily, that those who ate would not be satisfied, and would only be able to sustain their life in the most miserable way. Calamities such as these burst upon Israel and Judah more than once when their fortified towns were besieged, particularly
