“or if, etc.,” the main sentence is resumed. או, “or rather” (as in 1Sa 29:3), bringing out the humiliation of the heart as the most important result to which the confession of sin ought to deepen itself. The heart is called “uncircumcised” as being unsanctified, and not susceptible to the manifestations of divine grace. את־עונם ירצוּ וץ̓הןךח́ףןץףי פב̀ע ב̓לבספי́בע בץ̓פש͂ם (lxx), they will take pleasure, rejoice in their misdeeds, i.e., in the consequences and results of them-that their misdeed have so deeply humbled them, and brought them to the knowledge of the corruption into which they have fallen: a bold and, so to speak, paradoxical expression for their complete change of heart, which we may render thus: “they will enjoy their misdeeds,” as רצה may be rendered in the same way in Lev 26:43 also.[1]
But where punishment bears such fruit, God looks upon the sinner with favour again. When Israel had gone so far, He would remember His covenant with the fathers (“My covenant with Jacob,” יעקב בּריתי: the suffix is attached to the governing noun, as in Lev 6:3, because the noun governed, being a proper name, could not take the suffix), and remember the land (including its inhabitants), which, as is repeated again in Lev 26:43, would be left by them (become desolate) and enjoy its Sabbaths whilst it was waste (depopulated) from (i.e., away from, without) them; and they would enjoy their iniquity, because they had despised the judgments of the Lord, and their soul had rejected His statues.
Verse 44
Lev 26:44 “And yet, even with regard to this, when they shall be in the land of their enemies, have I not despised them.” That is to say, if it shall have come even so far as that they are in the land of their enemies (the words גּם־זאת stand first in an absolute sense, and are strengthened or intensified by ואף and more fully explained by בּהיותם וגו), I have not rejected them, to destroy them and break My covenant with them. For I am Jehovah their God, who, as the absolutely existing
- ↑ Luther has translated עון in this sense, “punishment of iniquity,” and observes in the marginal notes, - “(Pleasure), i.e., just as they had pleasure in their sins and felt disgust at My laws, so they would now take pleasure in their punishment and say, 'We have just what we deserve. This is what we have to thank our cursed sin for. It is just, O God, quite just.' And these are thoughts and words of earnest repentance, hating itself from the bottom of the heart, and crying out, Shame upon me, what have I done? This pleases God, so that He becomes gracious once more.”
