Leviticus 26:43

43 "The land will be empty of them and enjoy its Sabbaths while they're gone. They'll pay for their sins because they refused my laws and treated my decrees with contempt.

Leviticus 26:43 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 26:43

The land also shall be left of them
This seems to refer to a second time, when this should be the case of the land of Judea again, as it was when subdued by the Romans, and the Jews were carried captive from it, and so it was left by them, as it has been ever since:

and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while lieth desolate without them;
shall be as in the sabbatical years, uncultivated, neither ploughed nor sown, nor reaped; and thus the land of Canaan, though once so very fruitful, is now desolate and barren, being without its former inhabitants, and so it is like to be until it is restored to them again;

and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity;
that is, when made sensible of their sins, and particularly of their iniquity of rejecting the Messiah; they will not think it hard that they have been punished in so severe a manner, but own the righteous hand of God in it, and be humble under it; and confessing their sins with true sorrow and repentance for them, looking at him whom they have pierced, and mourn, shall have the free and full remission of their sins applied unto them:

because, even, because they despised my judgments, and because their
soul abhorred my statutes;
despised and abhorred Christ, his doctrines and ordinances, which was the reason of their being carried captive out of their land, when it was forsaken by them, and lay desolate as to this day, especially with respect to any benefit of it enjoyed by them; and which, when they are sensible of, will be a reason of their accepting the punishment of their iniquity so readily, and not murmur at the hand of God upon them, or reflect on his dealings with them, but freely and fully confess their sins, that he may be justified in all that he has done.

Leviticus 26:43 In-Context

41 that set off my defiance that sent them off into enemy lands; if by some chance they soften their hard hearts and make amends for their sin,

42 I'll remember my covenant with Jacob, I'll remember my covenant with Isaac, and, yes, I'll remember my covenant with Abraham. And I'll remember the land.

43 "The land will be empty of them and enjoy its Sabbaths while they're gone. They'll pay for their sins because they refused my laws and treated my decrees with contempt.

44 But in spite of their behavior, while they are among their enemies I won't reject or abhor or destroy them completely. I won't break my covenant with them: I am God, their God.

45 For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I, with all the nations watching, brought out of Egypt in order to be their God. I am God."