Leviticus 26:43

43 which, when it is left of them, shall please to itself in his sabbaths, and shall suffer wilderness for them; forsooth they shall pray for their sins, for they casted away my dooms, and despised my laws; (which, when it is rid of them, shall enjoy its sabbaths, and shall become a wilderness without them; and they shall pray for the forgiveness of their sins, for they threw away my judgements, and despised my laws;)

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 Therefore and I shall go against them (And so I shall go against them), and I shall bring them into the land of their enemies, till the uncircumcised soul of them be ashamed; then they shall pray for (the forgiveness of) their wickedness,
42 and I shall have mind of my bond of peace, that I covenanted with Jacob, Isaac, and with Abraham; also I shall be mindful of the land, (and I shall remember my covenant, which I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham; and I shall remember the land,)
43 which, when it is left of them, shall please to itself in his sabbaths, and shall suffer wilderness for them; forsooth they shall pray for their sins, for they casted away my dooms, and despised my laws; (which, when it is rid of them, shall enjoy its sabbaths, and shall become a wilderness without them; and they shall pray for the forgiveness of their sins, for they threw away my judgements, and despised my laws;)
44 nevertheless, yea, when they were in the land of (their) enemies, I casted not them away utterly (I did not utterly throw them away), neither I despised them, so that they were wasted, and that I made void my covenant with them; for I am the Lord God of them.
45 And I shall have mind of my former bond of peace (And I shall remember my covenant with their ancestors), when I led them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of heathen men, that I should be their God; I am the Lord God.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.