This chapter is similar to the well-known Deuteronomy 28 chapter. Both contain blessings and curses. Notice that in both chapters the blessings come first and then the curses. Notice also that the curses are twice as long as the blessings. The LORD has presented them in this fashion to emphasize the seriousness of defying His commands. However, Lev. 26 also contains an expression of the LORD's mercy which Deut. 28 does not. From v.40 until the end of the chapter, the LORD invites His sinful people to humble themselves and repent. If they do this, He will heal them. This spiritual healing is available to us also through the Lord Jesus (1John 1:9).

V.19: An iron sky cannot give rain, and a bronze earth cannot produce crops. This untenable situation of existing between two unforgiving elements can be equated with the modern expression: between a rock and a hard place.

The comments yesterday about the kingdom are continued in today's chapter. "I will
  give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid"
Lev 26:6  Did such blessings actually come onto Israel?  Very seldom, I'm afraid,
  if ever.  The people just could not keep the Lord's commandments Lev 26:3. The promises
  given in this chapter make their kingdom sound like THE Kingdom.  Being there
  would have been a treat, and a blessing.  But, because of sin, it didn't materialise.

26:11    God’s tabernacle was already among the people when this was said. God is promising something greater than they were experiencing at this time. He was looking to the time when He would dwell with men who would possess immortality – Rev 21:3

V.11, 12 Compare Le. I will make my abode among you...I will walk among you. (RSV)   With: 2Co.6:16  ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them. (among vs. in)

Note also the immortal soul in Le.26:11

26:10  The promise is that the land will be so fruitful that they will not be in want. The store from the previous year will not be used until after the harvest of the next year is gathered in. Thus God would care for Israel’s material needs if they trusted Him.

v14 First Principles>Kingdom of God>Was overturned
1. The right of Israel to be called God's Kingdom was dependent on their obedience. Go to Exo 19:5 for more details.
2. If Israel was disobedient, Lev 26:14, Deut 28:15
 - Israel would be carried away into captivity Deut 28:64-65, Lev 26:33
 - The land would be desolate Lev 26:31-34 Go to Exo 19:5 for more details.

Questions:

Have you noticed that the dreadful curses in this chapter are as a result of not keeping the seven yearly sabbath? Wouldn't you think God would focus on a slightly worse sin instead? You can see the focus in v34-35 and v42-43.

So if this sabbath is so important to God, can you think what He was trying to achieve with that law (found in Exo 23)? And when you've checked Exodus 23, can you see any further key words from there echoed in this chapter? Lastly, what does that mean to our own attitudes to work and rest?

Psalm 136 Consider reading this Psalm with someone else. One ready the refrain 'for his mercy endureth forever' and the other read the words preceding the refrain. In so doing you will see how the Psalmist is stating many of the ways in which God's mercies are seen.

Psalm 137 Whilst in Babylon Israel knew that Babylon was to be destroyed - and by implication they were to be freed. They, even whilst in Babylon, had scriptures to prove this (eg: Isaiah 13:19 Jeremiah 29:10 )

Psalm 138 If God has magnified His word above His name (v2) how do we value it? Is it something we can take or leave at will? Is it something that we read with love and joy, or do we try to make it's message fit our own preferences?

Psalm 139 David, on realising that God knew everything about him, including all the things he did concluded that he was fearfully and wonderfully made. When we appreciate that our God knows everything about us - the things we say, do and even think - how does that make us feel? Are we afraid of Him? How would we behave if someone we loved and respected knew everything that we thought or did?

137:5 In desiring not to forget Jerusalem the Psalmist is showing us where his heart is. Of course he is not thinking simply of a physical location but rather all the things of God which are tied into the place. It is for this reason that Solomon anticipated that men would pray towards Jerusalem 1 Kings 8:30, 35 and why Daniel disregarded the king's command [Daniel 6:10]

139:1-13 If we could develop the intensity of understanding that David had about the all pervading presence of God in our lives then surely we would find it easier to resist temptation?

137:8 The way in which Babylon was to be rewarded forms the basis for Revelation 18:6 which speaks of the destruction of 'Babylon'

138:4 In saying 'all the kings …' the Psalmist is looking to the kingdom when it will be said to the kings 'kiss the son …' (Psalm 2:12)

139:15 In saying that he was 'curiously wrought' David is quoting Exodus 26:36 which speaks of the breastplate worn by the high priest. David realised that mankind has been created for a work. That work is to reign as 'kings and priests' (Revelation 5:10) with Jesus in the kingdom.

137:7 The call to ‘remember Edom’ is reflected in the prophecy of Obad :12)

138:6 If God can humble Himself to ‘behold the things … in the earth’ we should have no problems ‘condescending to men of low degree’ (Rom 12:16) – we saw the same characteristic of God in Psa 1:3.

139:23  The call for God to ‘search’ him is echoed by Jeremiah (17:10) interestingly after saying that the hart is deceitful – it is just because we are deceitful that we should want God to search our hearts. We cannot trust our own judgement.

Psalm 137  This song was sung while Israel was in exile and pleads for the desire to remember Jerusalem at this time of trial.

Psalm 139 A personal prayer that acknowledges God's ability to know everything and see everywhere and pleads to be made free of any secret faults.

137:3    ‘wasted’ is more accurately ‘laid us on heaps’ which echoes the language of Psa 78:1

Many believe that Edom helped the Babylonians during the siege of Jerusalem.  The call to remember Edom in 137:7 seems to bear this out.  So too does Obadiah Obad 1:12-14.  Then there is Jeremiah's prediction of Edom's destruction (Jer 49:7-22).  Israel's troublesome cousins had been constantly oppositional since the days of Esau and Jacob.      

137:3 We are given very little information about what captivity in Babylon was like. Here we are given a little glimpse. Israel were taunted by their captive and the Psalmist laments that.

There seems to be a striking contrast developed between the situation described in this Psalm, with all its pathos, and the vision of the kingdom as described in Revelation 14.

• The setting of this Psalm is in a distant and alien land so far removed from the Israel's promised inheritance.  In Revelation the scene is Mount Sion, before the throne of the King in Jerusalem. 
• The Psalm was written at a time when the glory of Zion was but a memory (Psa 137:1).  The vision of Revelation predicts the time when Sion will be gloriously exalted over all the earth for evermore.
• In Revelation the ragged remnant of the kingdom of Judah described in Psa 137 has been replaced by the exalted and perfected company of 144,000 (natural Israel expanded by those who are “Israelites indeed”).  No longer are they captives as in the Psalm but rather the “redeemed” (Rev 14:4).
• The harps hung idle on the willow’s of Babylon are taken up again in Rev 14:2 to the glory of God.  The reason for this difference being that the song is sung, not for the mirth of mocking captors but for the glory of God.
• No longer are the captives cast down by evident and righteous punishment of God for their collective sins but they are without fault (Rev 14:5,).
• Babylon, the jeering conqueror in the Psa, is destroyed for ever in Rev 14:8.

Surely, the coming kingdom will be the answer to all the trials of this present life.  Even so come Lord Jesus.

The Lord gave His disciples extraordinary power (v.1).  And yet they did not fully realize this.  They could not provide food for the people (v.12,13) nor affect healing (v.38-40).  They had the power but did not have the faith to employ it.  Do we have the faith to let the power of God work in us (2Thess 1:11)?

V.34-35 This would not of been a water type cloud, but the Shekinah glory.The pavilion of the manifested presence of God with His people, what Peter calls "the excellent" of "magnificent glory" 2Pet 1:17

9:43-44  The juxtaposition of the miraculous healing of the child and Jesus words to the disciples that he was going to be delivered into the hands of me corrected any imbalance that they had about him coming to take the kingdom by force – or so it should.

Luke 9:62

I was born on the land and did my apprenticeship as a farmer - not with horse or bullock and plow, but with tractors, and what Brother Collyer says in Chapter 9 of Principles and Proverbs of crooked plow lines is true. Only by focussing on a distant object (not a cloud!!) can one hope to plow a straight furrow.

Now there is no particular reason for plowing straight lines (that I know of) except that the results look neat and tidy. Perhaps in ancient days, where there were no fence lines to mark out the boundaries between properties, a straight line was a good idea when marking the first turning of the soil between your corner markers. Running off course could well put your plow line into the neighbours property.

A quick backward glance will not throw the line, but a backward focus will.

For me, this is what the verse means. Jesus is not forbidding a backward glance to reassure oneself that the effort of forward focus has been worth while. But He is warning that a backward focus may negate the good work already done. The forward focus will produce 'straight' results, but the focus must be in faith. I guess the backward focus takes my mind back to legalism, the great nemesis of the faithful in every age.

Looking forward, one cannot see the results behind, but one must work on in faith, that that which is being produced behind our back, out of sight as it were, is 'straight' - whereas looking back can be 'comforting' because the results can be seen instantly - which is the like the comfort of legalism - no waiting for results in faith.

Legalism creates instant results.... but not the best outcomes.

So, just like legalism, a backward focus produces results that are 'crooked'.

Only by focussing on an immovable object some distance away, can one hope to create what the Bible calls 'straight' works in faith. The real secret to a straight furrow, is a forward focus which lines up two objects, one behind the other, such as a fence post or a rock on the far border of the field, and a tree even further in the distance.

In our spiritual figure, we do that by lining up Jesus with His Father, and the result will be those 'straight' works in faith.

9:3 In encouraging the twelve to take nothing with them as they went preaching Jesus was teaching them that the worker is due his food from those he serves –Deut 25:4

9:6   Preaching the gospel and healing are two parts of the same activity. The words are the message. The miracles are the foretaste of the spiritual regeneration of Israel.

9:3 On this occasion Jesus charged the disciples to take nothing with them on their journey. However in Mark 6:8 they were told to take a ‘staff’. Are these two different events or does each writer have a different focus?

As Jesus was approaching his departure, he became painfully aware that his disciples weren't listening to his warnings. Even when he openly talked about his forthcoming torture and death, their ears filtered out the bad bits and retained the bits they wanted to hear. So when he said "I will suffer many things ... by the elders and chief priests and scribes" (v22) they heard "Jesus will overcome them and set up a new seat of power, and we'll have authority with him!"  We can see this from their dispute in v44-46.

How often do we read the Bible and just hear what we want to hear? Jesus said "let these words sink down into your ears" (v44). They would have to act on them in the coming days, but found themselves unprepared. We too have to listen carefully and let the weight of his words sink in. In practical terms that means reading less and thinking more; taking time to meditate on what is written.

9:21 Jesus commanded that disciples that they should not tell anyone that he was the Christ because he wanted them to work that our for themselves. There was sufficient evidence – the miracles that Jesus did were the proof.