Blessings and Curses: Chapter 26 brings us to a covenant formality that articulates consequences for ancient Israel’s response to the preceding divine instruction. It offers promise for the future, but it contains more warning than promise. The custom was to read such texts with the emphasis on warning in order to convince hearers to avoid the dire consequences. Hearers and readers would have seen the parallel to the Babylonian exile. Still, the conclusion of the chapter offers hope. This text fits covenant customs of the day and provides a fitting conclusion to the Holiness Code.

26:14–20 The setting changes fundamentally with verse 14 and moves to a circumstance of judgment. Now the people are judged to be violating the covenant by not listening to and not following God’s commands, decree…