This chapter 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.

26:1–2 The chapter begins with two basic instructions in the tradition of the Decalogue, already familiar to readers of the Holiness Code. The two particular stipulations on idols and Sabbaths are foundational to the commitments of…