John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 26:43

"The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes." — Leviticus 26:43 (ASV)

The land also shall be left of them. He again refers to the punishment of banishment, which is equivalent to their being disinherited. At the same time, He repeats that the worship of God could not be restored in the Holy Land until it would be purified from their defilements. Yet immediately afterwards, He moderates this severity, because, when He seemed to deal with them most rigorously, He still will not utterly cast them off.

The verbs He uses²³⁶ are in the past tense, though they refer to the future, which is to say, even then “they shall feel that they are not rejected.” He therefore stretches out His hand to them, so to speak, in their miserable condition, to uplift them to confidence, and commands them, although afflicted with the extremity of trouble, nevertheless to put their trust in His Covenant.

In this, His marvelous and inestimable goodness is displayed, in still retaining as His own those who are alienated from Him. Thus, it is said in Hosea 2:23, I will say to them that are not my people, Thou art my people.

When He promises that He will remember His covenant “for their sakes,” He does not mean for their merit, or because they have acquired such a favor for themselves, but for their profit or salvation, because the recollection of the Covenant shall extend even to them. Their deliverance (from Egypt) is also added in confirmation of the Covenant, as if He had said that He would be the more disposed to forgive them, not only because He always perseveres in His faithfulness to His promises, but because He would maintain His goodness towards them and carry it on even to the end. Thus we see He refers the cause of His mercy only to Himself.

²³⁶ i..e., in ., in verse 44, and are so translated in , and are so translated in LXX., ., V., Chald., and Syriac, and also by Pagninus. See Poole’s Synopsis, ., Chald., and Syriac, and also by Pagninus. See Poole’s Synopsis, in loco..