Walk הָלַךְ

We are in chapter twenty-six of Leviticus with our word for today. הָלַךְ go, walk, behave, come. It is used 1,548 times in the Old Testament, 8 times in our chapter today. We find our word used most of the time in the Old Testament and in our chapter in the sense to live or behave in a specific manner. Our word is also used in the sense to go about, to go or travel to or among many different places. Our word is used in both of these senses in our chapter today. Let’s look at our word in our chapter. Leviticus 26:11-12 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי֙ And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. In this sense we find God being the one who is walking in the sense of traveling to be with his people. This is the idea of closeness. But we also see our word used to describe distance because of sin. Notice in the rest of our uses in our chapter how the people’s behavior determines how close God is to them. Leviticus 26:3-4, 21, 23-24, 27-28, 40-42 If תֵּלֵ֑כוּ you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit … Then if תֵּֽלְכ֤וּ you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins … And if by this discipline you are not turned to me וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֥ם but walk contrary to me, וְהָלַכְתִּ֧י then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins … But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, וַהֲלַכְתֶּ֥ם but walk contrary to me, וְהָלַכְתִּ֥י then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins … But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in הָֽלְכ֥וּ walking contrary to me, so that I אֵלֵ֤ךְ walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. This reminds us of Jesus crying over Jerusalem because the people’s rejection of God. Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! The good news is that if we draw near to God by humbly submitting to his will for our lives then he will be close to us. I’ll close with this great passage. James 4:6-8 Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.