Leviticus 26

Wow, this chapter describes both beautiful blessings for the Israelites if they obey God and horrifying punishments if they turn against Him. As we will see later on, they do indeed fall away from God from time to time throughout their history - and many sadnesses befall because of that. In fact, I sometimes wonder if things as recent as the Holocaust might have been a portion of this; the imagery about fleeing constantly and being consumed in the lands of their enemies in particular remind me of the stories from the oppressed Jews in World War II. They are now back in their land, though, the land God promised them so many ages ago. I am pretty sure that God's hand can be seen in that too :)