Don Isaac Abravanel, sometimes spelled Abarbanel (1437-1508) was a probing and penetrating Jewish thinker, as well as a prolific
Biblical commentator. Leviticus 26 offers Bible students a study into Abravanel’s inimitable style. The
topic of reward and punishment is, of course, a juicy one and of profound, general interest. For
Abravanel, the discussion begins with a critical analysis of the classic Biblical commentators, before
drawing his own conclusions. For the lengthy essay on reward and punishment, see Abravanel’s World
“If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them;
then I will give you your rains in their seasons. And the land shall yield
her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”
The Torah portion of Bechukotai begins with a divine promise of agricultural reward in exchange for
compliance to God’s commandments. “If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do
them; then I will give you your rains in their seasons…”
Incredulous, Abravanel leads with this bomb of a question: Why does the Torah list its reward for
commandment obedience in terms of physical or earthly blessing? Why does it not talk about the
spiritual delights attained by Torah observance, the kind that awaits the eternal soul after death? After
all, Abravanel continues, that is the sum total of man – to refine the soul in this world and reap
boundless benefit in the next one.
And then Abravanel probes further. It is precisely this gap, he argues, that allows enemies of the Torah
to charge that Jews don’t believe in reward and punishment for the soul in the Hereafter. Indeed, how
can compensation for devotion to Torah be expressed in terms of rain and agricultural produce, as vital
as they may be? Certainly, something is amiss.
Abravanel’s answer builds on the comments of an earlier Torah sage. The earthly rewards for keeping
the divine covenant mentioned here precludes mention of spiritual delights. That is because the blessing
of rain and bumper crops accrue to the nation as a whole. Even a few verses down, when the Torah
guarantees military victory (“And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword…”), still
that promise is a collective one. Thus, when our chapter focuses on material reward and punishment it
is because there cannot be rain on one righteous person’s fields, while his evil neighbors in the village
get none. The same infeasibility goes for military victory. Either an army wins or losses.
“If you walk in My statutes”, then, launches a discussion about what happens when the people
collectively keep God’s covenant. Underscoring the point is Hebrew grammar; the verbs are conjugated
in plural.
Abravanel moves on to make a crucial point about reward and punishment. There is, he writes, a key
distinction between what the Hebrews as a nation receive versus what each and every individual get for
commandment compliance (or non-compliance).
God judges each individual, each soul on its own merit, in accordance with his deeds. The prophet
Ezekiel reinforces the principle: “The soul that sins, it shall die.” A man’s soul’s reward and punishment
are not be a function of majority rule. Thus, even if the Hebrew people all are righteous, worthy of
otherworldly reward, should there be one scoundrel among them, he will not, to be colloquial, ride on
their coattails.
In sum, Leviticus 26 pertains to compliance (or lack thereof), as far as the nation is concerned.
Collectively, Jews stand to reap earthly reward or punishment, according to the majority’s conduct. The
story, however, changes abruptly when God stands in judgement over individuals. In the Book of
Deuteronomy, Abravanel will elaborate on the subject of personal, spiritual reward and punishment.
