Breadcrumb: I'll repent on my deathbed?

Lev. 26:40-45 provides a ray of hope in an otherwise dismal half-chapter. After enumerating the consequences of disobedience (see yesterday's essay for more on this), God informs the Israelites that even if they have sinned, they can still find redemption in God's eyes. He tells them that if they humble themselves and accept their just punishment, God will remember the covenant he made with their forefathers and maintain it. There is hope that even dispersed in the land of their enemies, God would still return them to their rightful country. This passage, in part, is what sustained the Jews through their 2000-year Diaspora from Israel.