well I will answer both you and Scott on this one, and hopefully he see it also.
What does lev 26 say? For this is Gods covenant with the nation of Israel. What he will do when they disobay and turn from him. and what they must do to be restored.
The following verses show what God says they must do to be restored from punishment for their sin against him.
40 ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, 41 andthat I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;I will remember the land. 43 The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;
for I am the LORD their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.’” 46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the LORD made between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.
I see nothing in here about making penance. Or sackloth, or fasting or anything else. All I see is direct commands from God.
1. Confess your iniquities.
2. Confess the iniquity of your fathers.
3. Accept, or admit your guilt.
4. Admit or accept that the reason they are slaves of others is because of punishment for their sin.
If they do this. God will relent his punishment, and restore them, and be their God.
Yet why does Judith and another book in the apocrypha state thet Israel made penance hoping God would save them, and not allow their children to be taken slaves by the enemy. (A punishment for disobaying. as we see in lev 26:
21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. 22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;
and your highways shall be desolate.)
Yet in Judtih 4 we see that thes children of Isreal did penance ( a word not even found in the law.)
Judith 4: 9 All the men of Israel cried to God with great fervor and did penance--
And it said God heard their cry and saw their distress. Which is a contradiction to the law given by God in leviticus. Where God said if they were in sin,, all they had to do is confess that sin, and the sin of their fathers. And God will hear their crys. God having a foriegn nation take their kids was a punishment for disbelief. If they were not worshiping idols, or sinning against him by now following him, thery would not even have had to confess their sin. God said if they walked in his statutes and obeyeyd his laws. and did not play the harlot. God in his own words.
3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, 4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;I will rid the land of evil beasts,and the sword will not go through your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. 9 ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.
So either way we have a contradiction in Judith.
1. If they were doing what God asked, and walking in his statutes, keeping his commands, and not playing ythe harlot. They would have had nothing to fear. God already promised to spare them..
2. If they were not doing the above. then all they had to do was confess their sin, and God would have spared them.
and this is just one that I have found, there are many!