Leviticus 19:9-17 English Standard Version Love Your Neighbor as Yourself 9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. 11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. These are a set of laws that some headings will simply call "sundry laws," but I like how the ESV has titled this section on telling people how to "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself" (a command that we'll find in the book of Deuteronomy when we get there, and most of us probably know as one of the Greatest Commandments that Jesus answered the rich, young ruler (lawyer) with when asked, "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?" This lawyer knew it was impossible to keep all the commandments, so he wondered if there was one that was the most important one (did God have a hierarchy to the commandments like the Pharisees and other teachers of the Law did?)
Matthew 22:36-40 English Standard Version 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” We'll see here partially what Jesus was saying as these other laws that are given here all fall under the second greatest commandment that Jesus recited. These included things like not going back to pick over your vineyard a second time (we'll see some other laws like this later that apply to grain fields and not harvesting all the way out to the roadway so that the hungry traveler could pick some of the grapes or heads of grain or whatever as they walked by). In this way, the people that were hungry and in need were always taken care of as charity was built into the Law here. The people are told not to lie to each other and to not swear falsely to one another with oaths that they intend to break and especially not to "swear to God" when they are lying because this profanes His holy name. How many times have you heard the person being arrested on crime shows tell the police officer "I swear to God....." and the police officer immediately assumes the person is lying. Jesus will come back to this in The Sermon on the Mount and will say to simply let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no and that anything more is of the evil one. You should not need to embellish or swear by anything to make people believe you because you should have a reputation of being honest and trustworthy so that your word is your bond. (See Matthew 5:33-37). There are now a few rules strung together here to say not to abuse or take advantage of someone. Clearly it's long to lie in wait to rob anyone, especially your neighbor, but this is something that we see that the people fell into as we see in the Old Testament that one of God's complaints against His people later is that they are thieves and robbers and that they are lie in wait to attack others and they are quick to shed blood and even lay traps for one another to be ensnared in or to fall into. Next we see that each man should be paid his wages for the work that he did on the same day that the work was completed. His wages should not be withheld from him--probably a way to prevent an issue with that man needing the money to buy food for his family or to pay back creditors. We'll see this in the parable of The Laborers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. At the end of the day, no matter how much the man had worked, whether it was for the whole day or only for one hour, they were each gathered to receive their wages--though that parable takes a twist that I'll let you read for yourself. God then tells the people not to say cruel things to or about the person who cannot hear them or intentionally put a stumbling block in the way of a blind man. God's people should never get their kicks and giggles by being cruel to other people--especially those who can't defend themselves against such attacks and can't hear or see it coming. This is a pretty low place to stoop to if this is someone's idea of entertainment. They should conduct themselves instead in a right (righteous) way because the fear the Lord who is the Judge of both the living and the dead. There will be justice served by God one day (though we know the "good news" of the gospel that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because He took all of our sin and guilt and the punishment for all of our iniquities upon Himself). God commands the the courts of Israel should be a place where justice should be served equally and fairly to all people regardless of wealth or status. There should be no partiality or bias in the decision of the judge or jury. Next the people of Israel are commanded to not be slanderous in their speech against their neighbors. Christians are also commanded in the same way and we are told that being known as a slanderer is one of the evidences of being controlled by the flesh instead of being controlled by the Spirit of God. We should be about the business of building up (edifying) and not tearing down (slandering). Last in this section is a phrase I didn't understand at first, but commentators think this is a command against standing idly by and watching someone's life be taken. The Lord says that any righteous man will intervene to defend the life of his neighbor or even a stranger that he doesn't know because all life is precious. This verse probably also indicates a prohibition against conspiracy to commit murder (standing alongside the men who commit the bloodshed) as well as forbidding you to testify against an innocent man in the case of a capital offense where the innocent man's life is in jeopardy (assuming this is to swear falsely because of some hatred for the man on trial). We still have laws to this day about most of these things. Isn't it interesting that even here in the Law a connection is made about slanderous words being just as bad as wanting the man dead and joining with robbers and bandits against a man not caring for his life to rob him (slander is robbing the man of his reputation) and is seen as being equivalent with giving testimony that would lead to an innocent man's death and it would seem that God would hold such a man accountable for murder. Jesus makes this connection in The Sermon on the Mount when He says this: Matthew 5:22 New American Standard Bible22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Different translations translate these insults differently...some as "Moron," others as "Fool" and still others as "Empty-headed" or "Good-for-nothing." None of these things should be the kind of words coming out of the mouths of the people of God. We should not be so quick to label people this way that is rude and dismissive. Labels like this can hurt people who start to believe these things to be their nature and character and that they cannot escape from this identity. I know some people in my life that still struggle to this day because of the careless words of an elementary school teacher who told them that they were "Stupid" and "Would never amount to anything." Jesus will clarify this later that that we will be held accountable for every careless and idle word we speak. (Matthew 12:36) While we've already touched on this one a bit in the Sermon on the Mount, reference for the last passage, notice again how clearly God commands the people not to hate their brother/neighbor. Now they will try to take advantage of this later and try to be slippery in how they define "brother" and "neighbor." Remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan where the lawyer trying to justify himself asked, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus knew the man's heart and told the lawyer that what was at issue was the character of his own heart and not the identity of the person that was in need of help. We are not to even let the sun go down on our anger so that we don't let any root of bitterness spring up in us and in so doing give a foothold to the devil where that bitterness would turn into jealousy and envy and hate. Such things turn into a prison of our own making. Instead of hating our neighbors, we are to deal frankly and directly with them so that when we are offended by something or they have wronged us in some way that we approach them directly (not by talking about them behind their back to everyone else) and deal with the situation. The Law would then require that a peace offering or fellowship offering is made, but notice here that it is the responsibility of the offended party to go to his brother. Jesus will speak to this directly in Matthew 18:15 in the passage that we normally think of as relating to "church discipline," but it really comes back to this passage right here and Jesus having to reteach the people what God had already commanded because they had forgotten i tor failed to obey it, and you can tell because they acted like they were hearing something new when He taught it. Jesus does clarify though that any such conversations should be one-on-one if possible and then instructions are given for if the person who sinned against you does not repent. Matthew 18:15 English Standard VersionIf Your Brother Sins Against You15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. The law also clarifies that the only thing that is going to come from hating your brother (or neighbor) is sin that is inconsistent with the nature and character of God and His holiness, and such sin will not only cause division in your relationships with men, but also your relationship with God as you cannot love God and hate your brother 1 John 4:20 English Standard Version20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Those are some pretty strong words, and these are the things that the priests were responsible to teach all the people and to make sure that the people did as this part of making sure that the people stayed "clean" and "holy" in the sight of God. The people of God should be different from "the world" in their conduct with others--not just with their friends, and not even just those who believe like they do, but as Christians we are actually called to a higher standard of showing this kind of grace and mercy to everyone we come in contact with. It goes beyond the original Law given to Moses where the Israelites were supposed to treat each other right, but now we are to show God's favor to the whole world--primarily the "Good news of great joy that will be for all the people" that the angels proclaimed at the birth of the Messiah. God has dealt with sin and death forever through the blood of His own Son. The pure and spotless Lamb of God has fulfilled the entire Law that we could not keep so that we could be given His righteousness and partake in His reward and inheritance as we who believe on His name and become sons by adoption and will receive every good and perfect gift from the Father, including eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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