Thou shalt not go about as a talebearer among thy people; thou shalt not stand up against the life of thy neighbour I am Jehovah.
In Leviticus 19 this command sits among a long list of everyday duties. It joins two things we rarely put side by side: carrying stories about people, and standing against a neighbour's life.
The commands around this verse deal with how neighbours treat each other. One writer traces that back to who Israel's God was.
They were to be holy, for Jehovah was holy. Chapter 19 takes up more the side of good... Here we find what is good and kind and fitting, and what their conduct ought to be in many details: in the relationship they had with one another, and in the dangers they faced in their everyday walk. For they had to do with God, and Jehovah was their God.
The verse ends with God naming Himself. That short line is the enforcement clause, and it runs all through the chapter.
The nineteenth chapter shows the duties that flow from covenant-relationship. "I am the LORD," repeated fifteen times, is the declaration that enforces every commandment. Fellowship with a holy God must be in holiness: "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
Some translations call this person a "talebearer" — someone who carries reports around. One writer defines the habit; whether the story is true or false makes no difference.
A gossiper repeats stories and idle chatter that damage other people. A meddler interferes in other people's affairs and freely gives opinions on matters that are not his concern. Neither of them is thinking of helping the needy or of putting a wrong right. It is the flesh indulging its love of slander. Whether what they repeat is false or true, gossipers and meddlers are in either case "saying what they should not."
The verse names gossip and bloodshed in one breath. One writer explains why they belong together.
The middle of the chapter forbids what we may call social sins and errors. It is good for us to notice these things, because they are not unknown in Christian circles. We would especially want to stress verse 16. Who can measure the trouble and sorrow caused by talebearers among the saints of God? It is connected here with standing up against the "blood," or "life," of one's neighbours. Tale-bearing will go to such a length.
Even where no life is taken, real damage is done, and it does not heal quickly.
Even if a talebearer's words were true, which is rarely the case, they do harm in every way, and they fall under the censure of evil speaking. They completely lack a moral purpose or a loving manner. At best it is gossip. Mostly it is just the indulgence of talking about things that right feeling would prefer to keep hidden. The result is to inflict wounds which pierce very deep, and where they are least curable.
The verse that follows tells the Israelite what to do instead.
But notice the next verse. We are to rebuke our neighbour and not let sin stay on him. The instruction is clearly this: if you see wrong or sin in your brother, go straight to him about it, and do not talk against him behind his back.
Another writer turns that into a rule for anything we might say about a person who is absent.
If we have to withstand a brother, then it should be to his face, and not behind his back. Too often the reverse happens. The man judged to be at fault is the last to hear of it, and then perhaps only by a hint from the side, while others discuss and argue over his supposed errors. All this is wrong. If we have anything to say to a brother, let us go and say it to his face first. Let us say nothing behind his back that we would not say to his face. If this rule were kept, what sorrows would be saved in the Church of God.
This command does not tell us to ignore wrong. One writer draws a clear line between dealing with evil and merely talking about a person.
Are we then to be indifferent to evil in one another? Far from it. Other Scriptures instruct us how to deal with evil when the sad necessity arises. This Scripture warns us against speaking evil. The one who speaks evil against his brother is not dealing with the evil and has no intention of doing so. He is only speaking evil to put his brother down.
- Holiness — this command sits among ordinary daily dealings. Fellowship with a holy God has to show in how people treat each other.
- Signature — "I am the LORD" closes the verse. Who God is enforces every command in the chapter, not how serious the offence looks to us.
- Definition — a talebearer carries reports that damage another person. True or false, he is saying what he should not.
- Reach — the verse names gossip beside standing against a neighbour's blood, because tale-bearing can go that far. The wounds it leaves are the hardest to heal.
- Remedy — go to the person and say it to his face. Deal with the wrong instead of talking about him.
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart; thou shalt earnestly rebuke thy neighbour, lest thou bear sin on account of him.
Leviticus 19 applies holiness to ordinary life — home, work, farming, and the way neighbours treat each other. Verse 17 turns that inward. It deals with what a person hides in the heart toward a brother who has done wrong, and with what love must say out loud.
Verse 17 belongs to a section of law with a single aim.
Chapters 19 and 20 bring us to a fresh section of the law. It appeals to Israel to be holy, as the Lord was holy, who had separated them to be a people for Himself. In chapter 19 we see holiness taught and applied to the everyday circumstances of the Israelite. It touches his home life, his worship, his dealings with his neighbours, his farming, and his behaviour toward the stranger.
This law reaches past what a person does to what he thinks.
The law mentions talebearing or slandering, and then hidden hatred. Law does not only forbid bad actions, but also bad thoughts of the heart (vv. 16-17). If one's brother had done evil, this was no reason to hate him. Even the law required him to rebuke the offender — not in a harsh spirit, not condemning him, not bearing any grudge against him. Instead, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (v. 18).
Where the ESV says "reason frankly," commentators say "earnestly rebuke." The clause that follows gives the reason for it, and it can be read two ways.
Hatred in the heart is the deep wrong against a brother. But the command follows at once: rebuke your neighbour in earnest, so that you do not bear sin on his account (or, bring sin upon them). In short, no allowance of a grudge, or of taking vengeance for oneself, but to love one's neighbour as oneself.
Verse 16 forbids carrying tales. Verse 17 says what to do instead.
We are to rebuke our neighbour and not allow sin to remain on him. The instruction is plain. If you see wrong or sin in your brother, go straight to him about it. Do not talk against him behind his back.
Saying nothing and absorbing the injury can pass for patience. It leaves the offender exactly where he is.
What comes naturally to us would be to avoid the offending brother. We say nothing to him about his fault, but tell it to others. Or one might decide to bear the injury with patience and "try to live it down," as people say. This might at first seem the right thing to do, and it may look like grace. But it leaves out the most important thing — the spiritual condition of my offending brother. Besides, staying away from the brother may leave a tinge of bad feeling in my own heart. Love does not rest while it knows that the conscience of an erring brother is defiled.
Then what does love look like when evil is present?
To talk of Christian love while we allow evil is to imagine a Christian love that dishonours Christ. Patience and forgiveness toward those who do evil is one thing. Quietly going along with the evil itself is quite another. Where did love show itself in forgiveness so wonderfully as at the cross? And where was God's refusal to tolerate evil so fearfully displayed?
You can give a rebuke in a spirit that ruins it. The test is simple: can you call the person "brother" and mean it?
There is no spirit of love in it. You cannot say "brother" sincerely while you do it. In fact there is pleasure in seeing the fault, a spirit of comparison. No one ought to find fault until he can say "Brother" in that spirit, and because he loves him. "Do you not see?" It may be forgetfulness. But there is a real moral fault here: we see our neighbour's fault and not our own.
Speaking to the person is the first step, not the only one. If he will not listen, there is a next step.
An individual has wronged me: how am I to act? So I act toward him in brotherly love. I go and say, "Brother, you have done me wrong." First of all there is this appeal in righteousness. Yet the path must not move outside the scope of grace. Having done this, if he will not hear me, I take with me one or two more.
- Heart first. The command starts inside. Hidden hatred toward a brother is the deep wrong, and the law forbids bad thoughts as well as bad actions.
- Speak, don't store. Hatred wants silence or gossip. The answer to both is to go straight to the person.
- Silence costs. Saying nothing may look like patience. But it leaves your brother's conscience defiled.
- Love is not tolerance. Forgiving a wrongdoer and going along with the wrong are opposites. At the cross, God showed forgiveness and His refusal to tolerate evil at once.
- Check the speaker. No one is fit to point out a fault until he can say "Brother" and mean it. Otherwise it is comparison, not love.