And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, and the gleaning of thy harvest thou shalt not gather.
A chapter about holiness turns suddenly to farming. God tells Israel to stop short of the field's edge and to leave the dropped grain lying — why would He tell landowners to reap less than they could?
Two spirits can meet at a harvest. One writer sets them side by side.
He would think of "the poor and stranger," and He would have His people think of them too. As they reaped the golden sheaves and gathered the ripe clusters, the Israel of God were to remember "the poor and stranger," because the Lord was the God of Israel. A spirit of grasping greed was not to rule the reaper and the grape-gatherer. That spirit strips the corners of the field bare and picks the vine clean. They were to be ruled instead by a spirit of large-hearted, genuine kindness. That spirit leaves a sheaf and a cluster "for the poor and stranger," so that they too may rejoice in the boundless goodness of Him. All the needy can wait on His open hand with confidence.
Why should they hold back? One writer points to Israel's own past, and to God Himself as the ground of the command.
The Lord would also train His people in gracious feeling. He would bless their harvest and their grape crop. So He teaches them kindness to the needy. He tells them to leave a margin of their good crop, and the scattered or fallen grapes, for the poor and the stranger. Such had once been their own lot in the land of Egypt; but the ground is Himself, the Lord their God (9, 10).
Whose field was it? One writer answers from a later chapter of Leviticus, then follows the thought to God's own Son.
The provision made for the poor (verses 9-10, compare with Ruth 2:14-16) shows the loving care of the Lord. God has special regard for the poor and strangers. His blessed Son became poor and was indeed a stranger in the world He created. His people had no heart for Him, and He was hungry. His disciples had to take ears of grain from the field to satisfy their hunger. The Lord Himself was the owner of Israel's land (Lev. 25:23). As owner, He charged His servants to be unselfish with the generous provision He was making for their daily need.
Ruth was a foreign widow who gathered leftover grain behind the harvesters of a landowner named Boaz. One writer weighs the order Boaz gave his men.
Nothing can surpass the exquisite refinement of the words, "let fall also some of the handfuls on purpose for her." This noble Israelite wanted "the stranger" to have plenty. He wanted her to have it as the fruit of her own gleaning rather than as a gift from him. This was the very essence of refinement. It put her in direct connection with the God of Israel, and made her depend on Him. He had fully recognised "the gleaner" and provided for her. Boaz was only acting out that gracious rule, and Ruth was reaping its benefit. The same grace that had given him the field gave her the gleanings. They were both debtors to grace.
The words quoted about Boaz come from an older translation of Ruth 2:16.
Harvesting this way called for self-discipline. It also worked as a test.
They were also to exercise self-discipline in harvesting. They must not reap the corners of their fields, and they must not go back to glean what they had left the first time. They were to leave this for the poor or for strangers who had little to live on (vv. 9-10). Such a law tested whether they loved their neighbour and whether their faith was really in God.
The pattern reaches past ancient farming. A promise came with it.
The abundant blessing which is ours is not meant to leave us at ease. We are to consider others for whom nothing is prepared. God blessed Israel with plenty in the land. They were to leave the corners of their rich harvest fields, the gleanings of their fruits, and even a sheaf of grain they had forgotten. The poor and the stranger were to have these. When this divine wisdom and unselfish grace marked God's people, He blessed them greatly in all the work of their hands (Lev. 19:9; Deut. 24:19); for in doing so they were only expressing His own gracious and considerate heart.
- Owner — the land belonged to God, so the harvest came as a trust; the corners were His portion for the needy.
- Memory — Israel had once been poor strangers in Egypt, and were to reap like people who remembered it.
- Margin — God asked for a margin of the good crop, left unreaped for the poor and the stranger to gather themselves.
- Boaz — he acted this law out with such care that Ruth gathered her plenty as her own gleaning, from God's hand rather than his.
- Test — leaving the corners took self-discipline, and it showed whether a person loved his neighbour and trusted God, who blessed such hands in all their work.
And thy vineyard shalt thou not glean, neither shalt thou gather what hath been left of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger I am Jehovah your God.
Leviticus 19 lists the everyday duties of a holy people. This one lands in the grape harvest: God tells the owner of the vineyard to stop picking before the job is done. The grapes that fall and the fruit left behind belong to someone else. The command ends with no penalty attached — only a name.
The chapter opens with a call to be holy. What follows shows what holiness looks like in ordinary life.
They were to be holy, because the LORD was holy. Chapter 19 takes up more the side of good... what is good and kind and fitting, what their conduct ought to be in various details, in the relationships they had with one another... The people of God were, in all their ways, to walk in a manner worthy of this relationship.
The law does not tell the farmer to hand out charity. It tells him to leave something standing, and that restraint exposes what is in the heart.
The reaper and the grape-gatherer were not to work in a spirit of grasping greed, which would strip the corners of the field bare and clear the branches of the vine. They were to work in a spirit of large-hearted, genuine kindness, which would leave a sheaf and a cluster "for the poor and stranger." Then those people too could rejoice in the unbounded goodness of Him whose paths drip with plenty, and on whose open hand everyone in need may wait with confidence.
"I am the LORD your God" is the reason. It holds two things: what Israel once was, and who owned the ground.
The LORD would also train His people in gracious feeling. Since He would bless their harvest and their grape crop, He teaches them kindness to the needy. He tells them to leave a margin of their good crop, and the scattered or fallen grapes, for the poor and the stranger. Such had once been their own situation in the land of Egypt; but the ground of it is Himself, the LORD their God.
The land was never theirs to strip bare. And God's own Son came into the world poor, hungry, and a stranger.
God has special regard for the poor and strangers. His blessed Son became poor and was indeed a stranger in the world He created. His people had no heart for Him, and He was hungry. His disciples had to pick heads of grain from the field to satisfy their hunger. The LORD Himself was the owner of Israel's land (Lev. 25:23), and as owner He charged His servants to be unselfish in the use of the plentiful provision He was making for their daily needs.
Leaving fruit on the vine costs money. That is exactly the point.
They were also to show self-discipline in harvesting. They must not reap the corners of their fields, or go back to glean what the first harvest had left. They were to leave it for the poor or for strangers who had little means of support (vv. 9-10). Such a law tested whether they loved their neighbour and whether their faith was really in God.
Ruth was a stranger gleaning in Boaz's field. He found a way to give her more without turning it into a handout.
Nothing can surpass the exquisite thoughtfulness of the words, "let fall also some of the handfuls on purpose for her." This noble Israelite clearly wanted "the stranger" to have plenty. He wanted her to have it as the fruit of her own gleaning rather than of his generosity... It put her in direct connection with, and dependence on, the God of Israel, who had fully recognised and provided for "the gleaner." Boaz was only acting out that gracious ordinance from which Ruth was reaping the benefit. The same grace that had given him the field gave her the gleanings. They were both debtors to grace.
This pattern did not end with Israel's fields.
We find a similar combination in the New Testament: giving our thanks to God and our goods to the needy (Heb. 13:15-16). Our worship will be incomplete and unacceptable if it lacks either one or the other.
- Owner — the land belongs to God. The harvester is only a servant, working a crop that was never fully his.
- Margin — holiness here means a deliberate limit: leave a sheaf, leave a cluster, do not strip the vine bare.
- Memory — the command rests on "I am the LORD your God," and Israel had once known what it was to be strangers in Egypt.
- Test — obedience costs fruit. The grapes left on the vine show whether love for the neighbour and trust in God are real.
- Grace — Boaz kept this law and went past it, dropping handfuls on purpose. The field and the gleanings came from the same hand. Both he and Ruth were debtors to grace.
Ye shall not steal, and ye shall not deal falsely, and ye shall not lie one to another.
Three short bans stand side by side here: no stealing, no false dealing, no lying. Each one is about how you treat another person. They sit in a chapter that opens with God's call to be holy. So why does plain honesty belong under that heading?
Israel was called to be holy because God is holy. That call reached into the ordinary details of daily life, where God's people dealt with one another.
Chapters 19 and 20 carry us a little further. They were to be holy, because the LORD was holy. Chapter 19 takes up the side of good instead, though they still kept themselves from everything profane, or from profaning what was holy. We find what is good and kind and fitting — what their conduct ought to be — in many small details. It shows in the way they treated one another. It shows in the dangers they faced in their walk and in their everyday circumstances. For they had to do with God, and the LORD was their God.
The reason behind these rules is not usefulness. It is a relationship, and God attaches His own name to every command.
The nineteenth chapter shows the duties that flow out of covenant relationship. God says "I am the LORD" fifteen times, and that declaration enforces every commandment. Fellowship with a holy God must be in holiness: "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
Stealing takes a neighbour's property. False dealing bends a deal. Lying twists words. God's ban on all three runs on into the verses that follow.
The LORD forbids dishonesty and untruthfulness, above all when they profane His name. He also condemns oppressing your neighbour — even by holding back a poor labourer's pay for a single night.
Some assume these rules ended with Israel and the law. One writer answers that the sins named here are still evil, and says what is missing in them.
Stealing, cheating, lying, and swearing falsely in God's name are common evils. The law forbids them (vv. 11-12). They are no less evil under grace, for again there is no faith and no love in any of them.
"Lie to one another" is easy to narrow down to spoken untruths. One writer takes the word much wider.
"Lying," or "falsehood," means everything that has the character and nature of falsehood. It is abstract: it is what has this quality, not merely the act of lying. This should be well remembered. In practice it might search many of us who would never be caught telling an outright untruth. On this understanding, many things might count as lying: a look, a gesture, a manner, a vague phrase, an evasion, a compliment, and much else.
The harm is not only to the person deceived. It reaches everyone around them.
What place do lies have among the people of God? They break down the confidence we ought to have in one another. Instead, we are to "let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another" (Eph. 4:25).
The command stops a hand. One writer shows what takes its place — and how small a theft can be.
Suppose someone had a habit of stealing before conversion. He must judge that habit strictly and then work with his hands in honest employment. He must earn not only his own support, but help for those in need too. So grace, once known, does not only correct what is wrong; it leads on to positive good. For an employee to take small things from his workplace is nothing less than stealing. Many do it without thinking, but a believer is to be careful never to take anything that does not belong to him.
"Dealing falsely" hits trade hardest. There, people defend dishonesty as the normal way to do business.
Someone may tell us, "It is the custom of the trade." Well, how does that change anything for a person who wants to walk in the fear of God and keep a good conscience? It may be the custom of the trade to put inferior yarn into cloth and to put water in the milk. But can a Christian, or even an honest man, do such things? Certainly not. The Word of God must govern a Christian's conscience, not the custom of the trade. If I sell a pair of shoes as all leather when I know they are made of leather and cardboard, then I am a liar and a thief.
- The cause. God calls His people to be holy because He is holy. He says "I am the LORD" through the chapter as the reason behind every command.
- The reach. The same LORD governs your hands, your accounts, and your speech. The custom of the trade sets no standard; the Word of God does.
- The measure. Lying is more than a spoken untruth. It is anything with the character of falsehood: a look, a manner, a vague phrase, an evasion.
- The cost. These sins carry no faith and no love. Among God's people they also break down the confidence we should have in one another.
- The result. Grace does more than halt the thief: it puts him to honest work so that he has something to give away.
And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of thy God I am Jehovah.
Leviticus 19 lists everyday duties: harvesting, paying wages, judging fairly. Verse 12 belongs to that list, and it ties your word to people together with the name of God.
The verse sits inside a short run of laws about honesty. Commentators read verses 11–13 as one block.
He forbids dishonesty and lying, above all when they profane His name. He also condemns oppressing your neighbour — even by holding back a poor labourer's pay for a single night. Wealthy Jews were guilty in this way: is that limited to men of Israel? Verses 11–13 carry great weight.
The chapter also guards people who cannot defend themselves, and it keeps returning to God's own name. Verse 12 ends with that claim: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19 contains various statutes. Many of them were designed to regulate a man's dealings with his neighbour. At the same time they display God's gracious thought for those who cannot easily protect themselves. In all this the LORD asserted the glory of His name and showed His own rights. We see this in verses such as 4, 12, 21, 26, 30, 37.
Put the thief beside the man who swears falsely, and you see the two directions sin runs.
A thief is an evil man who deals unjustly with his neighbour. The man who swears falsely makes God a liar, because he calls Him as a witness to back up his oath.
So the verse calls this profaning God's name. The lie goes to a person, but the liar pulls God in to back it up.
Two of the Ten Commandments stand behind this law. One guards God's name; the other guards your neighbour from a lie.
The third commandment says, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain." The ninth says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour." These two gave the moral basis for the command not to swear falsely — that is, not to commit perjury. But other passages in the Old Testament warn Israel against thoughtless swearing. Leviticus 19:12 says: "You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God."
The slide begins with a broken promise and ends with a habit.
The third commandment forbids taking God's name in vain. A person can do this seriously, or flippantly. A man may seriously swear by God that he will do a certain thing, and then not do it. People are so careless that this becomes common. In the end they throw God's name around and stop caring how offensive their talk is. But God is not mocked. He will judge all who are ungodly — not only for their ungodly deeds, but for "all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 15).
The Lord's teaching sets a higher standard for everyday speech.
So the Lord goes far beyond perjury or breaking a vow. He forbids swearing altogether in the ordinary dealings of daily life. Our word there is to be yes, yes, or no, no. Anything beyond this has no sanction from God, and is therefore of evil, or of the evil one, the enemy of God and man.
Commentators are careful to say what this does not touch — an oath taken in court.
The Lord Himself honoured it when the high priest put Him on oath. Nowhere in Scripture does anyone belittle an oath taken in court — not in the Sermon on the Mount, not in what James says here, nowhere else. Scripture says the opposite. What both set their faces against was the daily habit of dragging in religious guarantees to back up your word. They also stood against the profaning of the Lord's name in matters of this life. In fact this weakens what you say instead of strengthening it. Anything uncalled for adds no force to a statement. It is just a fruit and proof of weakness. Where there is plain truth, nothing is needed but a quiet statement of the fact.
The command did not expire with the law that carried it.
Stealing, cheating, lying and swearing falsely in God's name are common evils. The law forbids them (vv. 11–12). They are no less evil under grace, for again there is no faith and no love in any of these.
- Name — God's name is the thing at stake; a false oath drags Him in as witness and so makes Him a liar.
- Neighbour — the verse sits beside stealing, cheating and unpaid wages. You wrong God by wronging a person.
- Habit — one broken oath breeds careless talk, until God's name means nothing in your mouth.
- Higher — the Lord goes past perjury. He forbids swearing in daily talk: yes or no is enough, and more comes from evil.
- Still — grace softens none of it. Lying, cheating and false swearing hold no faith and no love.
Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour, neither rob him. The wages of the hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Leviticus 19 gives Israel a string of everyday rules under one demand: be holy, because the Lord is holy. Verse 13 brings that holiness down to payday. What does God think of an employer who keeps a poor man's earnings overnight? Can a delay of a few hours count as robbery?
This chapter shows how people who belong to God treat each other in ordinary life.
They were to be holy, because the Lord was holy. Chapter 19 takes up more the side of good. They were still to keep clear of everything profane, and never to treat holy things as common. But here we find what is good and kind and fitting — how they ought to behave, in many small details, in their dealings with one another... The people of God were, in all their ways, to walk in a manner worthy of this relationship.
The verse names two clear wrongs. Then it adds one that sounds small: a wage held back for a single night.
He forbids dishonesty and lying, above all when men misuse His name. And He condemns oppressing your neighbour — even when it is only holding back a poor labourer's pay for one night. Wealthy Jews were guilty in this way: is it limited to men of Israel?... The employment of labour is often carried on in a hard spirit, grinding the faces of the poor. Masters may give freely to so-called Christian or charitable causes. But if that money has been wrung out of tears and curses, it makes no amends. In God's eyes it makes things worse.
The rule fits how this work ran, and what a hired man was to the household that paid him.
Employers hired these servants by the day and paid them at the close of the day. A servant hired by a priest did not count as one of the family, and he could not eat the holy things. The slaves did count as part of the family.
Behind the legal wording is God's attention to what a delayed wage does inside a man and inside his home.
What tender care is here! The High and Mighty One who inhabits eternity can take notice of the thoughts and feelings that rise up in the heart of a poor labourer. He knows and takes into account what such a man expects from his day's work. The labourer's heart is counting on that pay; the family meal depends on it. Oh, do not hold that pay back! Do not send the labourer home with a heavy heart, to make the heart of his wife and children heavy too... He has borne the burden and heat of the day so that his wife and children may not go hungry to bed. Do not disappoint him. Give him his due.
Israel did not keep this law. The New Testament shows the same fraud at the end of the age.
This again reveals the gracious care of the Lord. How little care and thought for the poor and the servant we see today! If people kept these simple instructions, there would be far less discontent among the poor and far less unrest among workers. Israel failed in this. They cheated the poor and hired servants (Amos 8:5-6). James 5:4 shows what the last days of this age hold. "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts." In the last days people pay no attention to God's plea for the poor and the labourer, and the Lord has to take up their case.
Some might treat these as expired rules for an ancient farming society.
Stealing, cheating, lying, and swearing falsely in God's name are common evils. The law forbade them (vv. 11-12). They are no less evil under grace, because there is no faith or love in any of them. The same is true of any oppressive treatment of your neighbour, including delaying an employee's wages (v. 13).
The principle binds both sides: the employer and the worker.
It teaches the Christian to give full and proper pay to those he employs. It teaches the tradesman to give full measure, and to avoid any trick that brings dishonest gain. It teaches the worker to work steadily and honestly, with the same care when no one is watching as when someone is.
- Holiness — Chapter 19 turns the call to be holy, as the Lord is holy, into how you treat the person next to you.
- Wage — Employers hired a man by the day and paid him by evening. That day's pay bought his family's supper.
- Delay — Keeping that pay one night is oppression and robbery. Giving to good causes elsewhere does not cancel it.
- Cry — Unpaid wages have a voice. The cries of the harvesters reach the Lord of hosts, and He takes up the worker's case.
- Today — Grace does not cancel the rule. Pay in full and on time, trade fairly, and work well when no one is watching.
Thou shalt not revile a deaf person, and thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before a blind one; but thou shalt fear thy God I am Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment; thou shalt not respect the person of the lowly, nor honour the person of the great; in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Leviticus 19 is a long list of everyday duties, and at the centre of them stands the courtroom. Verse 15 forbids two opposite failures: favouring the poor and deferring to the powerful. Can sympathy ever be a good reason to bend a verdict?
These commands are not detached rules. They show the shape of a life lived near a holy God.
They were to be holy, because the LORD was holy. Chapter 19 takes up the side of good... It shows what is good and kind and fitting. It shows how they ought to behave with one another, and in the everyday circumstances of their walk. For they had to do with God, and the LORD was their God. The people of God were, in all their ways, to walk in a manner worthy of this relationship. It is here that we find the command to love our neighbour as ourselves.
The chapter keeps repeating one reason for all of it: God's own name.
The nineteenth chapter shows the duties that flow from covenant relationship: "I am the LORD," repeated fifteen times, is the declaration by which every commandment is enforced. Fellowship with a holy God must be in holiness.
Most people expect a warning against flattering the strong. This verse guards the other side too.
The fear of God is here of the highest importance. The heart of the faithful always knows how to love the poor of the flock, because Christ loves them. Yet the ambitious flesh of man needs this precept, "nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit" (Exodus 23:3), as much as it needs the one which forbids deferring to "the great," Leviticus 19:15.
Pity is not a legal argument. Poverty makes a man an object of care, but never a claim on the verdict.
Moses says, "You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit" (Exodus 23:6). Men must not set aside justice because it is in favour of a man who happens to be poor. But he also says, "nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit" (Exodus 23:3). A man must not escape justice because he is poor.
Righteous judgment has a method. It weighs the evidence and ignores who is standing in the room.
In every case of dispute, the judge was to hear all the facts on both sides and weigh them patiently. No prejudice, preference, or personal feeling of any kind was to warp his mind. He was to judge not by impressions, but by facts — clearly established, undeniable facts. Personal influence was to count for nothing. The case must be decided on its own merits alone.
Moses gave Israel's judges the same rule. Mackintosh turns it on the reader, then names the cure.
And how important is the warning of Deuteronomy 1:17! "You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone." How these words expose the poor human heart! How ready we are to show partiality; to let personal influence sway us; to attach importance to position and wealth; to be afraid of what people think of us! What is God's antidote to all this? Just this — the fear of God. If we set the Lord before us at all times, it delivers us from partiality, prejudice, and the fear of what people think.
Partiality does not stay in court. Clothes are the quickest thing people judge by.
To slight one man for his poor clothing, and to honour another for his splendid clothing, is a two-fold contradiction of Christ. Even the law taught far higher principles than the ones the Jews had fallen into. They were higher than the ones that govern people who do not know God. For in the days of law it was moving to read of God's concern for the poor and afflicted. He urges His people earnestly to consider them.
The command met its clearest test when the only innocent Man stood trial. Both His own nation and Rome's governor failed it.
Was there no righteousness on earth at that time? When God gave the law to His people at Sinai, He said: "in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:15). But what did this people do with the Lord Jesus, the only just One?... The Lord Jesus stood before Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate said: "I am innocent of this man's blood." Yet he had Him flogged and handed Him over to be crucified, because the inflamed crowd demanded it. Nothing shows the world's unrighteousness more clearly than its treatment of the Son of God.
- Ground — the command rests on who God is. "I am the LORD" sounds fifteen times in the chapter and enforces every duty in it.
- Both ways — partiality bends toward the poor as easily as toward the powerful. The law forbids both by name.
- Method — weigh the facts on both sides. Decide by evidence, not impressions; status and influence count for nothing.
- Cure — the rule exposes the heart's pull toward wealth, status and human approval; the fear of God is the antidote.
- Verdict — slight the poor man for his clothes, condemn the innocent Man, and righteous judgment has already collapsed.
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.
Thou shalt not avenge thyself, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself I am Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.