Love your neighbor as yourself
Leviticus 19:18 - Old Testament or New, God’s command for us to show our love to everyone is at the heart of His Word.
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““ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:18 NIV
Today’s verse comes from the third book of the Christian Bible, Leviticus. The entire chapter consists of God talking to Moses and setting out the laws He wants Moses to teach to the people of Israel. Some of these laws sound very strange indeed to our modern and New Testament-attuned ears — “Do not mate two different kind of animals” and “Do not wear clothing woven from two different materials” (Leviticus 19:19).
Others are very good advice at any time in human history — “Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute” (Leviticus 19:29 ) and “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:32). Some of these laws almost sound like they should come back into practice: “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:28)
Woven in between these various laws are those commandments God wanted His chosen people to live by (Leviticus 19:2-4):
““Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. “ ‘Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. “ ‘Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.”
and
““ ‘Do not steal. “ ‘Do not lie. “ ‘Do not deceive one another. “ ‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. “ ‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. “ ‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.”
The verse we’re looking at today is perhaps the most important in this entire chapter of Leviticus. Jesus referred to this law as the second most important command in all of the Mosaic Laws — “but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That truth, spoken by Jesus, is found in Matthew 22:36-40 and Mark 12:28-31, and repeated by His half-brother James in James 2:8-9.
What about the first part of this verse, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people”? We are taught in the New Testament (Romans 12:19) that vengeance is God’s alone:
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”
This can be somewhat confusing to someone new to Christianity, as it may sound like “well, we should let lawbreakers go free, because God will get His vengeance on them.” That’s not the point; this law is for interpersonal relationships, not for the governing of people. Elsewhere in Romans we also learn that God’s vengeance is applied through the use of government authority (see Romans 13:1-7). As David Guzik notes in Enduring Word:
It is appropriate to both personally forgive the criminal and testify against them in court.
OK, so we’re to leave vengeance to God… but we’re also not supposed to bear a grudge against our neighbors? C’mon, grudges are a human trait! I liked this explanation from The Bible Says:
God's people are not to take vengeance for themselves for having been wronged. Neither are they to bear any grudge against their neighbors. Bearing a grudge poisons our own soul. We are the primary loser. But it can also spill out as vengeance, which destroys communal harmony.
The heart of the verse, of course, is “but love your neighbor as yourself.” In the Old Testament times during which this was written, many Jews would have thought of their neighbors as being friends or (on a larger scale) their countrymen. Jesus expanded the definition of neighbor; He commanded us to love our enemies in Luke 6:27, and taught us that our neighbor was anyone in need, even if they were thought of as an enemy (Luke 10:29-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan).
Reading on just a wee bit further in Leviticus 19 (verse 34 to be exact), God expanded the scope of “neighbor” to “The foreigner residing among you”, with an entreaty to “Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Jesus would reprise that lesson many years later.
What does it mean to “love your neighbor as yourself?” For a good explanation, I refer here to Enduring Word’s commentary again:
iii. The command to love your neighbor as yourself is simple yet commonly misunderstood. This doesn’t mean that we must love ourselves before we can love anyone else; it means that in the same way we take care of ourselves and are concerned about our own interests, we should take care and have concern for the interests of others.
iv. We already love ourselves: For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it (Ephesians 5:29). Paul warned that in the last days, men will be lovers of themselves (2 Timothy 3:2) – and not in a positive sense! In fact, our misery when things are going badly shows we love ourselves; we rejoice in the misery of those we hate. Our challenge is to show others the same love we show ourselves.
Old Testament or New, God’s command for us to show our love to everyone is at the heart of His Word.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I thank You for Your teachings in this verse and elsewhere in Scripture. Throughout Your Word, You teach us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to reflect Your love in our interactions with others. I pray that You give me the strength to forgive those who have wronged me, and to let go of any bitterness that is in my heart. Guide me each day to serve others with kindness and compassion, especially when it is difficult. I pray this in the Holy Name of Jesus, AMEN.