Leviticus 19:9-18

THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW 19:9-18
TEXT 19:9-18

9

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest.

10

And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Jehovah your God.

11

Ye shall not steal; neither shall ye deal falsely, nor lie one to another.

12

And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of thy God: I am Jehovah.

13

Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbor, nor rob him: the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

14

Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.

15

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.

16

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am Jehovah.

17

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.

18

Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 19:9-18

422.

Name the ten commandments and designate which ones were on the first table and directed toward God, and which ones were on the second table and directed toward man.

423.

The poor and the stranger will receive more than grain and grapes from this regulation. What was it?

424.

Why did God feel it necessary to repeat these commandments in this place?

425.

Leviticus 19:12 contains two misuses of the name of God. Discuss what they are.

426.

Why not wait until the next day to pay a hired servant?

427.

What perversity in man would tempt him to curse the deaf (who couldn-'t hear his cursing) or trip a blind man (who would not know who did it)?

428.

How easily we are influenced by appearance, either with the poor or the mighty. Discuss Leviticus 19:15.

429.

Gossip can be deadly. Discuss the danger in Leviticus 19:16.

430.

To hold your tongue and hate your neighbor is wrong. You should rebuke him. Discuss Leviticus 19:17.

431.

Isn-'t it surprising to read here the words you shall love your neighbor as yourself? Cf. Romans 12:17; Romans 12:19; Matthew 5:43-46. Discuss.

PARAPHRASE 19:9-18

When you harvest your crops, don-'t reap the corners of your fields, and don-'t pick up stray grains of wheat from the ground. It is the same with your grape cropdon-'t strip every last piece of fruit from the vines, and don-'t pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and for those traveling through, for I am Jehovah your God. You must not steal nor lie nor defraud. You must not swear to a falsehood, thus bringing reproach upon the name of your God, for I am Jehovah. You shall not rob nor oppress anyone, and you shall pay your hired workers promptly. If something is due them, don-'t even keep it overnight. You must not curse the deaf nor trip up a blind man as he walks. Fear your God; I am Jehovah! Judges must always be just in their sentences, not noticing whether a person is poor or rich; they must always be perfectly fair. Don-'t gossip. Don-'t falsely accuse your neighbor of some crime, for I am Jehovah. Don-'t hate your brother. Rebuke anyone who sins; don-'t let him get away with it, or you will be equally guilty. Don-'t seek vengeance. Don-'t bear a grudge; but love your neighbor as yourself, for I am Jehovah.

COMMENT 19:9-18

Leviticus 19:9-18 Acceptableness with God is the total point of the three Chapter s of 18, 19, 20. Personal conduct as related to marriage and attitudes and actions as concerns the family are discussed. Now we hear of the treatment of the poor and strangers. Our worship of God is reflected in all our daily conduct or we cannot say he is Lord of all. The mercy shown to the poor is so like that we all receive from Him. Dignity and respect even for the poorest is provided by God. A certain amount of the harvest belongs to the poor; they are not begging, they are only taking that which is lawfully theirs.

The extent of the corners and the gleanings were very carefully defined at different periods in Hebrew history. The word glean as related to the grapes meant infants i.e. those branches or twigs of grapes upon which there were only one or two grapes. These were to be left for the needy. The scattered grapes which fell from the clusters when the large ones were cut were to be left and not gathered except by the poor.

The use of the eighth commandment against stealing used as it is in its context could refer to the seriousness of taking that which belongs to the poorit is nothing short of theft!
The hasty, thoughtless use of the name of Almighty God is something religious people need to consider very often. How easy it is to treat the Holy as common. In the midst of all the rights and ceremonies the name of God was often used lightly.
Deceit and deception was the way of life for many in the days of the prophetsand earlier. Oppression and violence was often used in defrauding. It was in such environment these regulations were given.
The day laborer, or as he is often called, the hireling needs his money as soon as he earns it. His wife and family expect him to bring home sufficient money for their food. The law asks that his wages be given to him on the same day of his work. There are numerous references to this same kind treatment. Cf. Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Jeremiah 37:13; Malachi 3:5; James 5:4. The scribes of Jesus-' day said, He who treats a hireling with harshness sins as grievously as if he hath taken away life, and transgresses five precepts.

To curse or revile one who cannot defend himself was mean and selfish. Deaf people can be exasperating, but it is not their fault. Were we unable to hear, we perhaps would react in even a less communicative manner. Kindness, tenderness is the only form of communication understood by everyone. Perhaps reviling those who are absent and thus unable to reply is another form of this wrong (Cf. Psalms 38:14-15).

Thoughtfulness and help to those physically less fortunate than ourselves is expected by God who deals kindly with such blind people as ourselves. Deuteronomy 27:18 places a curse upon those who lead the blind astray. The figurative use of this law, would also obtain, i.e. deceiving the naive and the ignorant. Cf. Romans 14:13. The concluding phrase, but you shall fear (or reverence) your God: I am the Lord means that we might take advantage of the deaf and blind here but we have no advantage with God. He hears what we say and He sees what we do. To ignore His omnipresence and omniscience is to be deaf and; blind ourselves.

Leviticus 19:15 takes us into a law court. Perhaps it is only a minor personal case, but in whatever circumstance the judge is not to exercise his authority in an arbitrary manner. To be very plain about the subject: he is not to allow his sympathy for the poor or his admiration of the mighty to cloud his judgment. The poor must be penalized and the rich rewarded if this is what fairness and impartiality demands. Cf. Exodus 23:3; James 2:2-9.

Giving evidence about our neighbor in court is one thing; it is entirely something else to recite such information to any and all who want to hear it. When such happens it is always distorted and rapidly becomes slander. How devastating is slander! Cf. Jeremiah 6:28; Ezekiel 22:9; 1 Samuel 22:9; 1 Samuel 22:18. Ginsburg says: This dangerous habit, which has ruined the character and destroyed the life of many an innocent person was denounced by the spiritual authorities in the time of Christ as the greatest sin. Three things they declared remove a man from this world, and deprive him of happiness in the world to comeidolatry, incest, and murder. But slander surpasses them all! It kills three persons with one actthe person who slanders, the person who is slandered, and the person who listens to the slander.

The phrase neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor (Leviticus 19:16) is not clear in meaning upon the first reading. The paraphrase renders it, Don-'t falsely accuse your neighbor of some crime. The Amplified Bible follows this same line of thought by saying, nor shall you (secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and) endanger the life of your neighbor. It speaks against false testimony whether such is given by refusing to get involved and thus allowing falsehood to prevail or by giving false testimony. In either case it was serious enough to endanger the life of our neighbor. An unwillingness to help our neighbor when he is in need is in itself standing by while the blood of our neighbor is being shed.

From external acts we turn to internal motivations. Leviticus 19:17 discusses the cause of injury: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. Even if we are the recipients of punishment in a case in which we feel we were unjustly judged, we cannot harbor hatred toward those who gave us the decision. Whereas we might not be able to overthrow the decision, we can at least get it out of our heart into words directed to our brother. We need to express ourselves. Let's not be like Absalom who spoke unto Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon. 2 Samuel 13:22. Speak to your brothersay to him, Why hast thou thus dealt with me? Our Lord said, If thy brother sin against thee rebuke him, and if he repent forgive him. Luke 17:3. At whatever juncture, do not hate him. We must be very careful in rebuking our brother that we do not in this very act, sin ourselves. It is not revenge that we seek, but understanding and reconciliations. Even if our brother does not repent, we have expressed all of our heart to him and it thus becomes much easier to forget and forgive freely from the heart.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We need to be reminded again and again that if we hate ourselves, if we are living in a constant state of self-loathing or self-depreciation we will indeed hate, loathe and depreciate our neighbors. We do project our own self-estimation upon neighborsthey are the unhappy recipients. The love of ourselves originates in our acceptance of God's acceptance of us. When I believe He loves me, it becomes much easier to love myself and thus love my neighbor. Cf. Romans 12:17; Romans 12:19; Matthew 5:43-46.

FACT QUESTIONS 19:9-18

427.

What is the one concept developed in Chapter s 18, 19, 20?

428.

How was dignity and respect shown to the poor?

429.

What grapes were left for the poor?

430.

How is the eighth commandment related to treatment of the poor?

431.

Profaning of the name of God is often done among religious people. Why? How?

432.

The day laborer must be paid on the same day he does the work. Why?

433.

How serious was it to treat a laborer harshly?

434.

Why would some be tempted to curse a deaf person? Is there a double application of this law?

435.

Why does God expect us to deal kindly with those who are physically handicapped?

436.

Explain in your own words Leviticus 19:15.

437.

How do Leviticus 19:15-16 relate?

438.

What is slander? How does it start?

439.

Show how slander kills three people.

440.

What is involved in standing against the blood of our neighbor?

441.

What is the real cause of injury to our neighbor?

442.

Show how 2 Samuel 13:22 and Luke 17:3 relate to Leviticus 19:17.

443.

What is meant by loving ourselves?

In review: we discussed THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW in Leviticus 19:9-18 under the following headings: (1) Consideration for the poorLeviticus 19:9-10; (2) Prohibition against robbery and deceitLeviticus 19:11; (3) Prohibition against false swearingLeviticus 19:12; (4) Prohibition against oppressionLeviticus 19:13; (5) Care for the helplessLeviticus 19:14; (6) Righteous judgmentsLeviticus 19:15; (7) Warning against tale bearingLeviticus 19:16; (8) Summary of the Second TableLeviticus 19:17-18.