Jesus Christ called God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself the second-most important in all of God’s law. Read it in Leviticus 19:18. Let’s continue our study of the wonderful particulars God revealed in His law on how to show godly love to our fellow man. He gives several ways you may never have thought of before!
Gossip Is Hatred!
The context of Leviticus 19:18 contains some helpful details. Consider the first part of verse 16. A talebearer is a gossip. God’s law expressly forbids gossip! This law doesn’t even mention whether the tale is true or false, or if it is supposed to be secret or not. The principle is, love your neighbor as yourself. If you wouldn’t want a similar statement said about you—even if it’s true—then don’t say it about someone else! Read in Matthew 12:36 what Christ said about how God holds us accountable for our words.
Now, look at Leviticus 19:16 as a whole. We studied the second half of this verse in the last article. Some scholars believe that the two parts of this verse are related, that both forbid harming another man’s good name: the first, by gossip; the second, by accusing a man—which includes not only giving incriminating false testimony against him, but even remaining silent when you know he is innocent of an accusation. In other words, if you have information that can clear someone who has been accused, God commands that you bring it out. That is a reasonable way to view this scripture, and certainly in line with God’s law of love.
In this verse, God makes a connection between gossip and physical violence! A talebearer is showing hatred for the person he is talking about. He is trying to bring him down, to assassinate his character. This springs from the same spirit of hate as a physical attack and even murder.
Don’t Look the Other Way
Read Exodus 23:4. This says that if you see that your enemy is about to suffer some kind of loss, God expects you to show love and help him out! This is true even if your enemy isn’t around. For example, he would never know that you had occasion to prevent his beast from wandering off—but God would. God is watching! And God’s law says we are to love even our enemies!
Imagine a world where not only friends and neighbors look out for each other in this way, but everybody—even those who have friction between them. Don’t you want to live in that kind of world? Think about it: How long will you remain enemies with someone you are sincerely looking out for?
Read the amplification of this same principle in verse 5. An animal has staggered under a heavy load. You see a man struggling with it, trying to lift the animal or loosen the load so he can remove it. Then you recognize the man. That guy hates you! “[A]nd wouldest forbear to help him” means you really don’t want to help him—after all, he gives you nothing but grief! Nevertheless: “you shall surely help him with it” (New King James). Put aside your differences and get the job done together, like best friends. That is God’s law of love. The fact that it mentions the enemy doesn’t mean you don’t have to do this for your friends; it means you have to do this for everyone—even your enemy!
Study the companion passage in Deuteronomy 22:1-3. The Living Bible puts it this way: “If you see someone’s ox or sheep wandering away, don’t pretend you didn’t see it; take it back to its owner. If you don’t know who the owner is, take it to your farm and keep it there until the owner comes looking for it, and then give it to him. The same applies to donkeys, clothing, or anything else you find. Keep it for its owner.” You might be tempted to think: I guess he should have taken better care of his stuff! But “finders keepers” is not God’s law! If you lose your possessions, you hope the person who finds them gives them back to you. Do the same thing for your neighbor.
Read verse 4. In the Living Bible this reads: “If you see someone trying to get an ox or donkey onto its feet when it has slipped beneath its load, don’t look the other way. Go and help!”
Protect Your Neighbors
Did you know that God’s law includes construction safety regulations? Read the principle contained in Deuteronomy 22:8. Many houses in ancient Israel had flat roofs that were used as part of the living space. God actually commands for a guardrail to be built around the roof so no one falls off. The principle: Take preventative steps to protect the safety of others—up to and including the public in general. This verse says that if you don’t obey that command and someone falls off, you’ve brought bloodguiltiness on your house! God holds you responsible. Consider Exodus 21:33-34. The person who digs a pit or creates a hazard needs to think not just about himself—he must also anticipate problems and protect others and their property. God’s straightforward penalty for those who broke this law rectified the damage done and prevented future problems.
These verses cite specific cases in order to illustrate broad principles of love. As we will see in a future article about judicial law, when Israel’s judges examined a specific case, they found the closest law that applied and ruled according to the principle. A person couldn’t reason that he was exempt, for example, because the law only mentioned ox and donkey, and it was a goat that fell into his pit. The principle is, leaving a hazardous situation breaks God’s law of love!
How can you apply this principle of looking out for others in your own home and workplace?
The Law of Compassion and Empathy
We are certainly bound to apply God’s law of love toward neighbor in how we treat other “Israelites,” Spirit-begotten Church members. But this is most directly a command to love the unconverted! The Israelites were commanded to love both Israelites and strangers—everyone—and so are we.
In a previous article, we saw how God forbids His people from mingling with paganism; there is no question about that! Read, for example, Exodus 22:20. But notice what God says immediately afterward in verse 21. This is talking about foreigners who had given up their false gods. There were non-Israelites in the camp of Israel, and God commanded the Israelites to treat them with respect and kindness. In fact, God’s law has many such commands. God commanded that the Israelites were not to wrong these foreigners in their speech, or in buying or selling, for example.
The foundation of this law is godly compassion and empathy. God reminded the Israelites, You were strangers in Egypt. You know how hard it is to live in a strange land. Remember how awful it felt to be mistreated and abused! So don’t be guilty of mistreatment and abuse. Be careful to not make a stranger’s life any harder than it already is!
Notice how God expresses this call to empathy in Exodus 23:9. Consider how we can apply this beautiful principle on a spiritual level in our relationships with people outside of God’s Family. Remember, you used to be outside the Family! You were once alienated from God and enslaved to sin and to Satan.
Think about this when you see a spiritual stranger or a spiritual Israelite going through trials. Draw on your own experiences and trials when you talk with that person. Remember how loving and compassionate God is with you! His law codifies and demonstrates that compassion in so many details so that we can do the same.
For irrefutable proof that God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself applies to the strangers, or foreigners, in your midst, read Leviticus 19:33-34. What a beautiful law. God wanted Israel to set the example among all the nations. So when outsiders came into the land, God wanted them to see that there was something different, something special! The people were honest, friendly, hospitable; they made outsiders feel welcome and loved.
This is just how God wants those of us in His Church today to treat those in the world who we come into contact with.
Consider how God carries on with this thought in verse 35. God is saying, If you’re doing business, treat your customer as yourself! Give him the kind of honest deal you would hope to receive. How that law alone would revolutionize society!
Love the World
How do you treat people in the world? It is a cutthroat place; there are many people trying to take advantage of you; evil human nature dominates people affairs. As a result, it is easy to get into somewhat of an adversarial mindset toward people. That is why it is so important to remember these laws in the context of God’s plan for those people!
Read Deuteronomy 10:17-19. God loves the people in this world! They are potential children of His future Family! So He instructs us to love them too. See the principle expounded on in Deuteronomy 24:17-18.
Think on it. God commands us to be deeply grateful for Him freeing us from life-long slavery to sin, for converting us, for giving us His law of liberty. He wants us to remember where we came from, to realize how blessed we are—and to extend those blessings to others!
In our human nature, we may get self-righteous and feel we deserve to be in God’s Church. We may feel like we’re above others, and look down on those who lack the same understanding. But God says, You didn’t earn anything! In fact, you owe me everything! Remember the kindness, mercy and justice I showed you—and I command you to turn around and show that to others!
Do your dealings with the unconverted reflect that “because you were slaves in Egypt” understanding? Do you recognize that you would still be a slave if you hadn’t been miraculously delivered? At your school, in your work, when you drive, when you’re out in public, when you talk with unconverted family members, do you represent God in a way that really makes a positive impression on people?
Read Paul’s instruction in Titus 3:1-7 to a minister on helping God’s people in their interactions with the world. See in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 where Paul even instructed us to bring such thinking into our prayer life. Clearly Paul understood God’s attitude toward the world. It was a lesson God taught even to the ancient Israelites: This plan doesn’t end with me saving you—I want to save all men!
Think Like God!
In teaching us to love our neighbor as ourselves, Jesus Christ quoted Leviticus 19. Did you realize, though, just how often the New Testament refers back to that specific law? Christ didn’t believe that Leviticus was “done away”—and neither did any other biblical writer!
Read what Paul wrote in Romans 13:8-10, and in Galatians 5:14. Look at the glorious name the Apostle James gave to this law in James 2:8. Yes, this is a law for kings! “This law is from the royal Father and Son, and we are to become the royal Bride of the Son,” Gerald Flurry wrote in the James booklet. “Only God’s royal kings and priests understand just how royal and profound this law is. It is the royal law of God and His kings and priests—today and in the World Tomorrow.”
Consider precisely what Christ says in Matthew 5:43. God’s law never says, “Hate your enemy”! That is what man says. Verse 44 shows God’s law as it was from the very beginning. What Christ says here harmonizes perfectly with the statutes and judgments that He Himself had given to Israel anciently! It is natural to love yourself, but God’s law says to extend that same love to your neighbor. And here Christ is saying, Remember what I told you from the beginning: Your “neighbor” even includes your enemy. I want you to extend that same love to your enemies!
God’s command is: Love everyone.
This is a perfect standard of love that we can always work harder at striving to live up to! We can only fulfill it with the mind of Christ in us. He died for us while we were yet sinners. God has a plan to convert His enemies! Of course, He isn’t going to succeed in every case, but He will give them every opportunity!
Read Galatians 6:9-10. In these verses, Paul says we should be especially willing to go out of our way for those in God’s Family, but he clearly says who this law applies to—and it isn’t only the spiritual Family. “[L]et us do good unto all men”—even those in the world.
This has been God’s beautiful law from the very beginning. That law is a blueprint for a just and ethical world. It’s a world where no one takes from another; no one harms another; no one takes advantage of another. Everyone gives to one another; helps one another; protects one another; looks out for each other! That is the beautiful world that God’s law of love will create.
We need to be keeping this law today. Evaluate your own relationships with your friends, your family, and even your enemies. Use God’s Spirit to examine yourself and find new and improved ways to love thy neighbor!