Leviticus; The Law of Holiness and Grace

The Love of Our Neighbor

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Lesson: 39

Track: 39

Dictation Name: RR172V39

Date: Early 70s

Let us worship God. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father we come unto Thee who has promised that where two or three are gathered together in Thy name, Thou wilt hear their prayers and grant their petitions. Hear us oh Lord and here are the prayers of our hearts: give us that which is needful and expedient for us, and give unto us the knowledge of Thee and the power of Thy spirit that day by day we may serve Thee with all our heart, mind and being. Grant this we beseech Thee in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our subject is “The Love of Our Neighbor.” Our text, Leviticus 19:16-18. Leviticus 19:16-18, “The Love of Our Neighbor.”

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

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

The words, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” are very much used and abused by Humanists. They are taken to justify Statism and Socialism as though God were here commanding Statist action rather than a personal way of life. These seven words have been subjected to severe misinterpretations.

The first, which I’ve just cited, is to use the verse to justify coercive Statist action and a substitute for neighborly relations, civil authority. This law requires community of us, not coercion. The covenant community in the Lord by means of His Law and faithfulness to Him is to manifest law and love which are identified in scripture one towards another. It is God’s Law that is identified as the fulfilling of the Law. Statist law is not the fulfilling of love. Statist’s welfarism, for example, destroys the relationship of man to man. Statist coercion is the death of community. Not only is the meaning of community subverted, but the possibility of it, when the State enters in. Then second, love in the Bible is never an emotion. It is fulfilling—putting into force—God’s Law. And the Humanists insist on seeing love as an emotion.

These words, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” are in the Sermon on the Mount, they are echoed by James, and our Lord emphatically makes clear in the parable of the Prodigal—of the, ah, Good Samaritan what love of neighbor means.

James in his letter, the second chapter, verses 14-17 declares,

“14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Now in this passage, which is a unity, the first of these verses speaks against talebearers. This word refers to slanderers. It has reference to false, malicious talk. The second half of the verse says, “Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor.” To stand against the blood is to stand against his life, and this is what slander does. By damaging another man’s name, whether in the courts or gossip, we damage his life and we stand against his blood. In later rabbinic teaching, it was held that slander killed three people: the one slandered the one slandering, and the one hearing. Slander is a form of injustice. It condemns people without benefit of trial. In all, slander serves to give false and unjust judgment. And it leaves persons with only a negative recourse.

Now a significant fact is that when slander increases on the part of people, and on the part of the media at the same time, you have a parallel development. There is no recourse in the courts, because the courts share in the same cultural decline, in the same kind of moral laxity. The Tower Commission report was released just recently. There is a document there, which members of the committee have admitted was a forgery, but they do not say so. One reason for it is that it will help them destroy two powerful and very fine Conservatives. So, they have subpoenaed all their records, and in the one case it is an organization that is sending medical supplies to the Contras. This will destroy everything that they are trying to do. They will tie both groups up for years. All this, without any evidence. This is why to be a talebearer is to strike against the blood, against the life of another.

To use slander, to use malicious talk is a form of murder. It was held of old that this law was violated in a trial, if a man had pertinent evidence to give, and failed to give it. So, it’s not only slandering a person but withholding the truth when the truth will help. We cannot be, in other words, passive bystanders. Passivity is an evil. It is complicity with crime and all such passivity is called sin, iniquity. And in fact, is spelled out in no uncertain terms. For example, we are told this in Psalm 50:16-22.

“16 But unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”

God says the wicked are bystanders who do nothing when crimes are committed. God indicts them for their passivity when crimes are committed, and their activity in slander. They stand by and see theft and adultery and do nothing, but they give their mouth to evil and deceit, and such people are covenant-breakers and have no sense of community. They will slander their own relatives, we are told.

Now, the word ‘talebearer’ here used comes from the word ‘peddler,’ the talebearer is a peddler of slander. I Peter 4:15 tells us, “let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy body in other man’s matters.”

Twice in three verses, fourteen times in this chapter we read the words, “I am the Lord.” Because He is holy, we must be holy also. Holiness manifests itself in our activities, in our everyday relationships and failure to recognize this fact, that holiness is a matter of everyday living leads to false and unrealistic doctrines of holiness.

The seventeenth verse, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him,” is given very literally by Robert Young, thou doest not hate thy brother in thy heart, thou doest certainly rebuke thy fellow and not suffer sin upon him. This is law, and law always has a context. In Matthew 18:11-14, our Lord refers very plainly to these words. He declares that His coming is to save that which was lost. He tells us of the shepherd with the flock of 100 and goes hunting for the stray sheep and concludes, even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish. What this requires of us, He declares in this passage, which is Luke [Matthew] 18:11-14 [18:15-20]

“15 moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

18 Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

19Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Now, this is clearly law. The legal recourse is declared. The reference is to the family structure, to the elders, to Exodus 18:13-26 and Deuteronomy 1:9-18, the establishment of, through the family system, the authority of the council elders. This requirement was neglected in our Lord ’s Day. As experts in the Law took over these functions, and the process became legalistic and unloving, and the same is true ever since in the churches.

Now, the Lord set forth the requirements of Leviticus 19:17 and Exodus 18:13-26, in the context of this parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew. It is invalid apart from this context. The purpose is to save the lost, to manifest Christ’s redeeming grace, to go the extra mile to rescue the lost. Only if these terms are met, if there is strict faithfulness to God’s every word, the manifestation of His grace and love, do then the legal terms apply. Then, and then only does man’s judgment have binding force and is bound in Heaven because it is faithful both to the word and the spirit of God’s Law.

So today on all sides, when churches act, they act to clobber people, not to manifest what our Lord says is the heart of the judicial process—to rescue the wandering sheep.

The interesting fact is that in the Christian Era, because of what early Church did with this requirement to set up courts what would seek by compassion and grace to help those who were erring, and I they would not be corrected, then to deal with them. This influenced Judaism, so that it revived among the Jews the authority of the lay elder and his authority. One of the things that historians have overlooked, but which is clearly there, is the fact that there was a great deal of influence. We know that some things were mediated to the Church. Aristotle’s thought for example, through Jewish philosophers. On the other hand, many things that were a part of the Old Testament were mediated back to the Jews through the churches over the centuries. So, there were influences back and forth. It is absurd to believe that it was a one-way relationship. The Talmud, for example, shows an awareness of Christ and His teachings. It is now known that a possibly original Hebrew version of Matthew’s Gospel (with some corruption) is still embedded in a 14th century Hebrew treatise. We know that over the centuries, the contacts between the Church and the synagogues were many, both hostile and friendly. It is nonsense to suppose that there was no influence one on the other, or that the influence went only one way.

The seventeenth verse is also echoed in Luke 17:3-4, which reads, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” The word ‘rebuke’ in the Greek has a somewhat juridical reference. Its only noun form in the New Testament is in II Corinthians 2:6 where it refers to the judicial punishment of someone, and it is translated a punishment. And ‘repent’ means to turn around. It involves restitution, so that it does again refer to the requirements of God’s Law.

So, our Lord tells us that when the offender is truly converted by means of the rebuke, he is to be forgiven. If he repeats his sin, he will make restitution and turn again to the offended. As long as he truly repents, which means, makes restitution, he is to be forgiven and helped as a brother in the Lord. Paul refers to this requirement of covenantal life on other occasions. For example, in Ephesians 4:23-27 he says,

“23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

27 Neither give place to the devil.”

Again, in I Timothy 5:19-21, he says,

“19 against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.”

So again we have references to the same procedure of confrontation and restoration. Thus, we must recognize that these things are deeply embedded in the New Testament. There are many references in the New Testament to the seventeenth verse: in Galatians 6:1, 2, and James 5:19-20, in Hebrews 12:13 and other verses.

In verse eighteen, we come to the very familiar words of “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The New Testament is the revelation of the redeemer and a commentary on God’s Law Word in the Old Testament. Verse 18, “...love thy neighbor…” is dealt with by our Lord in Matthew 5:43 where He deals with perversions of this law, and makes clear that neighbors include everyone: aliens, foreigners, enemies. And this is true in Leviticus, because [sneeze] at the end of the chapter, it is very clear that it is to include even one’s enemies.

Leviticus 19:18, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is repeated at least half a dozen times in the New Testament, and there are three aspects to this law. “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

1.      Bearing a grudge is banned. Our memory is to be purged and our outlook altered. We view people in terms of our memory. Now, in this respect, memory is a very necessary and invaluable tool both for learning and for safety. But where a man has repented and made restitution, we warp ourselves by using the past to judge the present.

2.      Before calling for the cleansing of the mind, actions are commanded. “Thou shalt not avenge thyself.” This is commanded repeatedly in scripture because vengeance belongs to God. And emphatic statement of both Testament. God’s vengeance is manifested through His Law, by His government in history, and in eternity.

3.      Love is putting the Law into force, as Romans 13:8-10 says. We must obey this law because God says, “I am the Lord. I am He who made you. And therefore I can command you.”

Two scholars, Porter and Knight, have said that it is possible to translate the key words, ‘thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,’ as ‘you shall love your neighbor as a man like yourself; as a fellow creature under God; as a person in as much need of grace as you are.’ The commentary on the meaning of Leviticus 19:18 is given by our Lord in Luke 10:29-37, in answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” This passage Calvin commented on very tellingly. He said, “Not only those with whom we have some connection are called our neighbors, but all without exception. For the whole human race forms one body of which all are members and consequently should be bound together by mutual ties. For we must bear in mind that even those who are most alienated from us should be cherished and aided even as our own flesh, since we have seen elsewhere that sojourners and strangers are placed in the same category with our relations and Christ sufficiently confirms this in the case of the Samaritan.” Recently, a work published in Europe has brought out how important Calvin’s private foreign policy negotiations were in European matters; in matters of war, in matters of internal policy, because he applied this premise, and did some remarkable things.

God’s purpose through His new humanity (the covenant people) thus is made clear and open in this passage. The new humanity is to include in time, all the nations of the world with all their glory. And we are to work now towards that goal using God’s Law, both in its justice and in its mercy, its punishment and its grace. The beginnings of this new humanity are in God’s covenant and in the covenant redeemer, Jesus Christ. As we establish His Law and His government through the family and elders, through our membership one in another and by His grace, we proceed to re-establish all things, to reorder all things. We thereby extend the new humanity and the new creation. This is our calling, and the means thereto is the Word of God, His grace, His saving power. Let us pray.

We thank Thee our Father, for Thy Word, Thy grace, and Thy spirit. We thank Thee that Thou hast called us to be the people of power, to make all things new in Christ. Bless us to this task, we beseech Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions or comments now?

Yes.

[Audience] Well, it’s interesting that at a time when you hear more about brotherhood than, ah, we’ve heard for centuries I suppose, there’s less real brotherhood every year and it’s also interesting I think that as regulations increase the courts keep weakening the applications.

[Rushdoony] Yes. Yes. People are trying to achieve the biblical goals in Western Humanism, without the biblical faith. And as a result, they are creating the most monstrous evils history has ever seen. Their goal is everything that God ordains, the Great Community, as the Humanists call it, without any of the premises that God says are foundational to it. And so they are creating a nightmare.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Well if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Lord and our God, Thy Word is truth, and Thy Word points the way to peace, to prosperity, to victory, to a world in which every man lives at peace one with another. Make us strong in Thy Word. Grant as Thy judgment passes over the nations, Thy people may be emboldened to proclaim the power of Thy Son, Thy Word and Thy presence. And now, go in peace. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.