Followers

Saturday, May 5, 2018

You shall love your neighbor as yourself

Introduction

This clause comes from Leviticus 19:18, the first chapter of the torah portion called קדושים – the plural form of the adjective meaning holy, sacred.  The name for the torah portion has been derived from the second verse of the chapter, 'You (pl) shall be holy (pl), because I, YHWH, your God, am holy.'  The entire torah portion includes two chapters with 64 verses of practical instructions on what constitutes 'holy conduct' before YHWH; however, this one clause is frequently the only one that many people – particularly Christians – tend to remember.  There is good reason for this.  In the case of Jews this clause is not included in any part of their standard Jewish liturgy, so they will hear the clause only during the torah reading for קדושים.  For Christians who read the New Testament this clause is cited more frequently than any other from קדושים.  A total of 12 verses from קדושים are cited in the New Covenant writings for a total of 25 separate citations, but this passage is cited in 10 out of those 25 instances. Although this clause is frequently the only thing most people remember from קדושים,  there is a second passage in this same context with a similar message: You shall love the resident alien who lives among you as yourself (Lev 19:34).  This verse seems to be generally forgotten by everybody.  I would like to examine the contexts in which these passages occur both within the torah and the New Covenant books.

Context of קדושים 

As previously mentioned, קדושים contains 64 verses, most of which are understood as individual laws by the rabbinic tradition.  The NASB and other standard English translations tend to mark each "law" as a standalone statement.  The editors of Biblia Hebraica have attempted to introduce breaks on the basis of thematic similarity, and the paragraph divisions found in torah scrolls do much the same thing.  These divisions of the text do not consistently agree with one another; however, there are some overall thematic divisions that may be identified:

·         Lev 19:1-8 – standards of conduct necessary for acceptance with YHWH
·         Lev 19:9-19 – standards of conduct between Israelites
·         Lev 19:20-37 – more general standards of conduct
·         Lev 20:1-6 – prohibition of child sacrifice and consulting mediums
·         Lev 20:7-21 – prohibited sexual practices
·         Lev 20:22-27 – prohibition against the practices of the people (Canaanites and the other 'ites') in the land
The first passage of interest occurs within the second block of instructions.  The overall general theme of verses 9 through 16 is 'You shall not conduct yourself in such a way that you harm someone else, particularly one who is dependent or helpless.  Verses 17 and 18 go together and deserve a more detailed examination.

לא תשנא את אחיך בלבנך הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך ולא תשא עליו חטא
לא תקם ולא תטר את בני עמך ואהבת לרעך כמוך אני יהוה

Do not hate your brother in your heart. You assuredly may reprove your associate, but do not incur sin because of him.  Do not take vengeance and do not keep (anger, a grudge) with sons of your people; rather you shall love your fellow citizen as yourself.  I am YHWH.

The most difficult part of the passage is the last clause in verse 17: ולא תשא עליו חטא.  The verb form is a qal imperfect from the root נשא, meaning lift, bear, carry.  The preposition עליו could mean any of the following in this context:

·         Upon him
·         Against him
·         Concerning him
·         Because of him.
As a result, the clause could mean that the one being addressed incurs sin because of his conduct relative to his associate, or that the one being addressed imputes sin against his associate.  The first two verbs in verse 18 suggest that the former meaning is the one intended.  The resolution is for the individual to love רעך as he loves himself.  The term רעך is usually translated as neighbor, but its actual meaning is broader.  It could refer to a friend, a fellow citizen, or just anybody else.

The LXX text for this passage reads as follows:

You shall not hate your brother in your understanding.  You may convict your neighbor by reproof, and you will not bear sin on his account.   Your hand shall not avenge you, and you shall not hold anger against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.


The LXX reading is close to that of the Hebrew text, except it uses the term πλησιον  – neighbor – which is more restrictive than the corresponding Hebrew term. 

Verses 33 and 34 provide the context for the second passage of interest. 

וכי יגור אתך גר בארצכם לא תונו אתו
כאזרח מכם יהיה לכם הגר הגר אתכם ואהבת כמוך כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים אני יהוה אלהכם

Now when a foreigner dwells in your land, you shall not oppress him.  The foreigner who dwells with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.  I am YHWH your God.

From one standpoint, this is a special case of the previous passage, but the scope of its application is far broader.  The term גר is traditionally translated by sojourner, which typically is understood as a reference to a person or persons living as temporary residents in a land that is not their own.  However this definition is not adequate, because the Israelites were called גרים in Egypt, and they were there in permanent dwellings for at least 400 years.  The broadest definition would need to include residents in a land where they were not ethnically native.  The passage contains three injunctions:

·         Do not oppress the resident foreigners among you.
·         Treat them just as if they were native born residents.
·         Love them as yourself.
The rationale for these injunctions is that they (the Israelites) were גרים in Egypt (and now Europe, Russia, Syria, Arabia, and many other places), and the native born people did just the opposite to them.  (Note that the LXX text is essentially the same as the Hebrew text, though it uses the term προσηλυτος as the translation for גר.  In standard Greek προσηλυτος means stranger, but among Jews it became a technical term for gentile converts.)

New Testament Citations

As previously mentioned, there are 10 NT citations of Lev 19:18  (Mt 5:43, 19:19, 22:39, Mk 12:31, 12:33, Lk 10:27, Ro 12:19, 13:9, Ga 5:14, Jas 2:8) and none for Lev 19:34.   All of the passages except Lk 10:27 contain simple citations with little elaboration, making the passage from Luke the most interesting.

In this passage, a person identified as a νομικος (or an expert in the traditional interpretation of Torah in his day) asked Yeshua what he must do to gain eternal life.  Yeshua responded by citing the first clause of the Shema and the last clause of Lev 19:18 – You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.    The questioner then asked, 'Who is my neighbor?'  Yeshua's response to the question was presented as a parable – the story of the good Samaritan.

Note that all of the NT passages use the term πλησιον, which specifically means neighbor.  This is more restrictive than the source clause in Leviticus 19:18.  At that time, the Samaritans were viewed as a mongrel race who practiced a corrupted version of the biblical faith, so there was little social interaction between the Jews and the Samaritans.  The גרים were not necessarily viewed as undesirable people, but since the time of Ezra (almost 500 years earlier) the Samaritans generally were viewed as such.  As a result, this social strain became an analog for the way that Egyptians in the time of Moses viewed the sheep herding Israelites.  Now that the relation was reversed, the explanatory clause of Lev 19:34 becomes more poignant –  because you were גרים in Egypt.  If you examine cross-reference lists between passages in the NT and the Hebrew bible, there is no reference to Lev 19:34 to be found, but the story of the good Samaritan is clearly a parable built from this passage.  

So why is this passage generally not remembered or practiced by anybody, Jew or gentile?  Α possible explanation relevant to the first century might be found in the Sermon on the Mount.  The text as recorded in Mat 5:43 states, You have heard it said,'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy...'  This was one of several first century traditional deviations from Torah that Yeshua sought to counter during his ministry on earth.  When this particular interpretation arose is impossible to say, but it remains in practice to this day, and not just by Jews but by most gentile Christians and just about everybody else.






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