The Lord is providing laws to live by so that when the Israelites reach the promised land, they will not live as the tribes of Canaan live. In yesterday's passage He commanded them, "Be holy (different) because I am holy (different)." Pagan people believed their gods had the same personalities as human beings, only with a lot more power. Their gods were credited with the same ugly emotions and bad motives as human beings. But God---the one and only God---is different. He is holy and righteous and perfect. As the people of the living God, the Israelites are to look and talk and behave like the people of the living God, not like the pagan people who surround them.
We begin today with a verse that prohibits theft. "Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight." (Leviticus 19:13) The eighth commandment says, "You shall not steal." Stealing can take various forms. We all recognize shoplifting as stealing, or picking pockets as stealing, or taking something out of someone's house as stealing. But defrauding a person and costing him money is stealing too. So is holding onto the wages of someone who has earned them. In those days (and in some areas of the country today) men looking to be hired as day laborers might gather at the side of a busy street in town and a man needing laborers might select one or more of them to go to his property that day to complete some work. When the day is done and the worker has completed his task, it's not okay for the property owner to say, "I'll catch up with you tomorrow or later in the week to pay you." The laborer fulfilled his end of the bargain and deserves the pay he was promised for that day's work.
The Lord is concerned with how the handicapped are treated. "Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:14) He says, "Do not mock people with disabilities or make life any harder for them than it already is. If you do, you'll have to answer to Me. I am their defender."
"Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly." (Leviticus 19:15) People have a tendency to root for the underdog (in this case, "the poor") or for the person of wealth and influence (in this case "the great"). Both attitudes are wrong. Cases are not to be judged on emotions but on the evidence. A judge is not to side with the poor person simply because he feels sorry for him. A judge is not to side with the wealthy person in hopes of gaining something from him in return.
These next verses have to do with loving others and treating them as we would want to be treated. "Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:16-18) Slander is a dreadful thing. Many a person's personal or professional life has been harmed by false rumors. Sometimes in the news we hear of cases where children and teens take their own lives due to being bullied by slander. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why the Lord follows the prohibition against slander with the prohibition about endangering our neighbor's life. There are other ways, of course, that we could cause danger to our neighbor's life than by slandering him, but believing that words have no power to harm is an erroneous belief. As my pastor said just the other day, whoever made up this little saying was wrong: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
The Lord follows the prohibition against endangering others with a strict command not to harbor hate in our hearts. If we allow hate for someone to take root in our hearts, might we hesitate to step in and help if we see that person's life in danger? Or, supposing we are nowhere around when the person meets their demise, might we not care or even gloat if we see their obituary in the newspaper? Hatred leads us down a dark path, farther than we believed we would ever go. There's not as much distance between ugly thoughts and ugly actions as we think there is.
When the Lord speaks of rebuking our neighbor I don't think He means taking on a judgmental and condemnatory attitude and going over to their house in a huff to tell them everything that is wrong about them. In the original language, the word translated into English as "rebuke" means "to correct, to chasten, to convince, to reason together". I think what the Lord is saying to the Israelites is the same thing the Apostle Paul said to the Christian church: "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you may also be tempted." (Galatians 6:6) The Lord is telling the people that they are to go to their neighbor in a spirit of love and concern and say, "I'm worried about you. I see the damage this thing is doing to you. How can I help you out of this situation? Can I talk to you about the Lord? Can I pray with you?" And in this loving spirit, the person who goes to reason with his neighbor must keep in mind that he himself is not perfect and has made mistakes. This will help him to remain humble when he speaks to his neighbor in an attitude of concern.
Lastly, we'll conclude our study today by looking at the Lord's admonition not to bear a grudge or seek revenge. If a person has wronged us, it's not our place to take vengeance. It's our Father's place. He is responsible for us and He will avenge us upon our enemies. "It is Mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." (Deuteronomy 32:35) Sometimes the Lord doesn't have to lift a finger against them; they dig themselves a deep hole with their wicked deeds and fall into it. They reap the natural consequences of their own actions. They may learn their lesson when they reap the consequences. At other times the Lord may deliberately bring a very difficult set of circumstances into the wrongdoer's life as correction or punishment. The Apostle Paul, when speaking to the Christian church (which was made up largely of Gentiles) reminded the people that they are to live by the same principle that the Lord gave the Jewish people regarding the subject of not taking revenge. "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." (Romans 12:19)
When we have been wronged, we must leave room for God's wrath. If we step in and start taking revenge for ourselves, I can guarantee you we won't be handing out justice in the way God would. It won't have the same effect on the person as if God took them to task for their actions, for when God avenges us the wrongdoer's heart may change. We don't have the power to change hearts. When we take revenge, we're merely getting back at someone. When God takes revenge on our behalf, sometimes the wrongdoer repents instead of continuing to resist the Lord's will for their lives.
Not only does taking revenge potentially rob the wrongdoer of the opportunity to see the error of his ways and repent of them, but it dirties our hands. God, the perfect Lawgiver and Judge, has the right to discipline people for breaking His laws, and He can do it without getting His hands dirty. He can hand down verdicts and impose sentences without losing any of His integrity, but you and I will always lower ourselves when we do things to get back at others. We end up looking a lot more like our enemy than like our God.
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