Hey All, Jeremiah1five said: "So did Leviticus 19:18-19.
He commands His Covenant people to love ONLY Covenant people.
Do you do that?
This comes direct from God."
What the whole text says
I added verse 17 for textual clarity.)
Leviticus 19:17-19 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
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.
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
Some comments and questions:
1. I do not read that we are to love ONLY covenant people. Does "Thou shall not hate . . . "
equal the opposite? There are a lot lesser emotions in-between hate and love.
You do err not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God:
After wandering in the desert for decades, God gives Moses and later, Joshua victory over their enemies, the tribal nations that occupied the Promised Land and the areas surrounding it.
God gave precise instruction to Moses in building the Tabernacle and situated the twelve tribes of Jacob/Israel around the Tabernacle with the Tabernacle at the center.
God ordered three tribes to the north, three tribes to the east, three tribes to the west, and three tribes to the south. All four cardinal points of the compass. From the air it is the sign of a cross. And the placement of certain tribes in their encampments is significant and has meaning. There were no enemies of Israel anywhere near. It was only God and His people in the desert. That that you understand this let's make true sense of the Scripture in Leviticus in the command of God to His people and
who they are commanded to love:
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother [
member of the same tribe] in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour [
member of any tribe situated by God living next to them], and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people [
member of any tribe], but thou shalt love thy neighbour [
member of the tribe living next to them] as thyself: I am the LORD.
Lev. 19:17–18.
There were no Gentiles near them as they had all been vanquished by God when He commanded Moses and Joshua to destroy them all, even women, children, babies, children in the womb, all the cattle, sheep, everything. So, the Word of God rightly divided reveals that God had commanded His Covenant people in the desert to love their fellow Covenant brethren. This is the original command. God does not command the children of Israel to love the Gentiles nor does He command the children of Israel to love their enemies. God is a jealous God and divided loyalties and love is idol worship. It is also unfaithfulness to your brethren if you love anyone outside the Covenant of God.
2. Verse 18 tells us " . . . thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself . . ." Who is my neighbor?
I live in California. We have just about ever ethnicity, and followers of just about every religion known. These people are our neighbors.
Jeremiah1five, are you saying that this passage is saying I only need to love people of my religion and my ethnicity? (That's the type of racism present in Nazi Germany.) I don't believe that.
As proven above the original command of God is for believers in Covenant with God to love their Covenant brethren ONLY. And Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship with Christ.
God's love is holy. He gives His love to a holy people. And if you are a true Christian you are commanded in the original instruction to love your true Christian brethren ONLY. You are commanded by Christ to NOT give that which is holy (God's love) to dogs (a euphemism for non-Covenant people. In its original meaning it meant to the children of Israel all non-Covenant Gentiles.) IF you are a true Christian, you are also commanded to NOT cast your pearls (which symbolizes the Word of God) to swine (again, unclean, unsaved, non-Covenant people.
Israel's Messiah and Redeemer was prophesied to and for the children of Israel. Their Messiah was also prophesied to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem, Israel. And when Christ appeared, John the Baptist makes this very clear:
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest
to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. Jn 1:31.
Jesus Christ also in very clear language makes this point clear in His very own words:
24
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Mt 15:24.
His whole ministry on earth was to His Covenant and Chosen people Israel:
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying,
Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Mt 10:4–6.
Thus, all His instruction and teaching and commands are given to His Chosen people Israel. Again, the instruction and command is abundantly clear:
15
Love not the world (meaning the inhabitants), neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 Jn 2:15.
Now consider yourself instructed and now that you know God's command to His Covenant people (and true born of God Christians are His Covenant people) now you know WHO to love. And make no mistake. God's love is not an emotional love like humans have. It is a love that is described as a verb. And God's love comes with profit. God's love is a verb, a word describing action, not emotions. ALL your emotions and the emotions of God's people are to be placed and given to and for God. If you want to love the unsaved dogs and swine that God commands you not to love then you are disobedient to God, unfaithful to God and to brethren. It's called adultery.
And if you know anything about Christ you should also know that He did not come to change the Law (in which Leviticus is part of the Law.)
17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Mt 5:17.
Jesus Christ taught, instructed, and commanded God's Covenant people in the things of God. And Jesus Christ ALSO obeyed Leviticus 19:17-19 and loved His Covenant people ONLY.
1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Jn 13:1.
Jesus Christ didn't love the non-elect, non-covenant people in the world. He loved ONLY His own brethren. So, if you are Christian, and Christian is a follower of Christ, hence the name Christian, you will do what your Lord has instructed and commanded and love ONLY your Christian brethren.
3. Verse 19 is about keeping the animals and fields clean. They were not to eat "unclean" foods. This is addressing dietary laws. Moses is not using euphemism here to support not
" . . . avenging or bearing gudge against . . . "
Yes, and it has nothing to do with God's command to the children of Israel in Covenant with God. Verse 19 is another subject God covers and commands His people.
4. I do not see support for your statement in this passage. I would also ask who is your neighbor?
Let's have Jesus define this:
Luke 10:25-29 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Luke 10:36-37 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
The lawyer is correct. He and Jesus both understood the original command that their neighbor was a fellow Covenant member of another tribe.
5. Who does Jesus, using the levitical words, say is our neighbor?
I explained "who is [my] neighbor" above. Our "neighbor" is a fellow Covenant member of another tribe of twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
6. Who was the man from Jerusalem's neighbor in the parable?
His neighbor was a fellow Covenant member of another tribe.
Are you my neighbor? What about the atheist that lives down the block?
Based on these passages, I believe that we, as believers, are to project God's love to the whole world. We are reflections of His light. Keep walking everybody. May God bless,
Taz
By the way, if you'll notice in the story of the 'good Samaritan' each person in Jesus' story is a Covenant member.
A priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan are all brethren and neighbor to the man that fell among thieves. And it would not be unreasonable that he, too, was a Covenant brethren.
So, now that you know who you are commanded as a Christian WHO to love, the Lord commands you to "
Go, and do likewise."
