Leviticus 19:17

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF: I am Jehovah."

d. Love your neighbor.

The logical and appropriate organization of these verses is apparent. The second paragraph above extends the Decalogue injunctions to include the prompt payment of bills. Although only the day-laborer is mentioned here, there can be little doubt that it also "covers the case of paying tradesmen promptly."[12] (See also Deuteronomy 24:14 and James 5:4.)

In the second paragraph (Leviticus 19:15,16) our translation fails to produce the equivalent of the "Hebrew legal idiom" which the verses contain.[13] "Both these verses are concerned with behavior in a court of law."[14] Although tale-bearing is mentioned, it is the rendition of false testimony which is stressed. The words, "Stand against the blood of thy neighbor," mean "Seek to get him put to death (by legal means)."[15]

In the fourth paragraph (Leviticus 19:17-18), the Mosaic law reaches the plateau of its very highest elevation and comes very near the marvelous standards of the Christ himself. As a matter of fact, the great deficiency in Israel regarding these rules was due to their false understanding of "neighbor" as meaning merely a fellow Jew. It was precisely to that problem and with the design of correcting it that our Lord spoke the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). That the fault lay not so much in God's law as in the false interpretation of it by the Jewish religious hierarchy is evident in this chapter, where, in Leviticus 19:34, loving "the stranger and sojourner" is also shown to be part of God's law. In fact, Jamieson affirmed that, "Neighbor, as used here, is synonymous with fellow-creature."[16]

"LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF ..." Christ himself allowed that upon this and a companion rule, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, etc.," all of the Law and the prophets depend and are fulfilled by their faithful observance (Mark 12:28-31). Despite the greatness of this commandment, however, it is a mistake to make it exclusively the "Royal Law" of James 2:8, as did Dummelow and Meyrick.[17] Nothing could be the royal law until spoken by a king, and Moses was not a king. When Christ reiterated this law and even expanded it to include the love of enemies, that is when it became part of the Royal Law, and even this beautiful precept was not all of it, for it included "All things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20). It is a gross error to understand the Law of Moses as the Royal Law referred to by James.