Leviticus 19:1-37

3. Holiness of behavior toward God and man ch. 19

Moses grouped the commandments in this section together by a loose association of ideas rather than by a strictly logical arrangement. They all spring from the central thought in Leviticus 19:2: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." This sentence is the motto of Leviticus (cf. Leviticus 11:44-45; Leviticus 20:26; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:16).

"Every biblical statement about God carries with it an implied demand upon men to imitate Him in daily living." [Note: Ronald E. Clements, "Leviticus," in The Broadman Bible Commentary, 2:51.]

"Leviticus 19 has been called the highest development of ethics in the Old Testament. [Note: J. West, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 156.] This chapter perhaps better than any other in the Bible, explains what it meant for Israel to be a holy nation (Exodus 19:6). The chapter stresses the interactive connection between responsibility to one’s fellow man and religious piety, the two dimensions of life that were never meant to be separated." [Note: Rooker, p. 250.]

"Developing the idea of holiness as order, not confusion, this list upholds rectitude and straight-dealing as holy, and contradiction and double-dealing as against holiness. Theft, lying, false witness, cheating in weights and measures, all kinds of dissembling such as speaking ill of the deaf (and presumably smiling to their face), hating your brother in your heart (while presumably speaking kindly to him), these are clearly contradictions between what seems and what is." [Note: Douglas, p. 531. This writer compared Israel’s ancient laws and modern tribal customs.]

"Holiness is thus not so much an abstract or mystic idea, as a regulative principle in the everyday lives of men and women. . . . Holiness is thus attained not by flight from the world, nor by monk-like renunciation of human relationships of family or station, but by the spirit in which we fulfill the obligations of life in its simplest and commonest details: in this way-by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God-is everyday life transfigured." [Note: Hertz, p. 192.]

This chapter contains quotations from or allusions to all ten of the Ten Commandments. [Note: See the charts in Rooker, p. 252, and Ross, p. 355.] Its structure is chiastic. The first and last sections deal with a person’s relationship to God (Leviticus 19:3-8; Leviticus 19:32-36), and the second and fourth with one’s relationship to his fellowman (Leviticus 19:9-18; Leviticus 19:30-31). The central section deals with man’s relationship to himself (Leviticus 19:19-29). [Note: Jonathan Magonet, "The Structure and Meaning of Leviticus 19," Hebrew Annual Review 7 (1983):166.] The first half of the chapter contains positive (Leviticus 19:3-10) and negative (Leviticus 19:11-18) commands, and the second half reverses this order with negative (Leviticus 19:19-31) and positive (Leviticus 19:32-37) commands. [Note: Ross, pp. 354-55.]

"It is . . . best to view this chapter as a speech to the community-similar to a covenant-renewal message-that draws upon all the main parts of the law to exhort the people to a life of holiness. Its basic principle is the responsibility of love." [Note: Ibid., p. 355.]