Leviticus 19:9-18 – How should we treat others

In the first eight verses of  Leviticus 19, the Lord dealt with what a person needed to do for himself personally to embrace holiness. He was to love his mother and father, then he had to keep the Sabbath and he must also demonstrate a life of thankfulness through the peace offering. In this second portion of the chapter covering verses 9-19, God was showing them that embracing holiness required them to deal kindly with others, especially the poor.

Regarding harvesting the produce of the land, the people were to be considerate to the poor and needy people. God disallowed them to harvest the edges of their vineyard. Not allowing His people to harvest the entire field was to ensure that the poor could glean something to live on. It must be said that the land they owned came from the Lord. He was the owner and they were the stewards. Hence, they should exercise generosity and not meanness.  Being covetous, mean and stingy would not reflect well for a person who sought to live a holy life for the Lord.

Social concern should be something God’s people care about. It forbade His people to steal, lie or defraud others. In fact, they must not swear falsely in God’s name to take advantage of the needy. God would not allow His people to show injustice and oppress others. A worker must be paid his due. Withholding the pay due to workers for the work they had done, was not congruent to people who belonged to the Lord. Besides, God’s people were not to vilify, defame or mistreat the disadvantaged people. They must not exploit and show contempt for physically disabled people. In this passage, we also see God’s impartiality. He would not allow the poor to be taken advantage of, neither should the rich be deferred. Judgment must be executed justly regardless of one’s social status.

Verses 17-18 can best be summed up in God’s call to love our neighbors as ourselves. To hate someone is as good as showing contempt for the Lord. For the other person has also been created in the image of God. One’s heart condition determines one’s ability to treat others. When we love our neighbors as ourselves, it would set the tone on how we will treat him or her. God is concerned with how we treat each other in the community of believers. Because He is the Lord and we are His people, treating others badly equals to treating God badly.  Let us embrace God’s call through Paul in Galatians 6:10. He said, “So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”