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Time after Pentecost · Proper 25 · Year A

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

Various Laws

Moses Showing the Tablets of the Law, Maerten de Vos
Moses Showing the Tablets of the Law, Maerten de Vos, 1574–1575Mauritshuis, The Hague (PD-Art)
An Antwerp mannerist's Moses, holding out the tablets with the Hebrew legible, in a composition built for a Protestant reading of the law.The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy … you shall love your neighbour as yourself.Maerten de VosAn Antwerp painter who trained in Italy and, after the iconoclasm, supplied the rebuilt churches of the city with altarpieces.Mauritshuis, The Hague (PD-Art)A small seventeenth-century town palace holding the Dutch royal cabinet of paintings, including the Girl with a Pearl Earring.Mauritshuis, The Hague (PD-Art)

Overview & Insights

“Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18)

Leviticus 19:2 emphasizes the theme that gives the laws of holiness (Lev. 17–27) their name: “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (v. 2). Leviticus 19 marks a conceptual center of Leviticus. It is surrounded by chapters with similar themes (Lev. 18; 20) to highlight the centrality of this passage.1 It is hard to see an organizing principle in the disparate laws of this chapter, save that each encourages Israel to live a holy lifestyle ethically and religiously. This chapter covers a gamut of concerns, overlapping with the Ten Commandments, ritual laws, and concerns for the poor and helpless. Holiness applies in all these areas.

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Take it further: Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

Commentary

Background & Word Study

The Church Fathers

Questions preachers ask

What is the Holiness Code?

Leviticus 19 spells out what “Be holy, for I am holy” looks like in daily life: honest justice, no favoritism, no grudges, and love of neighbor, the very verse Jesus names as the second great commandment.

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