Love Thy Fellow YHWH Worshiper

"Verse 18 says, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord" (TNIV). There is general agreement that this would be a moral law, not limited in scope to ancient Israel, and therefore that it is applicable to the Christian. The very next verse, however, says, "Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material" (TNIV). These regulations are usually understood as being ceremonial law, given to the Israelites to differentiate them from the nations around them. As ceremonial law, it is not seen as obligatory for the Christian. But there is nothing in the text to suggest that the author thought the one law was universal and the other of temporary applicability for the people of God. Indeed the two verses are joined together rhetorically, as verse 18 ends with God emphatically noting, "I am Yahweh," while verse 19 continues the exhortation to "keep my decrees." The argument here is that the people are to love each other because they are the people of Yahweh, the creator of all people in his image. Moreover, they were to obey his commands for the same reason. It is an arbitary distinction to say that verse 18 applies universally while verse 19 does not, since the basis for obedience according to the text is the same" (Peter T. Vogt (Interpreting the Pentateuch: An Exegetical Handbook, page 43).

“In its literary context, as in later Jewish interpretations, the commandment to “love your neighbor” is restricted to members of the covenant community. It appears within a set of laws aimed at regulating judicial impartiality and cultivating fraternity within Israel. These are this nation’s particular laws rather than a set of universal guidelines; in this context “neighbor” (rea) refers to a person encountered within the framework of covenantal relationships. Leviticus 19 opens with an imperative addressed “to all the congregation of the people of Israel … : You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (19.2). It then proceeds to address this specific audience through various synonyms that reinforce Israel’s covenantal fellowship: “your kinsfolk” (aḥikha), “your people” (bnei ‘amekha), “your compatriot” (amitkha), and “your neighbor” (re‘akha). The Greek term plēsion, by which the Septuagint translates rea, also refers to someone encountered nearby. Like rea, plesion can refer to any other human being and not only to fellow members of the covenant; however there is no evidence that pre-Christian Hellenistic Jews understood Leviticus 19.18 in this broader sense.” (Michael Fagenblat, “The Concept of Neighbor in Jewish and Christian Ethics” in Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler (eds.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament 540-41).