Leviticus 19

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. [Leviticus 19:2] And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

To be sanctified is to be drawn away from any love that sullies and corrupts and may lead the soul to ruin. In this must the creature resemble the Creator: "You shall be holy," He said, "because I am holy." This holiness makes one God-conformed. That is why the Seraphic spirits cried out: "Holy, holy, holy."

Recently there was recited in the ears of the Church the word of God saying: "Be holy, for I too am holy, the Lord your God". What this name "holy" intends for itself, and what it signifies in the divine Scriptures, must be inquired into more diligently, so that, when we have learned the force of the word, we may also be able to fulfill its work. Let us therefore gather from the divine Scriptures those things over which we find the word "holy" said, and we discover that not only human beings, but even dumb animals are called "holy"; we find also that "vessels" of the ministry are called "holy", and that vestments are said to be "holy", and no less the places which are set within cities or suburbs and assigned to the priests. Among the dumb animals indeed, the "firstborn" of oxen or of flocks are commanded by the law to be sanctified to the Lord, and it is said: do not, it says, perform any work with them, since they are sanctified to the Lord. Concerning vessels, however, when in the tabernacle of testimony the vessels of the ministry, the "censers" or "bowls" or the rest of this kind, are called "holy" "vessels". Concerning vestments too, when the "robe" of the high priest Aaron and the "linen tunic" and the rest of the vestments of this kind are said to be "holy". If therefore we consider in what sense all these have been named "holy", we shall perceive how we too ought to give effort, that we may be able to be holy. A firstborn ox has been born to me: it is not permitted to me to employ it for common work; for it is consecrated to the Lord, and therefore it is called holy. We understand therefore from this dumb animal how the law, that which it wills to be holy, commands to serve no other but the Lord alone. Again, the "cups" or "bowls" which it calls holy are those which are never commanded to go out from the temple, but always to be in the holy places, nor to serve any human uses whatsoever. Similarly also the "vestments" which are named "holy" are not commanded to serve for use within the house of the high priest, but to be in the temple and never at all to be carried out from there, but to be consecrated to this alone, that the high priest ministering to God with them may be clothed, and that they may always be in the temple; while for the other common uses he uses common garments. Similarly also with these "cups and bowls" which are called "holy", it is not permitted to use them for human and common uses, but only for the divine ministries. But if you have understood how an animal or a vessel or a vestment is called holy, understand consequently that by these observances and laws a human being too is called holy. For if anyone has devoted himself to God, if anyone has entangled himself in no worldly affairs, "that he may please him to whom he has proved himself"; if anyone is separated and set apart from the rest of human beings who live carnally and are bound to mundane affairs, not "seeking the things that are upon the earth, but those which are in the heavens", that one is rightly called holy. For as long as he is mingled with the "crowds" and is tossed about in the multitude of those who are fluctuating, and is not free for God alone, set apart from the common throng, he cannot be holy. For concerning those what shall we say, who hasten with the crowds of the gentiles to the spectacles and defile their own sight and hearing with shameless words and deeds? It is not ours to pronounce concerning such. For they themselves can perceive and see what portion they have chosen for themselves. You therefore, who hear these things, to whom the divine law is recited, whom the very word of God itself addresses, saying: "Be holy, for I too am holy, the Lord your God", understand wisely the things that are said, so that you may be blessed when you have done them. For this is what is said to you: "Separate yourself" from every one, not only every man, but even "from a brother walking disorderly and not according to" the apostolic "traditions". "Be separated", indeed, "you who carry the vessels of the Lord, and go out from the midst of them, says the Lord". "Separate yourself" from earthly deeds, "separate yourself" from the concupiscence of the world: "for everything that is in the world", according to the Apostle, "is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes, which is not from God". When therefore you have separated yourself from all these things, devote yourself to God as a firstborn calf; let sin not work through you, nor let malice impose a yoke upon you, but be set aside and set apart, given over only to priestly uses like a firstborn animal. Be set apart and severed, like holy "bowls" and holy "censers" free only for the uses of the temple and for the ministry of God. Separate yourself and set yourself aside from all pollution of sin, and be set aside and set apart within the temple of God like the holy garments of the high priest. For that man is set apart and separated within the temple of God, "who meditates in the law of God day and night" and who "greatly desires his commandments". "Be holy" therefore, "says the Lord, for I too am holy". What is: "for I too am holy"? Just as I, he says, am set apart and far separated from all things that are adored or worshiped whether on earth or in heaven; just as I exceed every creature and am set apart from all things that have been made by me: so also be you set apart from all who are not holy nor dedicated to God. But we say that one is set apart not by places, but by deeds, and not by regions, but by manners of life. Finally, the very word which in the Greek language is spoken, ἅγιος, signifies as it were to be outside the earth. For whoever shall have consecrated himself to God will rightly be seen to be outside the earth and outside the world; for he too is able to say, walking upon the earth: "we have our manner of life in the heavens". Solomon also in the Proverbs says: "it is a snare for a strong man hastily to sanctify something of his own; for after he has vowed it, it comes about that he repents". And this indeed is what he says, lest perhaps anyone, "when he gathers fruit from the threshing floor or wine from the presses", and has said: I wish to offer only so much to the Church, or to supply only so much for the use of the poor or of pilgrims; if afterward he presumes to take something for his own uses out of that measure which he vowed, he has now not presumed upon his own fruits, but has violated the holy things of God. And therefore "it is a snare for the strong man to sanctify something", that is, to vow it to God and afterward, led by repentance, to recall to his own uses those things which he had consecrated. But even if we consecrate and offer ourselves to God, or also if we vow others, let us observe this "snare", lest perhaps, after we have vowed ourselves to God, we again be subjected to human uses or deeds. Now each one vows himself, for example, as the Nazirites used to do, consecrating themselves to the temple of God for three or four or however many years it pleased, so that they might always be free there, observing those things which are written concerning the Nazirites; that they should nourish the hair of the head, and "no iron should go up upon their head" throughout the whole time of their vow, that they should not touch wine nor anything "from the vine", and whatever else the profession of the vow had embraced. But someone also vows another to God, as Hannah did with Samuel; for before he was born, she offered him to God, saying: "and I will give him to the Lord, given all the days of his life". From all which it is clear how each one of us, who wishes to be holy, ought to consecrate himself to God and to be occupied besides with no affairs or deeds which pertain in no way to God.

During the harvest, [the law] forbids owners to gather up the bits which fall from the sheaves and similarly advises that in harvesting something should be left behind unreaped. By this it gives excellent teaching to owners in the practice of generous sharing by leaving some of their property for those in need and providing the poor with a chance for food.

Do you see how the law proclaims simultaneously the justice and goodness of God, who provides food unstintingly for all? Again, in the grape harvest the harvesters are forbidden to go back and cut anything that has been left over or to collect fallen grapes. The same rules are applied to olive gatherers. In fact the principle of tithing crops and flocks was an education in honoring the divine. We are not to be totally absorbed by profit but to share humanely with the neighbor as well.

Let no one deny the hireling the wage he is owed, since we too are hirelings of our God, and from him we look forward to the reward of our labor. And if you indeed, whatever type of businessman you are, deny your hireling a monetary payment that is a perishable trifle, you shall be denied the reward of heaven that has been promised. You shall not defraud, as the law says, the hireling of his pay.

For to curse the deaf is to disparage one who is absent and does not hear; but to put a stumbling-block before the blind is to act indeed with discernment, but yet to give cause of offence to him who has not the light of discernment.

I was certainly accused of something which was either an offence or was not. I was let off because I proved I was a guest at a big house. The inference seems painfully clear; either it is not a proof of infamy to throw a knife about in a lonely wood, or else it is a proof of innocence to know a rich man. Suppose a very poor person, poorer even than a journalist, a navvy or unskilled labourer, tramping in search of work, often changing his lodgings, often, perhaps, failing in his rent. Suppose he had been intoxicated with the green gaiety of the ancient wood. Suppose he had thrown knives at trees and could give no description of a dwelling-place except that he had been fired out of the last. As I walked home through a cloudy and purple twilight I wondered how he would have got on.

"You shall not be partial to the poor," a precept given lest under pretext of showing pity we should judge an unjust judgment. For each individual is to be judged not by his personal importance but by the merits of his case. His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he makes a good use of it; and poverty of itself can be no recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want he fails to stay away from wrongdoing.

Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, "You eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;" [Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the earth"? [Isaiah 5:8] Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." [Leviticus 19:18] Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treads out the grain;" [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9] but that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is, in the Church of God, eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a type of the Church.

Long before Christ it had been said, "You shall not covet"; long before it had been said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," a phrase which, as the apostle says, expresses the fulfillment of the whole law. And as no one loves himself unless he loves God, the Lord says that the whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.

We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbour. Hence he comes to us clad in all the careless terrors of nature; he is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain. He is Man, the most terrible of the beasts. That is why the old religions and the old scriptural language showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one's duty towards humanity, but one's duty towards one's neighbour. The duty towards humanity may often take the form of some choice which is personal or even pleasurable. That duty may be a hobby; it may even be a dissipation. We may work in the East End because we are peculiarly fitted to work in the East End, or because we think we are; we may fight for the cause of international peace because we are very fond of fighting. The most monstrous martyrdom, the most repulsive experience, may be the result of choice or a kind of taste. We may be so made as to be particularly fond of lunatics or specially interested in leprosy. We may love negroes because they are black or German Socialists because they are pedantic. But we have to love our neighbour because he is there—a much more alarming reason for a much more serious operation. He is the sample of humanity which is actually given us. Precisely because he may be anybody he is everybody. He is a symbol because he is an accident.

In the feverish summer of this fanaticism there arose the phrase that this or that part of England is being "built over." Now, there is not the slightest objection, in itself, to England being built over by men, any more than there is to its being (as it is already) built over by birds, or by squirrels, or by spiders. But if birds' nests were so thick on a tree that one could see nothing but nests and no leaves at all, I should say that bird civilization was becoming a bit decadent. If whenever I tried to walk down the road I found the whole thoroughfare one crawling carpet of spiders, closely interlocked, I should feel a distress verging on distaste. If one were at every turn crowded, elbowed, overlooked, overcharged, sweated, rack-rented, swindled, and sold up by avaricious and arrogant squirrels, one might at last remonstrate. But the great towns have grown intolerable solely because of such suffocating vulgarities and tyrannies. It is not humanity that disgusts us in the huge cities; it is inhumanity. It is not that there are human beings; but that they are not treated as such. We do not, I hope, dislike men and women; we only dislike their being made into a sort of jam: crushed together so that they are not merely powerless but shapeless. It is not the presence of people that makes London appalling. It is merely the absence of The People.

Therefore, I dance with joy to think that my part of England is being built over, so long as it is being built over in a human way at human intervals and in a human proportion. So long, in short, as I am not myself built over, like a pagan slave buried in the foundations of a temple, or an American clerk in a star-striking pagoda of flats, I am delighted to see the faces and the homes of a race of bipeds, to which I am not only attracted by a strange affection, but to which also (by a touching coincidence) I actually happen to belong. I am not one desiring deserts. I am not Timon of Athens; if my town were Athens I would stay in it. I am not Simeon Stylites; except in the mournful sense that every Saturday I find myself on the top of a newspaper column. I am not in the desert repenting of some monstrous sins; at least, I am repenting of them all right, but not in the desert. I do not want the nearest human house to be too distant to see; that is my objection to the wilderness. But neither do I want the nearest human house to be too close to see; that is my objection to the modern city. I love my fellow-man; I do not want him so far off that I can only observe anything of him through a telescope, nor do I want him so close that I can examine parts of him with a microscope. I want him within a stone's throw of me; so that whenever it is really necessary, I may throw the stone.

Perhaps, after all, it may not be a stone. Perhaps, after all, it may be a bouquet, or a snowball, or a firework, or a Free Trade Loaf; perhaps they will ask for a stone and I shall give them bread. But it is essential that they should be within reach: how can I love my neighbour as myself if he gets out of range for snowballs? There should be no institution out of the reach of an indignant or admiring humanity. I could hit the nearest house quite well with the catapult; but the truth is that the catapult belongs to a little boy I know, and, with characteristic youthful 'selfishness, he has taken it away.

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Leviticus 19:18] But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

For since it is written in the law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," he is proven to love his neighbor less who does not share with him even those things necessary to himself in his neighbor's time of need. Therefore the precept is given about dividing two tunics with one's neighbor, because this could not be said of one tunic, since if one is divided, no one is clothed. For with half a tunic, both he who receives remains naked and he who gave remains naked.

My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: [Leviticus 19:18] But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. [Leviticus 19:18] And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Leviticus 19:18] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The second commandment is like it, since it is the love of a human being who was made according to the image of God, and perhaps also according to his likeness. But in the exposition of the commandment which is set down concerning the love of one's neighbor, these things also must be said. For, according to what is said in the tenth Psalm, "he who loves iniquity hates his own soul", and according to what is said in Proverbs, "he who rejects discipline hates himself", it is manifest that no one who loves iniquity loves his neighbor as himself, since he does not even love himself; and no one who rejects discipline loves his neighbor as himself, seeing that he does not love his very self either. And thus it comes about that he who "loves iniquity", and "hates his own soul", cannot keep the second commandment. Likewise also "he who rejects discipline" loves some sin; and therefore he too who rejects any word of God's discipline "hates his own soul".

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Leviticus 19:18] Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Fruitbearing trees are works that bring forth virtues. We circumcise trees when we are suspicious of how weak our first efforts are and do not approve of the first fruits of our work. We call the fruit that grows unclean and do not take it as our food. When the first fruits of good works are praised, it is proper that this fruit should not feed the soul of the worker. Otherwise the praise we receive is plucked, and the fruit of our work is eaten out of season. So one who receives praise from a human mouth for a virtue just undertaken eats the fruit of a tree he has planted before its time. Truth said this through the psalmist: "It is vain for you to rise before dawn; rise up after you have sat down." To rise before dawn is to rejoice in the night of this present life, before the clear light of eternal rewards appears. We should first sit down and then rise up rightly, because whoever does not willingly humble himself now will not be exalted in the glory to come. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Leviticus

Fruitbearing trees are works that bring forth virtues. We circumcise trees when we are suspicious of how weak our first efforts are and do not approve of the first fruits of our work. We call the fruit that grows unclean and do not take it as our food. When the first fruits of good works are praised, it is proper that this fruit should not feed the soul of the worker. Otherwise the praise we receive is plucked, and the fruit of our work is eaten out of season. So one who receives praise from a human mouth for a virtue just undertaken eats the fruit of a tree he has planted before its time. Truth said this through the psalmist: "It is vain for you to rise before dawn; rise up after you have sat down." To rise before dawn is to rejoice in the night of this present life, before the clear light of eternal rewards appears. We should first sit down and then rise up rightly, because whoever does not willingly humble himself now will not be exalted in the glory to come.