Those Dangerous and Difficult Priests: Reflections on Leviticus 19

It is very rare that the authors of the lectionary give us a text from the book of Leviticus, but when they do it is quite often something from Lev.19. This is so for the obvious reason that Lev.19:18 is found on the lips of Jesus as the second half of that phrase that he uses when asked about the content of the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself,” he replies. For many Christians that has summed up what Jesus basically demanded of his disciples. And when that infamous lawyer probed his answer further in Luke’s Gospel, asking, “Well, who is my neighbor,” Jesus gave him the parable of the Good Samaritan to satisfy his curiosity. Of course, we all remember that far from being satisfied, the lawyer was shocked to hear that a hated Samaritan could in any way be his neighbor, whom he must now love. So it is with Jesus: he was fond of answering his questioners with explosive stories that have retained their power after 2000 years.

In fact, the old priests of Israel, those who composed the book of Leviticus, were not above a few shocks of their own. Oh, there is little doubt that much of what they found extremely important, we find of far less value. When they demand, in this very chapter, “You shall not eat anything with its blood; you shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard” (Lev.19:26-27), I doubt many persons I know will eschew the use of their barbers or never again eat a medium rare steak. Still, it is crucial for us modern Christians to understand something about these priests: they were creating and living in a world in which it was as important to keep one’s beard untrimmed as it was to love one’s neighbor as one loved oneself. It is frankly unfair to pick and choose individual Levitical texts as somewhat more significant than others. Those who would excoriate our LGBTQ brothers and sisters by employing Lev.18:22 and Lev.20:13 as universal commandments are proof texting in the most execrable ways. This is not the place to say that their reading of these texts is wrong— though it is—but the point I wish to make is that by choosing these two texts from among the myriad of Levictical demands to be found in the book, these people do deep violence to the complete Levitical code, all of which is designed, in the eyes of the priests, to “be holy as YHWH your God is holy” (Lev.19:2).

Let us examine just two other texts from Lev.19 to suggest the significant demands that the priests place on those who would be holy as YHWH is holy. “When you reap the harvest of the land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the immigrant; I am YHWH your God” (Lev.19:9-10). In other words, those of you who are blessed with fields and vineyards are directly responsible for the poor and immigrants in your midst. You must not take all of the proceeds of those fields for yourself alone, but you must share some of that production with those who have little or nothing. If you do so, you will be holy as YHWH your God is holy. This is an overt check on untrammeled greed. Anyone who claims that what is theirs is theirs alone cannot in the priestly world be holy.

And then there is this: “When an immigrant resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the immigrant. The immigrant that resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself, for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am YHWH your God” (Lev.19:33-34). I translate the word ger as “immigrant” rather than the NRSV’s “alien,” which sounds too much like ET for my taste. The word means a person who comes to a foreign land and lives there for a brief time or forever. The priests are quite clear that not only must you treat the immigrant as a citizen, but must further love them just as you love yourselves. This command is of course reminiscent of the far more famous line from Lev.19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In the very same way, admonish the priests, “You shall love the immigrant as you love yourself.” Given our modern dilemma about the immigrants in our country, it is unfortunate that Lev.19:34 is not as well known as Lev.19:18. I am deeply sorry that Jesus did not quote that line as well.

Still, it will not do simply to quote lines from Leviticus that happen to match my own moral understandings in the twenty-first century, whether I be liberal or conservative. The ancient priests were as concerned about their beards as they were about their neighbors and their immigrants; both had to be attended to be holy as YHWH was holy. It is tempting indeed to find a biblical line or two that confirms what I already believe, but I must resist that temptation, lest I merely use the priests’ words for my own benefit, lest I merely fight texts with texts. I can well appreciate the hard work of the priests to create a world of holiness, as they construed holiness, but it will not do for me to appropriate willy- nilly such texts as suit my fancy and gut the entire remainder of the work of the priests as finally not important to me. So, may all of us avoid proof texting. I will try; how about you?