BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?

From the September/October 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review

Rembrandt, Moses with the Tablets of the Law, public domain.
Moses, pictured here in a painting by 17th-century Baroque artist Guido Reni, is one of the most iconic figures in the Hebrew Bible. Despite Moses’ obvious Semitic heritage, the name “Moses” is actually Egyptian, like that of other Biblical figures (Phinehas, Hophni, Hur, Merari). All of them are referred to in the Bible’s Levite sources (E, P and D of the Documentary Hypothesis). Levites like Moses fled Egypt to form a new nation of Israelites who were to “love your neighbor.”

It’s one of the most famous lines in the Bible: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

Impressive. Fascinating. Inspiring. Capable of a thousand interpretations and raising 10,000 questions. A remarkable proposition coming out of ancient Judah, which was embedded in the Near Eastern world of wars, slavery, class and ethnic divisions and discriminations of all kinds.

One interpretation of this verse that has been making the rounds for years turns this grand idea on its head: The claim is that the verse means to love only one’s fellow Israelites as oneself. Instead of being inclusive, it’s actually exclusive. Is there anything to this claim?

We have to start by going all the way back to the Exodus, which the combination of archaeology and text has led me to argue was historical; it actually happened. Ninety percent of the arguments against its historicity are not about the event itself but about the size of the event: All of Israel! Two million people (as suggested by Exodus 12:37–38)! Impossible!

But the evidence of a real but smaller exodus is a different matter. The earliest Biblical sources—the very early Song of Miriam (Exodus 15) and the text known in critical Biblical scholarship as J—don’t mention any numbers.

Moreover, there is good evidence that only the Levites were in Egypt; it was they who left and then merged with the rest of Israel. Note that only Levites have numerous Egyptian names (e.g., Phinehas, Hophni, Hur, Merari, Moses). The Levites alone reflect Egyptian material culture: Their Tabernacle has parallels with the battle tent of Pharaoh Rameses II.1 Their ark has parallels with Egyptian sacred barks.2 The Levite sources alone require circumcision, which was practiced in Egypt. There is much more. For the whole picture, see my presentation at a recent conference titled Out of Egypt held last year at the University of California, San Diego, which BAR has put online at www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/video-the-exodus-based-on-the-sources-themselves.


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One more mark of the Levite sources is crucial and will bring us back now to the interpretation of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Is neighbor exclusive or inclusive?

Of the four sources of the Torah or Pentateuch that critical scholars refer to as J, E, P and D,a three—E, P (the Priestly source) and D (the Deuteronomistic source)—are Levite sources. In these Levite sources, the command to treat aliens fairly comes up 52 times! (How many times does this come up in the non-Levite source, J? Answer: None.)

The first occurrence of the word torah in the Torah is: “There shall be one torah for the citizen and for the alien who resides among you” (Exodus 12:49, from the Levite source P).

Why this frequent concern for aliens? We might reasonably guess that it was a matter of geography. Israel lay at the point where Africa, Asia and Europe meet. People of all backgrounds regularly passed through. So we can imagine a nation at that fulcrum of ancient trade routes having a policy of welcome to all those valuable aliens. Still, not all countries that have desired the benefits of trade have emphasized this principle. Again and again, all three Levite sources of the text (E, P and D) rather give this reason:

And you shall not persecute an alien, and you shall not oppress him, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 22:20

 

And you shall not oppress an alien — since you know the alien’s soul, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:9

 

You shall not persecute him. The alien who resides with you shall be to you like a citizen of yours, and you shall love him as yourself, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 19:33–34

 

So you shall love the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:19

 

You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land.
Deuteronomy 23:8

 

You shall not bend judgment of an alien … You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and YHWH, your God, redeemed you from there. On account of this I command you to do this thing.
Deuteronomy 24:17–18

Why should we be good to aliens? Because we know how it feels. We know the alien’s soul. So we won’t persecute foreigners; we won’t abhor them; we won’t oppress them; we won’t judge them unfairly; we’ll treat them the same as we treat ourselves; we’ll love them.

Indeed, one possible meaning of the word Levi in Hebrew is “alien.”3

It is certainly true that there are also some harsh passages toward foreigners in the Bible: Dispossess the Canaanites, destroy Jericho, etc. But the evidence in the ground, discussed and debated many times in BAR’s pages, indicates that most of that (the so-called Conquest of the land) never happened.b Moreover in far more laws and instances, the principle of treatment of aliens is positive.

For example: Don’t rape a captured woman in war (Deuteronomy 21:10ff).

Don’t abhor an Edomite (Deuteronomy 23:8).

If you happen upon your enemy’s ox or donkey straying, bring it back to him.

If you see the donkey of someone who hates you sagging under its burden, and you would hold back from helping him: You shall help him (Exodus 23:4–5).

The Bible permits a violent response to those who threaten Israel’s existence, but it still forbids a massacre if they surrender.

The very fact that the Bible’s sources start off with the creation of the earth and all of humankind instead of starting with Israel itself is relevant here. If any of us were asked to write a history of the United States, would we start by saying, “Well, first there was the Big Bang, and then …”? The Biblical authors saw Israel’s destiny as being to bring good to all those foreign nations and peoples—to the earth. It is not a minor point. It appears in God’s first words to Abraham, in God’s first words to Isaac, and in God’s first words to Jacob: Your descendants’ purpose is to be that “all the nations/families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3; 26:2–4; 28:10–14).

Which brings me back to the opening question: Is “Love your neighbor as yourself” meant exclusively or inclusively? Does this admonition refer only to your Israelite neighbor or to all humankind?

When the text already directs every Israelite to love aliens as oneself, what would be the point of saying to love only Israelites—in the very same chapter! Now my friend Jack Milgrom, of blessed memory, wrote that it is precisely because the love of the alien is specifically mentioned there that love of “neighbor” must mean only a fellow Israelite.4

I see his point, but his position would have been more likely if the verse about love of aliens had come first in the text and the love of neighbor had came later. But the instruction to love aliens comes after we’ve already had the instruction to love your neighbor as oneself. That is, if you tell people first to love their aliens and then give a second instruction to love their neighbors, that second instruction really does sound like an addition because the first group, aliens, obviously doesn’t include the second group, neighbors. But if you tell people first to love their neighbors, then a second instruction to love aliens a few verses later can make sense as a specification for anyone who would have thought that love of neighbor didn’t include loving others as well.


Watch full-length lectures from the Out of Egypt: Israel’s Exodus Between Text and Memory, History and Imagination conference, which addressed some of the most challenging issues in Exodus scholarship. The international conference was hosted by Calit2’s Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA.


Did the Biblical authors think that the specifications referring to aliens were necessary? We know that they did because they said it 52 times in the Torah! And, in any case, Milgrom and I would both recognize that the bottom line is that one is supposed to love both, alien and neighbor, whether they overlap or not.

So from where did the idea come, that the Hebrew word for neighbor in this verse, re‘a, means only a member of one’s own group? We can get a better idea of what the Hebrew word for neighbor, re‘a, means by looking at other places in the Bible where this word is used.

The first occurrence of re‘a is in the story of the tower of Babel (Babylon). It is the Bible’s story of the origin of different nations and languages. It involves every person on earth: “And they said each to his re‘a …” (Genesis 11:3). That is, the term refers to every human, without any distinctions by group.

Now, one might say, though, that the word might still refer only to members of one’s own group because, at this point in the story, all humans are in fact still members of a single group. So let’s go to the next occurrence of the word. In the story of Judah and Tamar, Judah has a re‘a named Hirah the Adullamite (Genesis 38:12, 20). Hirah is a Canaanite! He comes from the (then) Canaanite city of Adullam. He cannot be a member of Judah’s clan because, at this point in the story, that clan, namely the Israelites, consists only of Jacob and his children and any grandchildren.

In Exodus 11:2 the word appears in both the masculine and feminine in the account of how the Israelites are instructed to ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold items before their exodus from Egypt. The word there refers quite precisely to non-Israelites. In Exodus 2:13, on the other hand, in the story of Moses’ intervention between two “Hebrews” who are fighting, he says to the one at fault, “Why do you strike your re‘a?” So in that episode it refers to an Israelite.

Snark/Art Resource, NY
TEACHING THE LAW. In this ninth-century illustration from the Bible of Charles the Bald, Moses explains the law to the Israelites. Fifty-two occurrences in the Bible’s Levite texts (E, P and D) refer to the importance of treating foreigners fairly—no distinction between an Israelite and a non-Israelite. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is also from a Levite text. Considering this pervasive Levite stress on the fair treatment of the alien, why would a Levite text then say you only need to love an Israelite “neighbor”? Our author believes it doesn’t—“neighbor” includes all humankind.

In short, the word re‘a is used to refer to an Israelite, a Canaanite, an Egyptian, or to everyone on earth.

And still some people say that “Love your re‘a as yourself” means just your fellow Israelite. When the Ten Commandments include one that says: “You shall not bear false witness against your re‘a” (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:17), do they think that this meant that it was okay to lie in a trial if the defendant was a foreigner (even though elsewhere, as we saw, the law forbids Israel to “bend the judgment of an alien”)? When another of the Ten Commandments says not to covet your re‘a’s wife (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:18), do they think that this meant that it was okay to covet a Hittite’s wife (even though elsewhere the Bible condemns King David for doing just that)?

Those who contend that “neighbor” refers only to one’s neighbors of your own people frequently cite its context. They quote the sentence that precedes the sentence about loving one’s neighbor. Looking at the two together, it reads like this:

You shall not take revenge, and you shall not keep on at the children of your people.
And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Since the two sentences were put together into a single verse when verse numbers were added to the Bible, some interpreters have assumed that the “love your neighbor as yourself” line must also be just about “the children of your people.” Why? No reason at all. Read Leviticus 19, carefully. Coming near the very center of the Torah, it is a remarkable mixture of laws of all kinds. It goes back and forth between ethical laws and ritual laws: sacrifice, heresy, injustice, mixing seeds, wearing mixed fabrics (shaatnez), consulting the dead, gossip, robbing, molten idols, caring for the poor. It has everything! I tell my students that if you’re on a desert island and can have only one chapter of the Bible with you, make it Leviticus 19. And its laws all come mixed in between each other. No line can be judged by what comes before it or after it. And, remember, there are no verse numbers or periods or commas in the original.


For more on the Book of Leviticus, read “What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?” and “Book of Leviticus Verses Recovered from Burnt Hebrew Bible Scroll.”


The much respected Bible scholar Harry Orlinsky made the context argument in 1974.5 Because of his scholarly standing, he was followed by others. Robert Wright cited him in The Evolution of God.6 Wright had consulted with me on the matter of loving the alien, but unfortunately we didn’t discuss the “neighbor” verse; if we had, I would have cautioned him. Hector Avalos also followed Orlinsky, saying “as Orlinsky has deftly noted …”7 The “deftly noted” remark has been used (and often quoted) over and over again in connection with the interpretation of this verse. It was not deft at all.

The same “context” mistake was made by John Hartung, an evolutionary anthropologist8 who was cited and followed by Richard Dawkins in his bestselling The God Delusion, saying, “‘Love thy neighbor’ didn’t mean what we now think it means. It meant only ‘Love another Jew.’”9 Hartung emphasized the importance of context, but he then used only the one verse (quoted above), seemingly unaware that the joining of its two statements was done by those who created numbered verses centuries after the Bible was written.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” remains: Famous. Impressive. Fascinating. Inspiring. You can accept or challenge it. And you can decide whether you will follow it in your own life. But don’t change what it means.


“Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?” by Richard Elliott Friedman was originally published in the September/October 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. It was first republished in Bible History Daily on August 19, 2014.


richard-friedmanRichard Elliott Friedman is the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia and Katzin Professor of Jewish Civilization Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, and author of the classic Who Wrote the Bible? (1987). He was a visiting fellow at Cambridge and Oxford, a senior fellow of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, a visiting professor at the University of Haifa and participated in the City of David Project archaeological excavations of Jerusalem.


FREE ebook: Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus.

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Notes:

a. Richard Elliott Friedman, “Taking the Biblical Text Apart,” Bible Review, Fall 2005.

b. Aharon Kempinski, “Israelite Conquest or Settlement? New Light from Tell Masos,” BAR, September 1976; Yigael Yadin, “Israel Comes to Canaan: Is the Biblical Account of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan Historically Reliable?” BAR, March/April 1982; Ziony Zevit, “The Problem of Ai,” BAR, March/April 1985; David Ussishkin, “Lachish—Key to the Israelite Conquest of Canaan?” BAR, January/February 1987; Bryant G. Wood, “Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence,” BAR, March/April 1990; Hershel Shanks, “When Did Ancient Israel Begin?” BAR, January/February 2012; Amnon Ben-Tor, “Who Destroyed Canaanite Hazor?” BAR, July/August 2013.

1. Michael Homan, To Your Tents O Israel (Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 111–115.

2. Scott Noegel demonstrated this in an impressive paper at the Out of Egypt conference: “The Ark of the Covenant and Egyptian Sacred Barks: A Comparative Study” (conference, San Diego, May 31–June 9, 2013).

3. William Propp, Exodus 1–18, The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1999), p. 128.

4. Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22, The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 2000), p. 1654; and see bibliography there.

5. Harry Orlinsky, Essays in Biblical Culture and Bible Translation (New York: Ktav, 1974), p. 83.

6. Wright cited him in The Evolution of God (New York: Little, 2009), pp. 235–236.

7. Hector Avalos, Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005), p. 140.

8. John Hartung, “Love Thy Neighbor: The Evolution of In-Group Morality,” Struggles for Existence (blog), (strugglesforexistence.com/?p=article_p&id=13).

9. Dawkins, The God Delusion (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006), p. 253.

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34 Responses

  1. Jakke Day says:

    God says he is the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Those people and their descendants are His people.

    Jesus said he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep are the those descendants of Jacob who were dispersed eg the woman at the well who asks if Jesus was “greater than our father Jacob”. Cornelius is thought of as a non-Israelite but it’s clear he was an Israelite who grew up in Italy and was part of. The diaspora.

    Therefore, it’s clear that your neighbour is a fellow Torah-observant Israelite. Praying for your enemies is about praying for your fellow Torah-observant Israelites who may have wronged you.

    1. Peter T says:

      I disagree that Jesus stayed within the limits of Torah observant Jews when commanding to love your neighbor. During his ministry, Jesus widened the circle of people considered, e.g., when the Phoenician woman says that even the dogs eat what falls from the table, and Jesus extends his healing power to her. And when Jesus is asked who our neighbors are he tells the story of the good Samaritan.

  2. Veronika says:

    I believe you totally misunderstood the point. It’s, in fact, no big science 🙂 Re-a is your neighbour. When an alien becomes a neighbour, then he is a re-a too. When he is not your neighbour, he lives not with you and he is a stranger to your religion, to your habits etc., he obviously is not a re-a. So the term evolves with the times and each time, it means something different, a different group of people. In the global world of Romans, it means, obviously, something different than in times of King David, in global times you can be useful to everyone and also, they can be useful to you. Remember – the Lord always wants the „earthly good“ for its people. Why? More good means less sin in society, less sin of each of us. This is the reason for the Commandments – our salvation. But if somebody spread the sin, there are also many apparent commands in both Testaments what to do, you can’t overlook them. You can kill your re-a (in Old Testament) or teach him love or leave him (in the New Testament), while you have simultaneously to love him? Yet he is still a re-a…

    I would also like to mention the classics – the good Samaritan cited here too in comments. Look at the words of Jesus CAREFULLY: who is the neighbour? Is it the one who lays on the ground, wounded and harmed, or is it the one who help? Hence, who is the neighbour? This one who HELPS YOU. Jesus even emphasises it in the following question. Again, the aim of all this is to live in peace on Earth, in the best possible conditions, which mutual love usually is. Everything that puts you in the danger of sin is not good and you shall not stay in it arguing these people are „re-a“ too… Either it’s your problem (then you have to solve it on your own), or it’s other person who brings the problem and then the process is clear enough, for biblical Jews as for us in Jesus words 🙂 It’s all the very same, from the beginning of Israel, the human sin and its annihilation are in the centre of such efforts, only the situations in human life vary.

  3. John Smith says:

    Is it possible that Re’a refers to neighbors, as in those within the the tribe, and alien refers to those Israelites that were separated from the mass? In the New Testament, we know that the Corinthians were distant relatives to the Isrealites (1 Cor. 10), these would be ‘aliens’. Paul makes the argument that they are also ‘Re’a’. The circumcision argument that Paul constantly makes is that these dispersed Israelites should be welcomed as they are. He had to make this argument because the Israelites who were still practicing the faith (the same faith that the Greeks had lost over centuries of being ‘far off from the faith’) wanted them to be circumcised to be welcomed. This whole article assumes that there’s only 2 groups: Israelites and non-Israelites. When, in reality, there were Israelites (Judahites, Benjaminites, Gadites, etc), non-practicing Israelites (Greeks, dispersed Israelites, Phoenecians (King Hiriam was of the tribe of Naphtali)), Adamites (basically cousins – would have been those before Jacob – including Edom, but God had His own pronouncements on them), and, finally, non-Israelites (the fallen angels and all that descended from Cain). Egypt (Mizraim) and Ethiopia (Cush) are Adamic, which is why they could be considered relatives to the Israelites. They were allowed to intermarry with these ‘cousins’ in controlled circumstances, but were always forbidden from marrying outside of this. Canaanites, Jebusites, Moabites, etc. were never okay to intermarry with. This article is twisting the truth by excluding this information.

  4. […] [3]  Richard Elliott Friedman, The Exodus (Harper Collins, 2017), p. 82.  There are 50 verses, with two of the verses containing double references.  Also see Friedman’s essay, “Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?,” https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/love-your-neighbor-on…. […]

  5. artm11 says:

    “He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion – only that Jesus bore a “staurus” towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a “pole”.

    Many scholars are aware of such problems with the texts.

    However, one wonders if Samuelsson (et al) was’t making a distinction without a difference.

    So Shimon from Cyrenaica is forced into carrying the stauros (σταυρός) for Yeshua.

    Pole, or steak or cross piece.

    He carried Yeshua’s pole so that they could go fishing at the top of the Place of the Skull? No, obvious in all the Gospel accounts is that he was executed (in some manner) there.

    All manuscripts of Flavius Josephus claim Yeshua was crucified, and Josephus goes into some detail about other crucifixions in his histories, so that in context it’s clear that he means crucifixion as we understand the term (although the various methods can not be discerned from the texts).

    Most all accounts agree that he was put to death. The Gospel of Yochanan (John) has the Disciples claiming “nail” marks/holes in his hands.

    Context is as important as what was or was not explicitly described.

  6. michaelh227 says:

    This was a great example of a well reasoned and documented contribution to a controversial subject. I think it would have been instructive as well to discuss how Jewish Jesus of Nazareth dealt with the subject in the popularly titled: “Parable of the Good Samaritan”. In which He makes a Samaritan man the epitome of a good neighbor who loved even his Jewish enemy.

  7. James Glinski says:

    Very good five stars thank you .

  8. William kirk says:

    I am quite frankly amused at the thousands of words used by learned people to try and express a very simple concept. We are all one creation and to say whether we should love or not love a part of God’s creation is showing no understanding of God’s word.

  9. DR NOEL K ANDERSON says:

    Further comments are needed along these lines for Matthew 25
    ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

    Similarly, does “the least of these my brothers” refer to the followers of Jesus or to humanity in general?

  10. Creston Hall says:

    Thank you, Prof Friedman,
    You have brought to my attention something that this layman had not considered previously. I enjoyed the pros and cons, and the opportunity to consider for myself what the best possible interpretation should be. Good article.

  11. Wilhelm says:

    “Neighbour” – word #7453 in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: an associate (more or less close): -brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour.. this word is “ray’ah” in Hebrew and is derived from word #7462 “raw-aw” which means “to tend a flock” or “flock”…

    From this we can derive that what is actually meant is that one should love his people (flock) as himself… Not that he should love every nation and person as himself! It would have been better if the Bible translators had used the phrase “love your CLOSEST or PEOPLE as yourself”.

  12. Andrew Ezell Wash says:

    neighbor (n.) Look up neighbor at Dictionary.com
    Old English neahgebur (West Saxon), nehebur (Anglian) “neighbor,” from neah “near” (see nigh) gebur “dweller,” related to bur “dwelling” (from PIE root *bheue- “to be, exist, grow”). Common Germanic compound (cognates: Old Saxon nabur, Middle Dutch naghebuur, Dutch (na)bur, Old High German nahgibur, Middle High German nachgebur, German Nachbar). Good neighbor policy attested by 1937, but good neighbor with reference to U.S. policy toward Latin America was used by 1928 by Herbert Hoover.

  13. michael tomlinson User says:

    The Golden Rule.
    Michael Tomlinson

  14. WILLIAM BOONE says:

    If you want to feel good will to everyone, better avoid affiliating with any and all religions. That’s the impression that I, as a non religious person certainly feel strongly reading the opinions put forth here. Most comments seem more like online flaming than civil discussion. If religious people can’t speak courteously and, yes, even lovingly each to the other, are they helping or hurting the ability, in the face of climate change, loss of species, and perhaps worst, extremely violent current and past religious wars, of humanity to at the bare least, survive? A sectarian spirit no longer serves anyone, if it ever did. “Can’t we just get along” folks? as Rodney King, for those of us old enough to remember, once said. Altruism and empathy should be humanity’s watchwords, if we are going to be able to survive present and still more urgent challenges of the future!

  15. Vern Taylor says:

    Perhaps we can never be sure of the original intention or actual interpretation of the idea in ancient Israel but what seems to be of more importance is how we might interpret the idea of “neighbor” today as well as what that passage means to us in how we choose to extend our kinship network.

  16. Leobardo says:

    So much fighting who right or wrong put that aside and come together from those that make us slave from this world!!

  17. James Spain says:

    He doesn’t say decide he says discover.. because GOD’S work is evident in our lives. His grace is upon us when we believe in him. We don’t decide about GOD we witness or experience. If you reject GOD then you are setting yourself up for a bleak existence and death and an eternity in hell.

  18. Dale says:

    This is typical of a writer that babbles on and on and then leaves people in the lurch by telling them decide for yourself. Of course your God given heart says like our Lord Christ told us. Why pick it apart and put it under a microscope only to say really nothing!

  19. moses says:

    hi jurgen We the disciples of yeshua will pray for you so that your eyes may be opened for the truth. do you believe in the prophet? e.g HIS servant Moses Isiah,Daniel, e.t.c
    all of them spoke the WORD of GOD And all spoke about Him .you do not believe in HIS WORD. do think you can make us believe your( mans) word.For HE say my thoughts are not your thoughts.to us Yeshua is The WORD of GOD when we heard Him we believed Him.i boldly testify that His word is true. I ask you to try it e.g hate your neighbor and he will pay you back in the same currency. is not this the law?God tells you to love In Matthew 5:44-48 Jesus makes it clear: “My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are children o your heavenly father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good. He rains on the just and unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Do not tax collectors do as much? And if you greet your brothers only, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not pagans do as much? You must be made perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Then, in Luke 6:27-36 “But to you who hear I say, lover your enemies, do good to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others what you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do your neighbor in the way He has specified. this is purely for your own good Lev 19:17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.so my bro. because of your thoughts you have hated GOD thoughts repent now and you will start a journey to enter GODS kingdom which has already come,

  20. Scott I says:

    I think the real problem here is that Israel of today forgets that they were the chosen ones, due to a promise to Abraham, to become the nation of God/Jehovah who would lead the world to salvation for it was always the will of God that all mankind be restored to Him if possible. Israel was chosen to be the one to eventually bring all God’s converts to know Him accurately and obey Him. As such chosen ones, they needed to develop a heart and attitude of love and acceptance of people of all the nation, all who come from Adam and need to be taught about God.

    Israel was supposed to be bigger and better than the nations, by being kind and just to all. But Israel herself never learned or accepted obedience, so she scorns love of neighbor, those who are not Jews. Not all Jews do that but a significant number do. So God had to appoint another to fulfill the prophecies in a symbolic figurative way, as shown in Deuteronomy, chapters 28-32. So love for all, without distinctions or preferences, is the goal we should all pursue, for our service should be that which is in behalf of God, not political ambitions, the the selfish ambitions of a few wealthy types who want to be exclusive and superior.

    It is vital to always keep the big original picture in mind. Israel or “Israel” will bring God to all, but not all will accept. We accept any who do embrace God and their fellow men (which naturally includes women in that “men” reference.

  21. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Johan… that is the word when Christians don´t know any answer as they missed in bible school. But you don´t even know where the word AMEN is originated from: AMENOTEP… Egyptian god-pharoh… It was a battle call. So maybe you should use and select your words more carefully.

  22. Jürgen Rahf says:

    You all know the tribes which had been banned. They had been the neighbors of the Hebrews living in Kanaan and neighborhood. More than 3,5 mio had been killed by the Hebrews. – This according to the bible. Is this the way of loving your neighbors? See also Lev 21 16-23: is that the way how to love neighbors and own people and treatening handicaped? Nowadays that will be punished because of discrimation. And what about the slaves? Is slavery gods way of loving people? Why Moses gave even laws for slavery? They had been slaves themselves but keeping their own slaves?! – How many returned from exile? – Even proudly mentioning the amount of slaves kept by the Jews. And Salomon? 600.000 slaves worked for him in the stoneworks. Even own people god killed (Num 17.14). I could continue several pages, but believers are blind . In my books I wrote on 600 pages all the cruelity of Jahwe. So, where is the love? Ok, the Quran ist even worser. No doubt. But the brutality is the same.

  23. Chris says:

    The writer’s idea is derived from the use of isagesis and eisagesis.
    The original context is Leviticus 19. Here’s the pericope:
    “15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16 ‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD. 17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:15-18 NAS)
    Clearly, the context is legal not political or emotional-social.
    What do you suppose the proper meaning of this LEGAL TEXT is?

    The writer arrived at his meaning of Matthew 5 through the use of isagesis and eisagesis.
    The context of Matthew 5 is LEGAL. The principle Y’shuah promotes in this ‘teaching’ is the same as the juridical foundations of the American republic. America’s founding fathers relied on a doctrine popularly known as “equal application of the law to everybody”. That’s the meaning of Y’shuah’s statement in Matthew 5, NOT treating foreigners w/social-emotional love. Any good Jew would recognize the latter to fall under the category of CHARITY. Charity is a MITZVOT, not a legal prescription, unless it was based on a VOW (another part of the “Levrite” law).
    How much honor does a teacher like the above writer have when he violates the basic principle of hermeneutics in creating his Biblical interpretations? Or maybe one of the Rockefeller’s or Carnegie’s stooges paid this man in via system of propaganda to promote “loving treatment of foreigners” in today’s America, which is suffering from the politics associated w/a massive influx of ILLEGAL ALIENS, perpetrated by the central government itself?
    Y’shuah had a word for this: “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7.5)
    BAR: You should be ashamed of yourselves for promoting such frivolous and seditious political propaganda. What happened to the separation of church and state? Such hypocrisy, don’t you think?
    Cheers … Chris

  24. Anthony Smith says:

    You believe what you want to believe. There are Muslims who believe that Jesus Christ was a prophet or imam who will usher in the rule of Mohammed upon the Earth. There are Jews who believe that the ancient texts were corrupted and of no value. There are Hindus who don’t mind adding Jesus to their plethora of gods. There are sects of people who believe Jesus Christ isn’t God in the flesh, who bow down to statues in direct disobedience to the words in the Bible.
    All of these things, including the authorship of scripture, have been highly debated from people who heard this or that, and passed it along as a fact. The trouble is those of us who met Him on the basis of the Word have had nothing but trust, obedience, correction, and hope given to them from that word. Pity us all you wish for believing the Word. The Lord has sanctified us through His Word, and we are most grateful to share the way, the truth and the life because we have been affected by Jesus Christ, a Person we have believed by faith produced by the Word. One day, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father, and witnessed by the Holy Spirit.

  25. Johan says:

    Hi Jurgen,

    We as Christians will pray for you so that you eyes may be opened for the truth….
    Anyway… Faith is exactly this – you believe in God – His promises in his Word. His promise of a Savior / Messiah for all who believe in Him.

    And you are correct – Jesus did not come to the Earth to bring peace, He came to bring a message that we have to repent from sin. Jesus came to defeat the Devil, and He will come again.

    As individuals their are millions Christians who can testify how God acted in their personal lives.

    He created us all for Him…

  26. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Gerald… you refer to Luke when stating here. The Gospel of Luke was written by an anonymous author. The Gospel wasn’t written and does not claim to be written by direct witnesses to the reported events. So that “Luke” did not listen to Jesus at all and can not report any teaching or sayings…Same is with the other Gospel writer, which non of them even listened to Jesus.

  27. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Elina… you did not answer on my statement on Mt. 10.34. Jesus was a magician and his teaching was teachig of a false god and he never was any messiah, as he did not fulfill even point on the requirement for a messiah. Did he built up the temple? Did he bring world peace? Was he direct descend of David? He was just a charlatan. None of the bible writers had been eyewitness. All texts were written at least 60..even 100 years after dead of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus was clearly for Jews only.
    Beside… Jesus was never crucified. Another lie. See : “The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.
    He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion – only that Jesus bore a “staurus” towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a “pole”.
    Mr Samuelsson, who has written a 400-page thesis after studying the original texts, said: “The problem is descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature.” – I am here for 20 year teaching theology at the University of Turku and have to do every day with scholars blind of the bible texts, which are 90% a lie and far away from any truth. I am pity for people believing on those writings and not understanding the truth. – Like here neighbors and next. Pure translation mistakes and running after a false messiah.

  28. Elena says:

    Jurgen, if your premise is correct then please explain why Jesus cared for the non-Jews like the man possessed by a legion of demons, the Roman centurion, and the Syro-Phoencian woman whose daughter was ill. And how abt the time when He spoke, nay, engaged the highly suspect Samaritan woman?

    Fm the Cross, He forgave Jew and Roman alike for what they were doing to Him.

    I am truly sorry that you have never met a real Christian in person. Most of us who love the Lord our God with all of who we are have become genuinely kind and caring folks. You become like the God you worship, you know.

  29. Gerald Martinez says:

    Jesus was repeatedly asked about how to gain eternal life. He either responded by referring to the two great commandments God gave Moses to give to the Israelite people in Leviticus 19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and Deuteronomy 6:5 Therefore, you shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” and other places in the Torah, including the Decalogue.

    In Matthew 19:19 Jesus said “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not kill’; ‘you shall not commit adultery’; ‘You shall not steal’; ‘You shall not bear false witness’; ‘Honor your father and mother’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said, “I have kept all these; what do I need to do further?” Jesus told him, “If you seek perfection, go sell your possessions, and give to the poor. You will then have treasure in heaven. Afterward, come back and follow me.” Hearing these words, the young man went away sad, for his possessions were many. In Matthew 22:39 “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole strength, with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.” And in Mark 12:29 “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the second, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than these.”

    In Luke 10:25-37 a lawyer [of the Mosaic Law] stood up to test Jesus, “Teacher what must I do to inherit everlasting life?” Jesus uses a long honored Jewish technique, he answered a question with a question. “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The lawyer replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live. The lawyer naturally seeks a loophole and ask, “Who is my neighbor?” This is the heart of this article. Jesus with another Jewish technique, he tells a parable -the Parable of the Good Samaritan [who was NOT Jewish], the ask the lawyer another question, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robber’s victim?” The lawyer answered, “The one who treated him with mercy [a Samaritan].”

    In Christian Scripture there are many other mentions of the two great commandments: Romans 13:9 “ . . . any other commandments there may be are summed up in this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love never wrongs the neighbor, hence love is the fulfillment of the law. In Galatians 5:14 “The whole law has found fulfillment in one saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If you go on biting and tearing one another to pieces, take care! You shall end up in mutual destruction!” In James 2:2 My brothers, your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not allow of favoritism. Suppose there would come into your assembly a man fashionably dressed, with gold rings on his fingers, and at the same time a poor man in shabby clothes. Suppose further that you were to take notice of the well-dressed man and say, “Sit right here, please,” whereas you say to the poor man, “You can stand!” or “Sit over there by my footrest.” Have you not in a case like this discriminated in your hearts . . . Scripture has it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

    But Jesus increased and expanded the Commandments. In Matthew 5:44-48 Jesus makes it clear: “My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are children o your heavenly father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good. He rains on the just and unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Do not tax collectors do as much? And if you greet your brothers only, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not pagans do as much? You must be made perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Then, in Luke 6:27-36 “But to you who hear I say, lover your enemies, do good to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others what you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be called children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just as you’re your Father is merciful.”

    Then, Jesus extends the Commandment even further in John 14:34-35 “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”

    I have no doubt that God’s Commandment to Moses to “love you neighbor as yourself” included all mankind, in fact, all of his creation. But Jesus clears up all doubt. Neighbor includeS EVERYONE.

  30. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Jesus did not speak on any neighbors, but the next.
    And the “next” was the own body, the own soul. – Loving the neighbors? Well see Mt 10.34…. and this shows all.
    Jesus brought the sword into the world and his religion is religion of hate…hating all non-jews.
    It s really funny how people talk so much and cannot even understand the true words.

  31. Paul Ballotta says:

    It’s an amazing concept that really raises the bar on religious thought, something that is brought out in the article in the current issue of BAR, p.50, if I may quote:
    “Israel lay at the point where Africa, Asia and Europe meet. People of all backgrounds regularly passed through. So we can imagine a nation at that fulcrum of ancient trade routes having a policy of welcome to all these valuable aliens” (“Love Your Neighbor” by Richard Elliot Friedman).
    also interesting in this article is the similarity of Levitical cult objects such as the Tabernacle with Egyptian parallels like the battle tent of Pharaoh Rameses II.The temples he built at Abu Simbel were an attempt to show a friendly face toward Egypt’s Cushite neighbor, though the gigantic figures of the Pharaoh are imposing (as one would expect from an egomaniac like Rameses II). In front of the temple there is an inscripotion comemorating this Pharaoh’s marriage to the daughter of the Hittite king as part of a peace treaty. Inside the temple there is an inscription comemorating this Pharaoh’s single-handed victory over the Hittite forces at the battle of Kadesh. According to the official state propaganda, all of Pharaoh’s forces retreated, leaving Rameses alone to grow into a giant and defeat the enemy. This kind of reminds me of that time in August 2000 when everyone in the State Department had their security clearances pulled because of a missing lap top and even the ambassador to Israel was out of the loop. So it was up to President Clinton to try get get a Mid-East peace deal and he used the Millenium Summit as a platform, so that we didn’t know all that much about the Millenium Summit because somebody had just sucked the oxygen out of the room (press coverage).
    The beautiful part about Rameses’ temple at Abu Simbel is that the first rays of the sun iluminate the baboon sculptures above the rest of the facade.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abu_Simbel_-_baboons_detail.jpg
    I believe this site is refered to in Isaiah 19:18 as the “City of the Sun” or in Hebrew, “Ir Heres,” or “City of Horus.” One of the Pharaoh’s five-fold titles was “Horus of Gold,” an allusion, perhaps, to the gold obtained from Nubia, the source of the Pharaoh’s wealth. “But where can wisdom befound; Where is the source of understanding?” (Job:28:12).
    Inside the temple there is a passageway that is flanked by rows of statues of Osiris, god of the underword and afterlife (which also bear a resemblance to Rameses) and there was a curious ritual performed during the funerary embalming process at the point when the wrapping of the fingers with linen has begun by reciting, “O Osiris, thou receivest thy nails of gold, thy fingers of gold … thou hast transformed thyself into a hawk of gold by means of the amulets (or talismans) of the City of Gold” (“Egyptian Magic” by E. A. Wallis Budge, p.188).
    The popular image of the baboons raising their hands in adoration before the rising sun is similar to a concept found in Jewish mysticism pertaining to meditating on the attributes of God of which there were ten in number and were represented by divine names found in the Old Testament:
    “As to those attributes of God which occur in the Pentateuch, or in the books of the Prophets, we must assume that they are exclusively employed, as has been stated by us, to convey to us some notion of the perfections of the Creatoir, or to express qualities of actions emanating from Him” (“The Guide for the Perplexed” by Moses Maimonides, chapter 60).
    In the 5th century B.C.E a Jewish community thrived at Elephantine that coincided with the return of the Babylonian exiles to Judah and it would seem to me that the priests possibly based their concept of humans being made in the image of God in Genesis 1:26 on the earlier account in Genesis 2:7 with humanity molded out of clay which was in turn, likely borrowed from the Egyptian god Knum who also molded humanity out of clay. Knum was thought to be the source of the Nile river in the African interior where humanity originally was formed, not unlike the baboons (though certainly more distant from humans than chimpanzees).

  32. PSGott says:

    Jesus identified this as the 2nd greatest command. When asked “who really is my neighbor” he responded with the parable of “the good Samaritan.” His reasoning was that everyone is our neighbor and deserving of love.

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34 Responses

  1. Jakke Day says:

    God says he is the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. Those people and their descendants are His people.

    Jesus said he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The lost sheep are the those descendants of Jacob who were dispersed eg the woman at the well who asks if Jesus was “greater than our father Jacob”. Cornelius is thought of as a non-Israelite but it’s clear he was an Israelite who grew up in Italy and was part of. The diaspora.

    Therefore, it’s clear that your neighbour is a fellow Torah-observant Israelite. Praying for your enemies is about praying for your fellow Torah-observant Israelites who may have wronged you.

    1. Peter T says:

      I disagree that Jesus stayed within the limits of Torah observant Jews when commanding to love your neighbor. During his ministry, Jesus widened the circle of people considered, e.g., when the Phoenician woman says that even the dogs eat what falls from the table, and Jesus extends his healing power to her. And when Jesus is asked who our neighbors are he tells the story of the good Samaritan.

  2. Veronika says:

    I believe you totally misunderstood the point. It’s, in fact, no big science 🙂 Re-a is your neighbour. When an alien becomes a neighbour, then he is a re-a too. When he is not your neighbour, he lives not with you and he is a stranger to your religion, to your habits etc., he obviously is not a re-a. So the term evolves with the times and each time, it means something different, a different group of people. In the global world of Romans, it means, obviously, something different than in times of King David, in global times you can be useful to everyone and also, they can be useful to you. Remember – the Lord always wants the „earthly good“ for its people. Why? More good means less sin in society, less sin of each of us. This is the reason for the Commandments – our salvation. But if somebody spread the sin, there are also many apparent commands in both Testaments what to do, you can’t overlook them. You can kill your re-a (in Old Testament) or teach him love or leave him (in the New Testament), while you have simultaneously to love him? Yet he is still a re-a…

    I would also like to mention the classics – the good Samaritan cited here too in comments. Look at the words of Jesus CAREFULLY: who is the neighbour? Is it the one who lays on the ground, wounded and harmed, or is it the one who help? Hence, who is the neighbour? This one who HELPS YOU. Jesus even emphasises it in the following question. Again, the aim of all this is to live in peace on Earth, in the best possible conditions, which mutual love usually is. Everything that puts you in the danger of sin is not good and you shall not stay in it arguing these people are „re-a“ too… Either it’s your problem (then you have to solve it on your own), or it’s other person who brings the problem and then the process is clear enough, for biblical Jews as for us in Jesus words 🙂 It’s all the very same, from the beginning of Israel, the human sin and its annihilation are in the centre of such efforts, only the situations in human life vary.

  3. John Smith says:

    Is it possible that Re’a refers to neighbors, as in those within the the tribe, and alien refers to those Israelites that were separated from the mass? In the New Testament, we know that the Corinthians were distant relatives to the Isrealites (1 Cor. 10), these would be ‘aliens’. Paul makes the argument that they are also ‘Re’a’. The circumcision argument that Paul constantly makes is that these dispersed Israelites should be welcomed as they are. He had to make this argument because the Israelites who were still practicing the faith (the same faith that the Greeks had lost over centuries of being ‘far off from the faith’) wanted them to be circumcised to be welcomed. This whole article assumes that there’s only 2 groups: Israelites and non-Israelites. When, in reality, there were Israelites (Judahites, Benjaminites, Gadites, etc), non-practicing Israelites (Greeks, dispersed Israelites, Phoenecians (King Hiriam was of the tribe of Naphtali)), Adamites (basically cousins – would have been those before Jacob – including Edom, but God had His own pronouncements on them), and, finally, non-Israelites (the fallen angels and all that descended from Cain). Egypt (Mizraim) and Ethiopia (Cush) are Adamic, which is why they could be considered relatives to the Israelites. They were allowed to intermarry with these ‘cousins’ in controlled circumstances, but were always forbidden from marrying outside of this. Canaanites, Jebusites, Moabites, etc. were never okay to intermarry with. This article is twisting the truth by excluding this information.

  4. […] [3]  Richard Elliott Friedman, The Exodus (Harper Collins, 2017), p. 82.  There are 50 verses, with two of the verses containing double references.  Also see Friedman’s essay, “Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?,” https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/love-your-neighbor-on…. […]

  5. artm11 says:

    “He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion – only that Jesus bore a “staurus” towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a “pole”.

    Many scholars are aware of such problems with the texts.

    However, one wonders if Samuelsson (et al) was’t making a distinction without a difference.

    So Shimon from Cyrenaica is forced into carrying the stauros (σταυρός) for Yeshua.

    Pole, or steak or cross piece.

    He carried Yeshua’s pole so that they could go fishing at the top of the Place of the Skull? No, obvious in all the Gospel accounts is that he was executed (in some manner) there.

    All manuscripts of Flavius Josephus claim Yeshua was crucified, and Josephus goes into some detail about other crucifixions in his histories, so that in context it’s clear that he means crucifixion as we understand the term (although the various methods can not be discerned from the texts).

    Most all accounts agree that he was put to death. The Gospel of Yochanan (John) has the Disciples claiming “nail” marks/holes in his hands.

    Context is as important as what was or was not explicitly described.

  6. michaelh227 says:

    This was a great example of a well reasoned and documented contribution to a controversial subject. I think it would have been instructive as well to discuss how Jewish Jesus of Nazareth dealt with the subject in the popularly titled: “Parable of the Good Samaritan”. In which He makes a Samaritan man the epitome of a good neighbor who loved even his Jewish enemy.

  7. James Glinski says:

    Very good five stars thank you .

  8. William kirk says:

    I am quite frankly amused at the thousands of words used by learned people to try and express a very simple concept. We are all one creation and to say whether we should love or not love a part of God’s creation is showing no understanding of God’s word.

  9. DR NOEL K ANDERSON says:

    Further comments are needed along these lines for Matthew 25
    ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

    Similarly, does “the least of these my brothers” refer to the followers of Jesus or to humanity in general?

  10. Creston Hall says:

    Thank you, Prof Friedman,
    You have brought to my attention something that this layman had not considered previously. I enjoyed the pros and cons, and the opportunity to consider for myself what the best possible interpretation should be. Good article.

  11. Wilhelm says:

    “Neighbour” – word #7453 in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: an associate (more or less close): -brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour.. this word is “ray’ah” in Hebrew and is derived from word #7462 “raw-aw” which means “to tend a flock” or “flock”…

    From this we can derive that what is actually meant is that one should love his people (flock) as himself… Not that he should love every nation and person as himself! It would have been better if the Bible translators had used the phrase “love your CLOSEST or PEOPLE as yourself”.

  12. Andrew Ezell Wash says:

    neighbor (n.) Look up neighbor at Dictionary.com
    Old English neahgebur (West Saxon), nehebur (Anglian) “neighbor,” from neah “near” (see nigh) gebur “dweller,” related to bur “dwelling” (from PIE root *bheue- “to be, exist, grow”). Common Germanic compound (cognates: Old Saxon nabur, Middle Dutch naghebuur, Dutch (na)bur, Old High German nahgibur, Middle High German nachgebur, German Nachbar). Good neighbor policy attested by 1937, but good neighbor with reference to U.S. policy toward Latin America was used by 1928 by Herbert Hoover.

  13. michael tomlinson User says:

    The Golden Rule.
    Michael Tomlinson

  14. WILLIAM BOONE says:

    If you want to feel good will to everyone, better avoid affiliating with any and all religions. That’s the impression that I, as a non religious person certainly feel strongly reading the opinions put forth here. Most comments seem more like online flaming than civil discussion. If religious people can’t speak courteously and, yes, even lovingly each to the other, are they helping or hurting the ability, in the face of climate change, loss of species, and perhaps worst, extremely violent current and past religious wars, of humanity to at the bare least, survive? A sectarian spirit no longer serves anyone, if it ever did. “Can’t we just get along” folks? as Rodney King, for those of us old enough to remember, once said. Altruism and empathy should be humanity’s watchwords, if we are going to be able to survive present and still more urgent challenges of the future!

  15. Vern Taylor says:

    Perhaps we can never be sure of the original intention or actual interpretation of the idea in ancient Israel but what seems to be of more importance is how we might interpret the idea of “neighbor” today as well as what that passage means to us in how we choose to extend our kinship network.

  16. Leobardo says:

    So much fighting who right or wrong put that aside and come together from those that make us slave from this world!!

  17. James Spain says:

    He doesn’t say decide he says discover.. because GOD’S work is evident in our lives. His grace is upon us when we believe in him. We don’t decide about GOD we witness or experience. If you reject GOD then you are setting yourself up for a bleak existence and death and an eternity in hell.

  18. Dale says:

    This is typical of a writer that babbles on and on and then leaves people in the lurch by telling them decide for yourself. Of course your God given heart says like our Lord Christ told us. Why pick it apart and put it under a microscope only to say really nothing!

  19. moses says:

    hi jurgen We the disciples of yeshua will pray for you so that your eyes may be opened for the truth. do you believe in the prophet? e.g HIS servant Moses Isiah,Daniel, e.t.c
    all of them spoke the WORD of GOD And all spoke about Him .you do not believe in HIS WORD. do think you can make us believe your( mans) word.For HE say my thoughts are not your thoughts.to us Yeshua is The WORD of GOD when we heard Him we believed Him.i boldly testify that His word is true. I ask you to try it e.g hate your neighbor and he will pay you back in the same currency. is not this the law?God tells you to love In Matthew 5:44-48 Jesus makes it clear: “My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are children o your heavenly father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good. He rains on the just and unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Do not tax collectors do as much? And if you greet your brothers only, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not pagans do as much? You must be made perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Then, in Luke 6:27-36 “But to you who hear I say, lover your enemies, do good to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others what you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do your neighbor in the way He has specified. this is purely for your own good Lev 19:17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.so my bro. because of your thoughts you have hated GOD thoughts repent now and you will start a journey to enter GODS kingdom which has already come,

  20. Scott I says:

    I think the real problem here is that Israel of today forgets that they were the chosen ones, due to a promise to Abraham, to become the nation of God/Jehovah who would lead the world to salvation for it was always the will of God that all mankind be restored to Him if possible. Israel was chosen to be the one to eventually bring all God’s converts to know Him accurately and obey Him. As such chosen ones, they needed to develop a heart and attitude of love and acceptance of people of all the nation, all who come from Adam and need to be taught about God.

    Israel was supposed to be bigger and better than the nations, by being kind and just to all. But Israel herself never learned or accepted obedience, so she scorns love of neighbor, those who are not Jews. Not all Jews do that but a significant number do. So God had to appoint another to fulfill the prophecies in a symbolic figurative way, as shown in Deuteronomy, chapters 28-32. So love for all, without distinctions or preferences, is the goal we should all pursue, for our service should be that which is in behalf of God, not political ambitions, the the selfish ambitions of a few wealthy types who want to be exclusive and superior.

    It is vital to always keep the big original picture in mind. Israel or “Israel” will bring God to all, but not all will accept. We accept any who do embrace God and their fellow men (which naturally includes women in that “men” reference.

  21. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Johan… that is the word when Christians don´t know any answer as they missed in bible school. But you don´t even know where the word AMEN is originated from: AMENOTEP… Egyptian god-pharoh… It was a battle call. So maybe you should use and select your words more carefully.

  22. Jürgen Rahf says:

    You all know the tribes which had been banned. They had been the neighbors of the Hebrews living in Kanaan and neighborhood. More than 3,5 mio had been killed by the Hebrews. – This according to the bible. Is this the way of loving your neighbors? See also Lev 21 16-23: is that the way how to love neighbors and own people and treatening handicaped? Nowadays that will be punished because of discrimation. And what about the slaves? Is slavery gods way of loving people? Why Moses gave even laws for slavery? They had been slaves themselves but keeping their own slaves?! – How many returned from exile? – Even proudly mentioning the amount of slaves kept by the Jews. And Salomon? 600.000 slaves worked for him in the stoneworks. Even own people god killed (Num 17.14). I could continue several pages, but believers are blind . In my books I wrote on 600 pages all the cruelity of Jahwe. So, where is the love? Ok, the Quran ist even worser. No doubt. But the brutality is the same.

  23. Chris says:

    The writer’s idea is derived from the use of isagesis and eisagesis.
    The original context is Leviticus 19. Here’s the pericope:
    “15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16 ‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD. 17 ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:15-18 NAS)
    Clearly, the context is legal not political or emotional-social.
    What do you suppose the proper meaning of this LEGAL TEXT is?

    The writer arrived at his meaning of Matthew 5 through the use of isagesis and eisagesis.
    The context of Matthew 5 is LEGAL. The principle Y’shuah promotes in this ‘teaching’ is the same as the juridical foundations of the American republic. America’s founding fathers relied on a doctrine popularly known as “equal application of the law to everybody”. That’s the meaning of Y’shuah’s statement in Matthew 5, NOT treating foreigners w/social-emotional love. Any good Jew would recognize the latter to fall under the category of CHARITY. Charity is a MITZVOT, not a legal prescription, unless it was based on a VOW (another part of the “Levrite” law).
    How much honor does a teacher like the above writer have when he violates the basic principle of hermeneutics in creating his Biblical interpretations? Or maybe one of the Rockefeller’s or Carnegie’s stooges paid this man in via system of propaganda to promote “loving treatment of foreigners” in today’s America, which is suffering from the politics associated w/a massive influx of ILLEGAL ALIENS, perpetrated by the central government itself?
    Y’shuah had a word for this: “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7.5)
    BAR: You should be ashamed of yourselves for promoting such frivolous and seditious political propaganda. What happened to the separation of church and state? Such hypocrisy, don’t you think?
    Cheers … Chris

  24. Anthony Smith says:

    You believe what you want to believe. There are Muslims who believe that Jesus Christ was a prophet or imam who will usher in the rule of Mohammed upon the Earth. There are Jews who believe that the ancient texts were corrupted and of no value. There are Hindus who don’t mind adding Jesus to their plethora of gods. There are sects of people who believe Jesus Christ isn’t God in the flesh, who bow down to statues in direct disobedience to the words in the Bible.
    All of these things, including the authorship of scripture, have been highly debated from people who heard this or that, and passed it along as a fact. The trouble is those of us who met Him on the basis of the Word have had nothing but trust, obedience, correction, and hope given to them from that word. Pity us all you wish for believing the Word. The Lord has sanctified us through His Word, and we are most grateful to share the way, the truth and the life because we have been affected by Jesus Christ, a Person we have believed by faith produced by the Word. One day, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father, and witnessed by the Holy Spirit.

  25. Johan says:

    Hi Jurgen,

    We as Christians will pray for you so that you eyes may be opened for the truth….
    Anyway… Faith is exactly this – you believe in God – His promises in his Word. His promise of a Savior / Messiah for all who believe in Him.

    And you are correct – Jesus did not come to the Earth to bring peace, He came to bring a message that we have to repent from sin. Jesus came to defeat the Devil, and He will come again.

    As individuals their are millions Christians who can testify how God acted in their personal lives.

    He created us all for Him…

  26. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Gerald… you refer to Luke when stating here. The Gospel of Luke was written by an anonymous author. The Gospel wasn’t written and does not claim to be written by direct witnesses to the reported events. So that “Luke” did not listen to Jesus at all and can not report any teaching or sayings…Same is with the other Gospel writer, which non of them even listened to Jesus.

  27. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Elina… you did not answer on my statement on Mt. 10.34. Jesus was a magician and his teaching was teachig of a false god and he never was any messiah, as he did not fulfill even point on the requirement for a messiah. Did he built up the temple? Did he bring world peace? Was he direct descend of David? He was just a charlatan. None of the bible writers had been eyewitness. All texts were written at least 60..even 100 years after dead of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus was clearly for Jews only.
    Beside… Jesus was never crucified. Another lie. See : “The legend of his execution is based on the traditions of the Christian church and artistic illustrations rather than antique texts, according to theologian Gunnar Samuelsson.
    He claims the Bible has been misinterpreted as there are no explicit references the use of nails or to crucifixion – only that Jesus bore a “staurus” towards Calvary which is not necessarily a cross but can also mean a “pole”.
    Mr Samuelsson, who has written a 400-page thesis after studying the original texts, said: “The problem is descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature.” – I am here for 20 year teaching theology at the University of Turku and have to do every day with scholars blind of the bible texts, which are 90% a lie and far away from any truth. I am pity for people believing on those writings and not understanding the truth. – Like here neighbors and next. Pure translation mistakes and running after a false messiah.

  28. Elena says:

    Jurgen, if your premise is correct then please explain why Jesus cared for the non-Jews like the man possessed by a legion of demons, the Roman centurion, and the Syro-Phoencian woman whose daughter was ill. And how abt the time when He spoke, nay, engaged the highly suspect Samaritan woman?

    Fm the Cross, He forgave Jew and Roman alike for what they were doing to Him.

    I am truly sorry that you have never met a real Christian in person. Most of us who love the Lord our God with all of who we are have become genuinely kind and caring folks. You become like the God you worship, you know.

  29. Gerald Martinez says:

    Jesus was repeatedly asked about how to gain eternal life. He either responded by referring to the two great commandments God gave Moses to give to the Israelite people in Leviticus 19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and Deuteronomy 6:5 Therefore, you shall love the Lord our God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” and other places in the Torah, including the Decalogue.

    In Matthew 19:19 Jesus said “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not kill’; ‘you shall not commit adultery’; ‘You shall not steal’; ‘You shall not bear false witness’; ‘Honor your father and mother’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The young man said, “I have kept all these; what do I need to do further?” Jesus told him, “If you seek perfection, go sell your possessions, and give to the poor. You will then have treasure in heaven. Afterward, come back and follow me.” Hearing these words, the young man went away sad, for his possessions were many. In Matthew 22:39 “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole strength, with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.” And in Mark 12:29 “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the second, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than these.”

    In Luke 10:25-37 a lawyer [of the Mosaic Law] stood up to test Jesus, “Teacher what must I do to inherit everlasting life?” Jesus uses a long honored Jewish technique, he answered a question with a question. “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The lawyer replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live. The lawyer naturally seeks a loophole and ask, “Who is my neighbor?” This is the heart of this article. Jesus with another Jewish technique, he tells a parable -the Parable of the Good Samaritan [who was NOT Jewish], the ask the lawyer another question, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robber’s victim?” The lawyer answered, “The one who treated him with mercy [a Samaritan].”

    In Christian Scripture there are many other mentions of the two great commandments: Romans 13:9 “ . . . any other commandments there may be are summed up in this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love never wrongs the neighbor, hence love is the fulfillment of the law. In Galatians 5:14 “The whole law has found fulfillment in one saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If you go on biting and tearing one another to pieces, take care! You shall end up in mutual destruction!” In James 2:2 My brothers, your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not allow of favoritism. Suppose there would come into your assembly a man fashionably dressed, with gold rings on his fingers, and at the same time a poor man in shabby clothes. Suppose further that you were to take notice of the well-dressed man and say, “Sit right here, please,” whereas you say to the poor man, “You can stand!” or “Sit over there by my footrest.” Have you not in a case like this discriminated in your hearts . . . Scripture has it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

    But Jesus increased and expanded the Commandments. In Matthew 5:44-48 Jesus makes it clear: “My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are children o your heavenly father, for his sun rises on the bad and the good. He rains on the just and unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Do not tax collectors do as much? And if you greet your brothers only, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not pagans do as much? You must be made perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Then, in Luke 6:27-36 “But to you who hear I say, lover your enemies, do good to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others what you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be called children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just as you’re your Father is merciful.”

    Then, Jesus extends the Commandment even further in John 14:34-35 “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”

    I have no doubt that God’s Commandment to Moses to “love you neighbor as yourself” included all mankind, in fact, all of his creation. But Jesus clears up all doubt. Neighbor includeS EVERYONE.

  30. Jürgen Rahf says:

    Jesus did not speak on any neighbors, but the next.
    And the “next” was the own body, the own soul. – Loving the neighbors? Well see Mt 10.34…. and this shows all.
    Jesus brought the sword into the world and his religion is religion of hate…hating all non-jews.
    It s really funny how people talk so much and cannot even understand the true words.

  31. Paul Ballotta says:

    It’s an amazing concept that really raises the bar on religious thought, something that is brought out in the article in the current issue of BAR, p.50, if I may quote:
    “Israel lay at the point where Africa, Asia and Europe meet. People of all backgrounds regularly passed through. So we can imagine a nation at that fulcrum of ancient trade routes having a policy of welcome to all these valuable aliens” (“Love Your Neighbor” by Richard Elliot Friedman).
    also interesting in this article is the similarity of Levitical cult objects such as the Tabernacle with Egyptian parallels like the battle tent of Pharaoh Rameses II.The temples he built at Abu Simbel were an attempt to show a friendly face toward Egypt’s Cushite neighbor, though the gigantic figures of the Pharaoh are imposing (as one would expect from an egomaniac like Rameses II). In front of the temple there is an inscripotion comemorating this Pharaoh’s marriage to the daughter of the Hittite king as part of a peace treaty. Inside the temple there is an inscription comemorating this Pharaoh’s single-handed victory over the Hittite forces at the battle of Kadesh. According to the official state propaganda, all of Pharaoh’s forces retreated, leaving Rameses alone to grow into a giant and defeat the enemy. This kind of reminds me of that time in August 2000 when everyone in the State Department had their security clearances pulled because of a missing lap top and even the ambassador to Israel was out of the loop. So it was up to President Clinton to try get get a Mid-East peace deal and he used the Millenium Summit as a platform, so that we didn’t know all that much about the Millenium Summit because somebody had just sucked the oxygen out of the room (press coverage).
    The beautiful part about Rameses’ temple at Abu Simbel is that the first rays of the sun iluminate the baboon sculptures above the rest of the facade.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abu_Simbel_-_baboons_detail.jpg
    I believe this site is refered to in Isaiah 19:18 as the “City of the Sun” or in Hebrew, “Ir Heres,” or “City of Horus.” One of the Pharaoh’s five-fold titles was “Horus of Gold,” an allusion, perhaps, to the gold obtained from Nubia, the source of the Pharaoh’s wealth. “But where can wisdom befound; Where is the source of understanding?” (Job:28:12).
    Inside the temple there is a passageway that is flanked by rows of statues of Osiris, god of the underword and afterlife (which also bear a resemblance to Rameses) and there was a curious ritual performed during the funerary embalming process at the point when the wrapping of the fingers with linen has begun by reciting, “O Osiris, thou receivest thy nails of gold, thy fingers of gold … thou hast transformed thyself into a hawk of gold by means of the amulets (or talismans) of the City of Gold” (“Egyptian Magic” by E. A. Wallis Budge, p.188).
    The popular image of the baboons raising their hands in adoration before the rising sun is similar to a concept found in Jewish mysticism pertaining to meditating on the attributes of God of which there were ten in number and were represented by divine names found in the Old Testament:
    “As to those attributes of God which occur in the Pentateuch, or in the books of the Prophets, we must assume that they are exclusively employed, as has been stated by us, to convey to us some notion of the perfections of the Creatoir, or to express qualities of actions emanating from Him” (“The Guide for the Perplexed” by Moses Maimonides, chapter 60).
    In the 5th century B.C.E a Jewish community thrived at Elephantine that coincided with the return of the Babylonian exiles to Judah and it would seem to me that the priests possibly based their concept of humans being made in the image of God in Genesis 1:26 on the earlier account in Genesis 2:7 with humanity molded out of clay which was in turn, likely borrowed from the Egyptian god Knum who also molded humanity out of clay. Knum was thought to be the source of the Nile river in the African interior where humanity originally was formed, not unlike the baboons (though certainly more distant from humans than chimpanzees).

  32. PSGott says:

    Jesus identified this as the 2nd greatest command. When asked “who really is my neighbor” he responded with the parable of “the good Samaritan.” His reasoning was that everyone is our neighbor and deserving of love.

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