Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19:9

Clement of Alexandria: 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. — The Stromata Book 2

Clement of Alexandria: 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. — The Stromata Book 2

Leviticus 19:11

Augustine of Hippo: You will not steal or lie or slander your neighbor. The precept of theft appeared in the Decalogue (Cf Exodus 20,14). As for what follows: You will not lie or slander your neighbor, it would be strange if you did not lock yourself in that precept that appears there: You will not say false testimony against your neighbor (Exodus 20,16), because there can not be a slander without a lie, something that contains in the general statement about the false testimony. But there is a serious problem about whether these things can be admitted in any case. With regard to the lie, as it seems to almost everyone that a lie can be said to save one when no one is harmed, is it possible to affirm the same about theft? Can a theft be committed when no one is harmed? On the contrary, it can be done even when one looks at the one who is being robbed, as is the case when one steals the sword of a man who wants to kill himself. Actually, the slander I do not know if one could be made to his advantage. When Joseph slandered his brothers about the glass and charged them with the false accusation that they were spies, perhaps he did it to achieve greater joy, which they would later enjoy. Although if we tried to determine these things with appropriate definitions, perhaps there is no theft more than when harm is done to others, hiding what is foreign. And there is no slander more than when harm is done to others, accusing them of false guilt. But we can not say that lie exists only when harm is caused to our neighbor. When one says a false thing knowingly, it is certainly a lie, whether it is harmed with it or if no harm is done to anyone. Therefore, the serious problem about lying, that is, if the lie could ever be lawful, would probably be solved easily if we contemplated only the commandments, and not the examples. Because what is more blunt than this commandment: You will not lie? It is stated as: You will not make idols-which can never be lawful-and also what the Scripture says: You will not commit adultery-who would dare to say that adultery could ever be lawful? And the same as: You will not steal - according to that definition of theft the theft can never be lawful. And: You will not kill (Exodus 20,4.13.14.15), because when a man is lawfully killed, the law kills him, not you. Can it be said that when a man lies lawfully, does the law lie? The examples make the question very difficult: the Egyptian midwives lied and God rewarded them with goods (Cf Exodus 1,19.20). Rahab lied in favor of the spies of the country and for that reason she was released (Cf Joshua 2,4; 6,25 24). Is it from what is said in the law: You will not lie, from where you have to understand the subject, and is it not lawful to tell a lie in the circumstance in which Rahab said it? It is more plausible to think that the lie was prohibited because it was unlawful that it was not made illegal because it was forbidden. So perhaps, as we said about the midwives, they were not rewarded because they told a lie, but they were rewarded for freeing the Hebrew children, in such a way that this mercy would have made that sin venial, but we could not stop thinking that it was sin. About Rahab we must also think that he was awarded the release of the spies, in such a way that the lie was forgiven for having granted them freedom. Well, where forgiveness is granted is that there has been a sin. We must avoid, however, thinking that forgiveness can also be granted to other sins if they are committed to free men. Because of this error would be followed many intolerable and absolutely detestable evils. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 68 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 19:13

Ambrose of Milan: 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. — LETTER 62 (19).3

Augustine of Hippo: You will not harm your neighbor. If men easily knew what it was to do harm and not do it, perhaps this general precept would be enough to preserve innocence. Because everything that is forbidden to do to others can be reduced to these words of Scripture: You will not harm your neighbor. What follows next: You will not deprive him, if he does not refer to the fact of not doing harm to others, stripping him, it can sometimes lead to one hurting another not stripping him, because to a madman, for example, you have to take him the sword, and if one did not do it when necessary, it would cause more damage. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 69 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 19:14

Gregory the Dialogist: 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. — THE BOOK OF PASTORAL RULE, Part 3

Leviticus 19:15

Jerome: “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. — LETTER 79.1

Leviticus 19:17

Augustine of Hippo: What does it mean that, having said before: You will not hate your brother in your mind; But correct your neighbor seriously and you will not bear a sin for his sake, then add: and your hand will not avenge? Does it mean perhaps “and is not punished”? Because, when you impose a punishment on your neighbor who commits a sin, you do it with good intentions, so as not to bear your sin through negligence. This is what has been said before: You will not hate your brother in your spirit. Because who is corrected, it might seem that you hate him, when in fact that is not your intention. The phrase: Do not take your hand, does it mean perhaps that you do not have to avenge your hand or allow yourself to be dragged by the desire for revenge? Because what is it to want revenge, but to rejoice and be pleased with the evil of others? And that is why it has been said: Do not get angry with the children of your people. Anger is defined by correctly saying that it is the desire for revenge. Some codices have: And your hand will not avenge. This means: do not want to revenge by reprimanding, but rather seek the good of the one you reprimand. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 70 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 19:18

Apostolic Constitutions: 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. — Apostolic Constitutions (Book II), Section 4, XXV

Augustine of Hippo: 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. — LETTER 177

Gregory the Dialogist: 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. — 40 Homilies on the Gospels - Homily 20

Origen of Alexandria: 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”. — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 3

Leviticus 19:23

Pacian of Barcelona: 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

Paterius: 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 14

Leviticus 19:28

Augustine of Hippo: You will not make incisions in your body for the soul. For the soul means “for the corpse of a dead man”. In effect, you suffer for the person who died. Mourning belongs to this pain. And during the duel some people have the habit of making incisions in the body. God forbids it. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 71 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)