000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

24 Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany/Year A
says simply: “keep my sabbaths.” The Sabbath was a day of rest and no
mention of doing anything is made here. For Leviticus, ethics and ritual are
not separate; we all need ritual reminders of ethical obligations.
Verses 9–10 have to do, again, with the poor and the vulnerable. A field
is not to be harvested “to the very edges” and vineyards are not to be
stripped clean or fallen grapes gathered: “you shall leave them for the poor
and the alien.” The rabbis interpreted these mitzvoth to mean that the furrows
around the edge of the field were not to be harvested so that the poor
could easily see that food was available. To harvest the entire field was
regarded as robbing the poor. Gleaning programs that provide food for
the poor in our society take their inspiration from these mitzvoth.
Verses 11–18 have entirely to do with deeds (the letter of James
mentions many of these commandments). Love itself signifies deeds as
much as attitudes. These are all negative commandments. As such they
open up possibilities for a life of well-being; they forbid activities that
destroy communal well-being. Also, they are easy to keep—one can keep
them all while taking a nap. Verses 11–12 state: “you shall not steal; you
shall not deal falsely . . . you shall not lie to one another,” and “you shall
not swear falsely.” The ancient rabbis said: “If you have stolen, you are
likely to deny, then to lie, and end by taking a false oath.” 6 Such behavior
destroys community; those who are members of one another do not
lie to each other.
Verse 13 adds that people should not “steal” from one another and
should not hold back a laborer’s wages until morning; the verb in the latter
mitzvah means to “oppress” or “extort.” To withhold until tomorrow
the pay of the poor is tantamount to stealing, to holding on to money
gained illegally. In Matthew’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard, the
laborers were paid at the end of the workday—in accordance with Torah.
Verse 14 again is concerned with the vulnerable, the deaf and the blind.
That we should not curse the deaf or put obstacles in the way of the blind
is followed by: “you shall fear your God.” The deaf cannot hear a curse
nor the blind see obstacles, but while they do not know who insulted or
hurt them, God knows and they are under God’s protection. Congregations
that make their buildings accessible to the handicapped have corrected
the ways in which they had placed obstacles in the way of the
vulnerable.
Verse 15 addresses matters of injustice and indifference. It is concerned
with just judicial procedures. Judges should be neither partial to the poor
nor deferential to the important. In our times perhaps we should say that
the poor should be provided with lawyers as able as those whom the rich