Leviticus — Chapter 19

Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy (Lev. 19:2). This is the foundation of all Christian moral theology. Lapide teaches that sanctity here means purity and cleanness from all uncleanness of flesh and spirit, from all sin and legal irregularity. The ground is the imitation of God: because God is holy, those who approach Him and are made in His image are called to holiness. St. Peter cites this text in 1 Peter 1:16 as the enduring imperative for Christians. It is not abrogated but elevated by the New Covenant, in which the Holy Ghost Himself is the principle of our sanctification.

Honour of father and mother is placed immediately after the declaration of holiness (Lev. 19:3). Lapide notes this shows that the natural law and the revealed moral law are continuous: piety toward parents flows from the fear of God and is included in the holiness commanded. The Sabbath is likewise placed here, showing that worship of God and honour of parents are the two pillars of social order.

The prohibition of idols and molten gods (Lev. 19:4) follows immediately upon the command to honour parents and keep the Sabbath. Lapide: the Hebrew elilim, which he analyses in five ways (vanities; little gods; false gods; nocturnal beings; accursed things), shows that idols are not merely wood and stone but representations of demonic powers. The modern idols — money, pleasure, ambition — are equally forms of elilim: the \"godlings\" to which men sacrifice their time, health, family, and eternal salvation.

The peace-offering must be eaten on the day of offering or the next day; what remains until the third day must be burned (Lev. 19:5-8). Lapide: the Eucharist reserved beyond the proper time becomes, not stale, but is to be consumed with due respect. He draws the tropological application: good works performed with the freshness of initial fervour are pleasing to God; when charity grows cold and the inner fire is extinguished, even externally good actions become profane (v. 7: profanus erit). The state of soul in which we act determines the acceptability of the act.

The law of gleaning — leaving the corner of the field and fallen grapes for the poor and stranger (Lev. 19:9-10) — is the Mosaic foundation of social charity. Lapide connects it with the gleaning of Ruth (Ruth 2) and says it anticipates the New Testament teaching that the rich hold their surplus goods not as absolute property but as stewards for the poor. This was not merely a counsel but a precept under the Old Law.

You shall not steal. You shall not lie: neither shall any man deceive his neighbour (Lev. 19:11). Lapide: these three precepts — against theft, lying, and deception — form the basis of commutative justice, which governs all commercial, legal, and personal dealings between neighbours. The Hebrew non-negabitis (you shall not deny) specifies that the prohibition covers denial of truth in any matter involving a deposit, loan, or debt. He connects this with the natural law obligation of truthfulness.

The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning (Lev. 19:13). Lapide cites this as the Mosaic basis of justice in labour relations: since working men are poor and live day to day, to delay their wages is an act of injustice tantamount to oppression. James 5:4 takes up this text against the unjust rich. The Doctors teach this is a precept of natural justice, obliging under grave sin when the delay causes real harm to the labourer.

Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind (Lev. 19:14). Lapide follows St. Gregory (Pastoral, admon. 36) in the tropological reading: to curse the deaf is to calumniate the absent who cannot defend themselves; to place a stumbling-block before the blind is to give scandal to one who lacks the light of discretion. Both are gravely sinful: the former for its cruelty, the latter for its contempt of another's spiritual welfare.

Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty: but judge thy neighbour justly (Lev. 19:15). Lapide teaches that justice in judgment is a virtue proper to God's own governance, who judges without partiality. The perversion of judgment by favour — whether to the poor out of misplaced compassion or to the powerful out of fear — is a double injustice: to the law, and to the party defrauded.

Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people (Lev. 19:16). Lapide collects classical and patristic testimonies against calumny: Demosthenes compared the calumniator to a viper (Orat. 1 contra Aristogiton.); Athanasius declared calumny worse than stones (Apol. 1); Vespasian said the prince who does not punish informers encourages them. Calumny is a club, a sword, and an incurable dart (Solomon). The precept against calumny extends to all forms of detraction, even true but unnecessary disclosure of another's hidden faults.

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly (Lev. 19:17). Lapide refutes Josephus and certain Rabbis who thought the Old Testament forbade only external acts of hatred or injury, not internal acts of the will. The Mosaic law already forbade interior hatred, as Cassian (lib. 8, cap. 14) notes; this is why Christ's correction in Matthew 5:22 is an explanation of the Law's true meaning, not an abrogation of it.

Thou shalt not seek revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens: thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord (Lev. 19:18). Lapide demonstrates at length that \"friend\" (Hebrew rea') means not merely a personal friend but every neighbour, indeed every human being — as the Septuagint translates it (plesion), and the Chaldean (chaverekh, thy associate). He cites Augustine, Jerome, and Theophylact on Matthew 5: therefore Christ's refutation of the Pharisaic limitation was a correction of the rabbinical narrowing, not a change in the Law itself. The love commanded is not equal in degree but similar in kind to love of self.

You shall not eat with the blood. You shall not divine, nor observe dreams (Lev. 19:26). Lapide: the prohibition of eating with blood is the Levitical prohibition (Lev. 17:10-14) repeated here in the context of general moral law. The prohibition of divination and augury shows the close connection in Scripture between occult practices and violations of the natural law: both arise from the refusal to submit to God's sovereignty and both figure in the pagan religions of the Canaanites.

You shall not cut your hair roundly, nor shave your beard (Lev. 19:27). Lapide: this prohibition was directed against the pagan mourning rites and the customs by which the Gentiles marked themselves as worshippers of various deities by their hairstyle and beard. He notes the Christian analogy: the Church's laws on clerical tonsure and the prohibition of bizarre fashions in dress and personal appearance echo the Mosaic concern that God's people be visibly distinct from pagan culture.

Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man (Lev. 19:32). Lapide teaches that reverence for the elderly is part of the natural law, rooted in the fact that age brings them nearer to God in wisdom and experience. The fear of God is given as the motive: \"and fear thy God, I am the Lord.\" This shows that all social virtues — justice, reverence, charity — are grounded in the fear and love of God, from whom the moral law flows.

The stranger living among Israel is to be treated as a native, and loved as oneself (Lev. 19:33-34), with the motive that \"you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.\" Lapide teaches this is not a general rule of open borders but a law of charity and justice: aliens who live in a community are owed the same basic justice and neighbourly love as citizens. Christ's parable of the Good Samaritan extends this to all men without exception.

Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin (Lev. 19:35-36). Lapide: justice in commerce is not merely a civil matter but a religious one. The same formula — \"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt\" — grounds the demand for honest weights as it grounds the prohibition of idolatry. All injustice in commerce is therefore a kind of irreligion, treating the goods of others as if God's law did not govern economic exchange. This is why the Church has always condemned fraudulent contracts as matters of mortal sin.