In Leviticus chapter nineteen, verse thirty-four, loving one’s neighbor includes having strangers who come to live in one’s community. Jesus emphasizes the same thing in the parable of the good samaritan in Luke ten twenty-five to thirty-seven. God Himself loved His people while they were foreigners and expects us to do the same. He is the kind of God who wants to bless all nations.
God mentions to Moses in this verse of Leviticus chapter nineteen to love thy neighbors as thyself. This section is about personal conduct and to be successful with others starts with love. In the latter part of the verse, God reminds His servant that they were strangers in Egypt before they needed deliverance. Remember, Joseph, through obedience and patience with God, did help Pharoah interpret a dream that enabled him and his family to enjoy the best in the land of Egypt. Joseph was in prison before that, falsely accused by the master’s wife of making a pass at her.
To love thy neighbor as thyself begins with treatment. If a person comes to you with a negative approach, how would you like the person to respond if you were in their shoes? Our conscience would like to give them what they initially issued to us, but God sees differently from how we naturally think. If Joseph retaliated in the way the master’s wife accused him, possibly the course of direction would be different for Joseph and his family back in Genesis of the Old Testament. If Joseph did not follow the way God was leading, perhaps Moses would not be in Egypt and the rest of the Israelites. If God did not love his people that now experience bondage in Egypt, they would still be there suffering.
Moses, the servant of God, had to be patient and follow God’s will of deliverance for the children of Israel. He had to deal with their rebellion and toil through hardship with their complaints about suffering in Egypt and lack of resources once they left. Moses did have a love for his people because he had to put up with their behavior throughout the process of deliverance. Then intervened on their behalf when God wanted to punish them for murmuring. In addition, to hear them rambling when they encounter a lack of resources on their way to the promised land where most of them did not make it there. Moses tolerated all this from the people of Israel by God’s guidance. Prime examples of loving a neighbor as thyself.