Bible Commentaries
Leviticus 19

Verses 1-37

The more positive habits of separation are insisted on by the repetition of laws already given, with one reiterated emphasis, namely, the fact that the God of this people is Jehovah. There was, first, a general call to holiness based upon the essential reason, 'Ye shall be holy; for I Jehovah your God am holy." This is the profoundest reason that can possibly be assigned. The holiness of Jehovah must be exemplified in His people. Every departure from the pathway of holiness is a profaning of the name of God, and in the case of a people thus called to realize and manifest the glory of His Kingship such departure is the most disastrous sin.

It is because of this that we find the almost monotonous repetition throughout this chapter of the solemn declaration, "I am Jehovah." No less than fourteen times does it occur. A people created and governed by God are intended to represent Him and the truth concerning Him to other people. When they fail to do so, His name is blasphemed by that failure. Therefore, in the midst of all the activities of life there must be the perpetual remembrance of whose they are and whom they serve. It will be remembered that in this very connection in his letter to the Romans, when the apostle was dealing with the specific nature of the sin of Israel, he summed everything up by saying, "For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" ( Rom 2:24 ).