Leviticus 18:5

Hebrew Bible

3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. 4 You must observe my regulations, and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. I am the Lord. 6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.

Luke 10:28

New Testament

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead.

 Notes and References

"... Readings of Leviticus 18:5 possibly underlie two synoptic teachings of Jesus. (Gathercole, “Torah, Life, Salvation,” 140–142 notes that Luke 10:28 has been noticed as relating to Leviticus 18:5 before, but not taken into consideration by Dunn and others) Jesus is approached by an unnamed person, who afterwards appears to be rich (Mark 10:22), with a question as to what to do to earn eternal life ... The combination of doing and future living is reminiscent of LXX Leviticus 18:5 but cannot be qualified as a direct quotation. Nonetheless, Jesus answers by referring to the practice of commandments ... A reference to Leviticus 18:5 gains plausibility since the text stipulates the commandments as a way to life. Remarkably, however, the accent is put on the ethical or social commandments ..."

Ottenheijm, Eric "'Which If A Man Do Them He Shall Live By Them': Jewish And Christian Discourse On Lev 18:5" in Menken, M.J.J. (ed.) The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition: Essays in Honour of Maarten J.J. Menken (pp. 303-316) Brill, 2013

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