From: mtodorovac51@gmail.com   
      
   Leviticus 19:18   
   Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people,    
   but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.   
      
   * * *   
      
   There is a question here: who are "the children of thy people" not to avenge   
   nor bear a grudge against?   
      
   Here is the Second Great Commandment: "Thou shalt love thy   
   neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."   
      
   Deuteronomy 24:19 allows for protection of widows, orphans and   
   foreigners who dwell among the people of the Biblical Israel.   
   Further He says "I am the LORD". Meaning, by taking justice by   
   our own hand:   
      
   1 Samuel 25:33   
   And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day    
   from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.   
      
   This means, by taking the law and justice into our own hand, we judge   
   our neighbour, and we are not executing the Law but judging the Law   
   (James 4:11-12).   
      
   James 4:11-12   
   11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his    
   brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the    
   law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.   
   12    
   There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that    
   judgest another?   
      
   Moreover, a scribe asked "Who is my neighbour?" when speaking to   
   the Lord Jesus Christ?   
      
   What was the answer from the Lord? The neighbour of the wounded   
   Jew was not the priest, not the Levite, but the foreigner, despised   
   Samaritan, who helped him and gave him sustenance.   
      
   Sometimes we might be surprised by the choice of aid sent from the   
   LORD: ravens of Elijah, a widow from Zarephath (1 Kings 17:10),   
   but it will never go against the written Word of God.   
      
   This will be: God can forgive an act of murder, but not make murder   
   an act.   
      
   God can forgive an act of life in fornication and living like a goddess   
   who can and did have any man, but not perpetuation of such state   
   without remorse or correction, expecting that "village pressure" will   
   enact enough force that she will eventually marry and bring illegitimate   
   children as the dowry.   
      
   There is slight difference between forced communist marriage with   
   a harlot because a guy is "good" and that genuine remorse Mary   
   Magdalene had when washing Jesus' feet with tears and wiping them   
   with her hair.   
      
   Even the expensive nard ointment (John 12:3) was probably earned   
   with Mary Magdalene's old style of life, but it was sanctified when   
   used for the purpose of spreading the Word of God, Gospel and   
   salvation.   
      
   But nobody questions sincerity of Mary Magdalene's breakup with   
   the old style of life and living for Jesus alone. Even Lord did not   
   doubt that, when she was the first person seeing him after his   
   resurrection from the dead.   
      
   What is the conclusion?   
      
   1. We cannot choose how will God deliver us. He is Sovereign in that choice.   
   2. The notion of neighbour to be love as oneself gradually included widows,   
   orphans and foreigners living in the Biblical Israel, to the Samaritans   
   who worshiped the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but were not   
   genetic Jews.   
   3. Avenging oneself by "taking justice by one's own hand" is something   
   David relented and feared. This is in effect playing God.   
      
   Job 34   
   28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him;   
   For He hears the cry of the afflicted.   
   29 When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?   
   And when He hides His face, who then can see Him,   
   Whether it is against a nation or a man alone?—   
   30 That the hypocrite should not reign,   
   Lest the people be ensnared.   
      
   31 “For has anyone said to God,   
   ‘I have borne chastening;   
   I will offend no more;   
   32 Teach me what I do not see;   
   If I have done iniquity, I will do no more’?   
   33 Should He repay it according to your terms,   
   Just because you disavow it?   
   You must choose, and not I;   
   Therefore speak what you know.   
      
   So God is free to forgive the offender if he repents from the times   
   of Job, before Moses or Law of Moses came. But even Job is   
   not an Israelite, but a descendant of Abraham believed to be   
   from the hostile tribe of Esau (Genesis 36:31-39).    
      
   Job might have been the rare witness of One God of Abraham while   
   Israel was in fornication in Egypt (Ezekiel 23:19-20).   
      
   in the LORD God Merciful, Longsuffering   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)