{"id":34518,"date":"2026-02-14T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=34518"},"modified":"2026-02-16T09:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T14:32:15","slug":"love-your-neighbor-only-israelites-or-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/bible-interpretation\/love-your-neighbor-only-israelites-or-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rembrandt, Moses with the Tablets of the Law, public domain.<\/strong>
Moses, pictured here in a painting by 17th-century Baroque artist Guido Reni, is one of the most iconic figures in the Hebrew Bible. Despite Moses\u2019 obvious Semitic heritage, the name \u201cMoses\u201d is actually Egyptian, like that of other Biblical figures (Phinehas, Hophni, Hur, Merari). All of them are referred to in the Bible\u2019s Levite sources (E, P and D of the Documentary Hypothesis). Levites like Moses fled Egypt to form a new nation of Israelites who were to \u201clove your neighbor.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s one of the most famous lines in the Bible: \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself\u201d (Leviticus 19:18).<\/p>\n

Impressive. Fascinating. Inspiring. Capable of a thousand interpretations and raising 10,000 questions. A remarkable proposition coming out of ancient Judah, which was embedded in the Near Eastern world of wars, slavery, class and ethnic divisions and discriminations of all kinds.<\/p>\n

One interpretation of this verse that has been making the rounds for years turns this grand idea on its head: The claim is that the verse means to love only one\u2019s fellow Israelites as oneself. Instead of being inclusive, it\u2019s actually exclusive. Is there anything to this claim?<\/p>\n

We have to start by going all the way back to the Exodus<\/a>, which the combination of archaeology and text has led me to argue was historical; it actually happened. Ninety percent of the arguments against its historicity are not about the event itself but about the size of the event: All of Israel! Two million people (as suggested by Exodus 12:37\u201338)! Impossible!<\/p>\n

But the evidence of a real but smaller exodus is a different matter. The earliest Biblical sources\u2014the very early Song of Miriam (Exodus 15) and the text known in critical Biblical scholarship as J\u2014don\u2019t mention any numbers.<\/p>\n

Moreover, there is good evidence that only the Levites were in Egypt; it was they who left and then merged with the rest of Israel. Note that only Levites have numerous Egyptian names (e.g., Phinehas, Hophni, Hur, Merari, Moses<\/a>). The Levites alone reflect Egyptian material culture: Their Tabernacle has parallels with the battle tent of Pharaoh Rameses II.1<\/a><\/sup> Their ark has parallels with Egyptian sacred barks.2<\/a><\/sup> The Levite sources alone require circumcision, which was practiced in Egypt. There is much more. For the whole picture, see my presentation at a recent conference titled Out of Egypt<\/em> held last year at the University of California, San Diego, which BAR<\/strong> has put online at https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/exodus\/video-the-exodus-based-on-the-sources-themselves\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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FREE ebook: Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t