"This section . . . consists of a list of twenty-one (3x7) laws. These laws are broken up into smaller units by the sevenfold repetition of the phrase I am the LORD (your God)' (19:3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18)."225
"I am the Lord"reminded the Israelites that God was their ultimate judge.
19:1-10 Respect for parents and Sabbath observance (v. 3) were the foundations for moral government and social well-being respectively.226
Idolatry and image making (v. 4) broke the first and second commandments. This verse recalls the golden calf incident (Exod. 32).
Regarding the sacrifices, the main expression of worship, as holy (vv. 5-8) revealed true loyalty to God contrasted with the idolatry of verse 4.
The preceding ideas deal with respect for God. Those that follow emphasize love for one's neighbor that flows from love for God.
The Israelites were not to harvest their fields and vineyards so thoroughly that there would be nothing left (vv. 9-10). Farmers in the Promised Land were to leave some of the crops in the field so the poor could come in and glean what remained. This showed both love and respect for the poor.227
19:11-18 "The statements in the law were intended as a reliable guide with general applicability--not a technical description of all possible conditions one could imagine. . . . The deaf' and the blind' are merely selected examples of all persons whose physical weaknesses demand that they be respected rather than despised."228
God commanded proper attitudes as well as correct actions (vv. 17, 18; cf. Matt. 18:15-17; 19:19).229
"To take the name of God in vain (KJV [v. 12]) is not merely to use it as a curse word but to invoke the name of God to support an oath that is not going to be kept."230
Verses 17 and 18 show that the Mosaic Law did not just deal with external behavior. When Jesus Christ commented on verse 18 in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:43), He did not invest it with a new spiritual meaning. He corrected the Pharisees' interpretation of it that limited it to external action.
