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DEUTERONOMY | 10:18 giving — DEUT448 Deuteronomy 10:18-19 provides yet another...

DEUT448 Deuteronomy 10:18-19 provides yet another indication that love in the Torah is defined primarily through actions. Verse nineteen commands the Israelites "to love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt," while verse eighteen teaches that God "loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing." The Torah's instruction to the Israelites to follow in God's ways (Deuteronomy 28:9), means that their love for the strangers should be expressed, as is God's, by providing them with food and clothing and taking care of their other needs. Also, the rationale for loving the stranger, "for you were strangers in the land of Egypt," makes no sense if it refers to emotions. Why should the fact that the Israelites were "strangers" in Egypt, in and of itself, cause them to feel love for other strangers? But it makes perfect sense if what is being commanded is loving behavior, so that Jews are instructed to treat the stranger "in the way Jews would have liked to have been treated when they were strangers in Egypt" (Professor Stephen Harvey) "Love," in Cohen and Mendes-Flohr, eds., Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, 559). Professor Harvey points out that a while it is impossible to expect masses of people to feel the same "sincere and unbounded desire and concern for the well-being of others [as they have for themselves], what can be commanded is the performance of acts of love, treating others as one would if one truly cared about their well-being." (Ibid.)

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Source KeyTELVOL2
Verse10:18
Keyword(s)giving
Source Page(s)13-14
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