NUM223 (Continued from [[LEV23]] Leviticus 2:6 break GATES 421-5). It is also possible to explain this pasuk [Leviticus 25:17] as follows: "Do not be a witness needlessly against your fellowman," to testify about him regarding transgressions that you yourself have fallen prey to, just as he has. For this reason he is referred to as his "fellowman." [I.e. his compatriot in sin]. This is borne out by what is subsequently says, "Do not say, 'As he has done to me I will do to him.'" [I.e., "Just as he revealed my sins, I will reveal his same sins" (Sha'arei Teshuvah Hameforash)]. Although it is a mitzvah to expose those who have sinned against their own souls [this verse] and charlatans, yet if the sinner's wickedness is comparable to his own and his sins are like the other [Job 35:8], he must not expose the sinner publicly, since his intention in exposing the sinner's secrets are not for the good, but to rejoice over another's misfortune. Secondly--how can one not be ashamed to refer to the other's faulty deeds, when he himself holds onto them! The pasuk says (Hosea 1:4), "I will avenge the blood of Yizre'el upon the house of Yehu" [Yehu was anointed king and charged by the prophet with destroying the house of Achav (II Melachim 9:6-9), which he did (ibid., 10:11,17). Even so, Hashem avenged this act because Yehu also became a wicked king. (The family of Achav is referred to as Yizre'el, the place where they lived.)]. Observe--although Yehu performed a mitzvah by destroying the house of Achav, he bore the sin of what he had done, since he too was filled with iniquity.