Throughout the Old
Testament, God’s people are commanded to care for the social, ethnic, and
religious outsiders in their midst, referred to in various passages as
“aliens,” “strangers,” and “foreigners.” Indeed, this theme of exemplary,
inclusive hospitality can be traced throughout the various literary and
historical genres of the Old Testament, including the Torah, Writings, Major
Prophets, and Minor Prophets. “The one command reiterated more than
any other in the Mosaic books...is love the stranger for you were once
strangers in the land of Egypt,” observes Lord Jonathan Sacks, former
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the [British] Commonwealth.
“Or to put it in a contemporary way, love the stranger because, to him, you're
a stranger.”[1]
TORAH
Since earliest
days of creation, God’s people have been called to care equally for all of the
created order and to serve as an exemplary blessing for all peoples. At many
different points in the Old Testament narrative the people of God also found
themselves strangers in a strange land, both before and after entering the
Promised Land. This religious and historical reality is reflected in both the
fundamental Levitical laws and first creedal statement handed down by God
through the Moses to the Israelite children in Numbers 22.
In the earliest Genesis creation narratives
God’s people are called to carefully steward the resources at their disposal,
and to view each other with equality and respect befitting God’s pleasing
creation.
“Then God said, “Let us make humankind in
our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all
the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon
the earth. So God created humankind in [God’s] image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them...
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there
was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”[2]
In Genesis 12,
God reaffirms and expands this call in the earliest covenant promises to Abram
and Sarai. Indeed, God’s terms explicitly describe the exemplary nature of the
blessing, one that will be extended to all peoples everywhere. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and
make your name great, so that you will be a blessing,” the LORD promised Abram.
“I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[3]
When
Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah) and their descendants faithfully followed
God’s command to leave the lands of their birth for the Promised Land, their
resulting journeys repeatedly brought them into foreign social, ethnic, and
religious contexts. Abraham and Sarah left Ur of the Chaldeans to wander among Canaanites,
Egyptians, and Philistines. Although Isaac and Rebekah spent their whole lives
in the areas surrounding Canaan, they too moved between Mesopotamian,
Philistine, and Canaanite cultures. Isaac and Rebekah’s son, Jacob, follow a
similarly meandering path, one often shaped by the necessity of fleeing a
family squabble or business deal gone sour. After a long life among
idol-worshipping Canaanites and Perizzites, Jacob spent his final years in
Egypt, where his second-youngest son, Joseph, served as the Pharaoh’s regent.
Jacob insisted on being buried in Canaan, however, and after a similarly
itinerant life Joseph extracted the same promise from his own descendants.
After
Joseph’s death, the Hebrew people lived as slaves in Egypt for more than 400
years before they could fulfill Joseph’s wishes, an experience that (together
with the wanderings of the Patriarchs) helped solidify the importance of
treating strangers honorably in succeeding Israelite social, legal and
religious traditions. Passages such as Leviticus 19:33-34, Numbers 9:14 and
15:14-16, and Deuteronomy 1:16-17 repeatedly emphasize the importance of equal
treatment for native Israelites and resident aliens alike. “As
for the assembly, there shall be for both you and the resident alien a single
statute, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you and the alien
shall be alike before the Lord,”
Moses commanded. “You and the alien who resides with you shall have the same
law and the same ordinance.”[4]
In the same way, passages like Exodus 22:21 and 23:9 and Deuteronomy 10:18-19
and 16:11-12 specifically command the children of Israel to care for aliens in
their midst because they too were once strangers in a foreign land. “You shall not oppress a resident alien,” God instructed
them. “You know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of
Egypt.”[5]
These
emphases on social, religious and legal equality, together with the Hebrews’
shared, itinerant heritage, also profoundly inform the first doctrinal
statement ever handed down by God through Moses to the fledgling nation of
Israel. Recorded in Deuteronomy 26:2-15, this creed affirms God’s faithfulness
to his chosen people during their long wanderings:
“You
shall make this response before the Lord
your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and
lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation,
mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by
imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors...So now I bring the first of the
fruit of the ground that you, O Lord,
have given me’...Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside
among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.”[6]
WRITINGS
Since
the earliest days of the founding of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people
included strangers and aliens in their midst. Joshua 8:35 and 20:9 both refer
to the “aliens who resided among them” at least some of whom observed (and
participated in) the Hebrews social, religious, and legal traditions.[7]
Indeed, II Chronicles 2:17 records that by the days of King Solomon, third king
of Israel and Judah, more than 153,000 foreigners dwelt peaceably among the
Israelites.[8]
The
most celebrated story of an outsider in ancient Israel is that of Ruth, the
Moabite widow of a deceased Hebrew husband who relocated to Israel and embraced
the Jewish faith alongside her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi. The two widows
lived and worked together, and earned their sustenance through Ruth’s
willingness to gather the leavings from others’ fields in keeping with the
legal provisions recorded in Deuteronomy 24:19-21: “When
you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall
not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the
widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.”[9]
Her husband’s kinsman, Boaz, recognized Ruth’s faithfulness and hard work;
David, the second king of Israel, was their great-grandson![10]
Perhaps
in part because of this family heritage of inclusion, David repeatedly refers
to God’s special protection for strangers, widows and orphans in passages such
as Psalm 10:18, 68:5, and 146:9. “The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,” David reminds his
hearers. “But the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”[11]
King Solomon echoes his father’s sentiments in Psalm 23:11. “Do
not remove an ancient landmark or
encroach on the fields of orphans, for their redeemer
is strong; he will plead their cause against you.”[12]
MAJOR PROPHETS
Some
of the most strongly worded defenses of the rights of social and religious
outsiders - and damning indictments of those who oppress them - are contained
in the Old Testament writings of so-called “Major Prophets” such as Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The Book of Isaiah holds numerous promises of protection
for the poor, widows, orphans, and strangers in passages such as Isaiah
1:17-23, 56:3-8, and 58:6-12. “And the foreigners who join themselves to the
Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my
covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer,” God
promised the chosen people of Israel through Isaiah. “Their burnt offerings and
their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a
house of prayer for all peoples.”[13]
God
similarly affirms the covenantal promises with the chosen people of Israel through
the prophet Jeremiah - if only they continue to look after the needs of social,
ethnic, and religious outsiders in their midst. In passages such as Jeremiah
5:28, 7:5-7, and 22:3-4, the prophet reiterates the blessings that will follow
if Israel keeps her commitments to defend the weak, oppressed, and excluded. “For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you
truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan,
and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place,” the LORD promises,” and
if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you
in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and
ever.”[14] The prophet Ezekiel, conversely, prophesied against the Israelites’
continued disobedience and mistreatment of social and religious outsiders. “Father
and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you
suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you,” Ezekiel
chastised God’s chosen people. “You have despised my holy things, and profaned
my sabbaths.”[15]
MINOR PROPHETS
Many of the
so-called “Minor Prophets” such as Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi make similar
pronouncements about Israel’s responsibility to defend social, ethnic, and
religious outsiders. Micah offers a straightforward description of the kind of
behavioral faithfulness to which God’s chosen people are called.[16]
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”[17]
The prophet Zechariah proclaims a similar, more specific blueprint for the
Israelites’ responsibilities toward the outsiders in their midst. “Thus says the Lord
of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not
oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil
in your hearts against one another.”[18]
In the same way, Malachi offers God’s chosen people an even sterner warning
about the consequences of violating the covenant. “’I
will be swift to bear witness...against those who oppress the hired workers in
their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the
alien, and do not fear me,’ says the Lord
of hosts.”[19]
CONCLUSION
As we have seen,
God’s chosen people are commanded throughout the Old Testament, to care for the
social, ethnic, and religious outsiders among them, including those referred to
by various authors as “aliens,” “strangers,” and “foreigners.” This theme of
exemplary, inclusive hospitality is evident throughout each of the several
literary and historical genres of the Old Testament, including the Torah,
Writings, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets. Perhaps most tellingly, ministry
to social and religious outsiders was also emphasized by Christ in the New
Testament as a natural, loving way of demonstrating one’s citizenship in the
kingdom of heaven:
“Then
the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me
clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited
me.’
Then
the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and
gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And
when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you
clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’
And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of
the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”[20]
Thus Christ
confirms what Moses, David, and the prophets had proclaimed to God’s chosen
people all along: care and compassion for the strangers and outcasts among them
provided the kind of loving, inclusive example through which God seeks to
bless, redeem, and re-create not just the people of Israel, but the whole
world. Amen!
[1]
Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “The Dignity of Difference,” On Being with Krista Tippett, September
13, 2012, http://www.onbeing.org/program/dignity-difference/188.
[2]
Genesis 1:26-27, 31. This and all subsequent quotations, Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version (1989).
[3]
Genesis 12:2-3.
[4]
Numbers 15:14-15.
[5]
Exodus 23:9.
[6]
Deuteronomy 26:5-11.
[7]
Joshua 8:35.
[8] II
Chronicles 2:17.
[9]
Deuteronomy 24:19.
[10]
Matthew 1:4-5.
[11]
Psalm 146:9.
[12]
Proverbs 23:10-11.
[13]
Isaiah 56:6-7.
[14]
Jeremiah 7:5-7.
[15]
Ezekiel 22:7-8.
[16]
Hosea 14:3.
[17]
Micah 6:8.
[18]
Zechariah 7:10.
[19]
Malachi 3:5.
[20]
Matthew 25:34-40.
