In previous chapters we have looked at how God instructed Israel how they, as God’s people, were to treat strangers within Israel’s borders, i.e., integration. In this chapter we will now look at how God wants Israel to relate to foreign people outside Israel’s borders, i.e., mission. It all began when God chose Abraham to bless all thepeoples of the …
The Stranger, the Widow and the Fatherless
In chapter 10, we reviewed how God instructed Israel to love the “stranger, the fatherless and the widow” as himself and to treat them generously, and in chapter 11, we saw how this integration work could work in practice. But unfortunately, a recurring criticism from the prophets was that Israel unfortunately did not treat these three vulnerable groups very well. …
Your People Are My People
In the last chapter, we reviewed the laws that go regulated how Israel should treat the stranger, the fatherless and the widow within its own borders. An example of how these laws can be put into practice can be found in the book of Ruth. Due to a famine, Elimelech, an Israelite, and his wife Naomi leave their homeland of …
The Stranger Within Israel
After God rescues Israel from Egypt, they camp in the desert at Mount Sinai. Moses goes up the mountain and receives the commandments that God wants Israel to live by. A foundation of Israel’s relationship with God is how they are to relate to the strangers within Israel and the foreign peoples outside Israel, according to the Law of Moses. …
God’s Salvation
When the pressure on Israel becomes too great, God decides to rescue Israel from their alienation. When Moses returns to Egypt, he confronts Pharaoh and demands that the Israelites be released: “1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to …
Stranger in a Foreign Land
In Exodus chapter 2, we read how Moses the Israelite is rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and becomes her son.[i] Moses grew up as a prince in Egypt, but knew that he was really an Israelite Hebrew: “10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, …
Strangers in a Country That Is Not Theirs
After Jacob and his entire family settled in Egypt, the Israelites multiplied and became very numerous.[i] But when a new king appears in Egypt, he forces the Israelites to work as slaves and makes life difficult for them,[ii] something God had told Abraham long before: “13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be …
I Will Go With You
Joseph is born as the eleventh son of the patriarch Jacob[i] and grows up as a spoiled brat.[ii] When Joseph’s brothers see how their father loves him more than them, they begin to hate him[iii] and sell him as a slave to Egypt[iv] and trick Jacob into believing that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal: [v] “28 Then …
Strangers in the Promised Land
Like his father Abraham, Isaac continues to be a “stranger” in the land of Canaan. “1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; …
What Does the Bible Say About Strangers, Refugees, and Immigrants?
In the beginning of creation, we can see how God created man as a migrant with the mission to multiply and fill the earth. But the Bible is also the story of the fellow man, how in the fall man became xenophobic and began to treat his brother and fellow man as an enemy and stranger. God calls Abraham to …