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The Jews were the “Chosen People.” They were chosen by God to bring the Light of the World to the world. In Genesis 12:3b, God says to Abram, “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Isaiah foresaw a time when “Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob’…The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Naturally, this belief that they were chosen led to a certain arrogance. God told the descendants of Abraham that they shouldn’t mingle with the pagan people who lived in their midst and to watch carefully lest they are seduced by the pagan women and their gods. It would only be natural if the Jews, the Chosen People, would despise the other people around them.
But the laws governing the behavior of the people of Israel required justice and fairness. For example, we find in Exodus 22:21 ““Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. And in Numbers 15:15, “The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord.” And in Leviticus 19, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Notice that the Israelites were to love the foreigners as themselves.
The same idea is repeated several times in Deuteronomy, the summary of the law:
- Defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and love the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (10:18)
- Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. (24:17)
- The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, (26:12)
- “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” (27:19)
Foreigners (sometimes strangers, sojourners or aliens) were seen as especially vulnerable, far from their country and people. The Bible, therefore, frequently lumps them together with other vulnerable population groups –widows, orphans and the poor. Thus, Deuteronomy 24:17:
Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
and Psalm 146:
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
and
Zechariah 7:
9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor…’”
This is all part of God’s plan to bring the foreigners to worship him. Thus in Isaiah 56 we read:
6 And foreigners who bind
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 without desecrating it
and who hold fast to my
covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my
house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and
sacrifices
will be accepted on my
altar;
for my house will be called a house of prayer for
all nations.”
In the New Testament, Jesus discussed the question of “who is a real neighbor?” in the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” The story is told in the Gospel of Luke chapter 10. When an expert in the law said that the law required him to love his neighbor he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus told a story of a man attacked by robbers who beat him and stripped him of all he had with him. Separately a priest and a Levite walked down the road, saw the man and crossed to the other side. But a Samaritan (a people despised by the Jews), came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
Jesus said, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus also said that “as we do unto the stranger, we do unto Him (Jesus, himself).” In Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus says:
‘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 brothers of mine, you did unto me.’”
The Law, the prophets and Jesus, himself, consider foreigners and refugees, as vulnerable people who, wherever they come from, whatever their beliefs or identity, must be treated with kindness and welcome. Jesus uses the treatment of aliens as a measure of our Christian love. How he must weep at our separating children from their parents, jailing migrants in over-crowded, airless, cells with limited hygiene facilities and shortages of food! How much more will he say to us:
41 ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you … a stranger and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25).
