Aliens

[Larry]

This is going to be very strange. I was pondering about some of the legislation that is before the US Congress, and thinking about the proper Christian attitude. It occurred to me that the Bible might have something to say on the matter. I went to the Chain Link Bible and followed the “alien” links. I discarded the passages that did not apply, (e.g. “strange woman” and “foreign nations”) and this is what I came up with.

Genesis 19:9 "But they said, ‘Stand aside.’ Furthermore, they said, ‘This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.’ So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door."
Genesis 23:4 "I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
Exodus 2:22 "Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, 'I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.'"
Exodus 12:43 "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it;"
Exodus 12:48 "But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it."
Exodus 12:49 "The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you."
Exodus 18:3 "and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for Moses said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."
Exodus 22:21 "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:9 "You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt."
Exodus 23:12 "Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves."
Exodus 16:29 "This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you;"
Leviticus 17:8-15 "Say to them: 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice 9 and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD -that man must be cut off from his people. 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood. Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, 14 because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off. Anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean. 16 But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, he will be held responsible.' "
Leviticus 18:26 "But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you"
Leviticus 19:10 "'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 19:33-34 "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God."
Leviticus 23:22 "'When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the LORD your God.'"
Leviticus 24:16 "Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death."
Leviticus 24:22 "'There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God.'"
Leviticus 24:35 "'Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.'"
Leviticus 25:47 'Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger's family, 48 he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:"
Numbers 9:14 "'If an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.'"
Numbers 15:14-16 "If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the LORD, just as you do so he shall do. As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD. There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.'"
Numbers 15:29-39 "You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people"
Numbers 19:10 "'The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them."
Numbers 35:15 "'These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the alien and for the sojourner among them; that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.'"
Deuteronomy 1:16 "Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him."
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt."
Deuteronomy 14:21 "You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
Deuteronomy 24:14 "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns."
Deuteronomy 24:17 "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow's garment in pledge."
Deuteronomy 24:19 "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."
Deuteronomy 24:20 "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow."
Deuteronomy 24:21 "When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow."
Deuteronomy 27:19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"
Deuteronomy 29:9-11 "Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. "
Deuteronomy 31:12 "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law."
Ezekiel 22:7 "They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.
Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.
Nehemiah 13:1-3 "On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent."

Job 31:30-32 "I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against his life-

31 if the men of my household have never said,
'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'-

32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler- "

Psalm 39:12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner like all my fathers."

Psalm 94:1-6 " 1 O LORD, the God who avenges,
O God who avenges, shine forth.

2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.

3 How long will the wicked, O LORD,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?

4 They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.

5 They crush your people, O LORD;
they oppress your inheritance.

6 They slay the widow and the alien;
they murder the fatherless. "

Psalm 146:9 "The LORD protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked."
Proverbs 27:13 "Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger; And for an adulterous woman hold him in pledge."
Ecclesiastes 6:2 "a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction."
Isaiah 60:10 "Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you."
Isaiah 61:5 "Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers."
Jeremiah 7:6 "if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin,"
Ezekiel 22:7 "They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you."
Ezekiel 22:29 "The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice."
Ezekiel 44:9 "'Thus says the Lord GOD, "No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary."
Ezekiel 47:21-23 "You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. 22 You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign LORD."
Zechariah 7:10 "and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.'
Hebrews 11:9 "By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;"
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A little perspective. Israel was originally a Theocracy. With the selection of Saul as king, a political structure was established. In the United States we have separated the Church and the State, and the State has taken on some of the responsibilities which were originally the undivided responsibility of the entire community as the people of God. Regardless, justice is justice, whether it wells up out of the common consensus of the community or whether it is enforced by the strong arm of the state. So what does social justice look like?

1. The community is to provide for the minimum needs of those that cannot otherwise provide for themselves. Hence the admonition to leave the remnants of the produce of the field to be gleaned.

2. The four groups which are specifically called out in this category are widows, orphans, strangers (aliens) and the poor.

3. There shall be one law for us and for the alien.

4. Today, providing for the minimum needs of the inhabitants of the land includes access for everyone to adequate health care, including widows, orphans, the poor and the alien.

5. Therefore, efforts to exclude undocumented aliens from access to health care are wrong.

What would Jesus do?

[Larry]

These are not so much arguments as reflections on and documentation of what I discovered. As a card-carrying (literally) Republican, I was somewhat taken aback by all of this. I expect that if I were ever to open up a discussion on this topic in the Conversations forum someone with a greater level of Old Testament scholarship than I would be able to explain how the scriptures do not mean what they say. These brief remarks were meant more as a confessional and perhaps to out myself as a closet liberal.

[bradmc]

Very interesting arguments.

[Scott Roche]

I agree.