Immigrants in the Bible

Immigration is a hot-button topic worldwide. The displacement of citizens due to war, famine, disease, and political unrest leaves people searching for new land to call home. As news media, talk shows, politicians, and social media rage about the issue, it’s obvious people don’t agree about the issue. Arguing everything from economics, to lack of jobs and housing, to safety and morality, immigration doesn’t appear, at least in modern times, to have an easy answer. This raises the question for Christians: are there immigrants in the Bible?

Discussing the premise of immigration from a Biblical perspective is a different matter entirely. Written in a different culture in a different time, immigrants in the Bible are handled in a manner less political and more hospitable. Hospitality, or the custom of helping visitors or outsiders feel comfortable, was a requirement of many ancient cultures. Hospitality included:

Taking a visitor (a relative, extended relative, business acquaintance, or someone by recommendation) in one’s house
Provide food, water and lodging for the duration of their stay
Offer certain amenities, such as foot-washing
Travelers accept what they receive and never outstay their welcome
Failure to act hospitably was seen as an act of hostility

Ruth gleaning in Boaz's field — “Ruth in Boaz’s Field” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1828. Source: The National Gallery, London

Tests for hospitality are found in a number of Biblical accounts, including the angels’ visit to Abraham (Genesis 18:1-8), Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1-21), and Elisha and the widow (2 Kings 8:1-6). Within the harsh desert climate, providing hospitality was often a matter of life or death. An individual’s ability to manage hospitable custom was seen as a gesture of goodwill; failure to do so could result in poor cultural reputation.

In keeping with these concepts, how do we see treatment of immigrants in the Bible – and why does it matter?

The word “immigrant” in the Bible

There isn’t one term for immigrants in the Bible. There are actually four different words with three different meanings. These words often translate as “sojourner” or “wanderer,” “foreigner” and “immigrant,” and “dweller” or “resident.” When trying to sort out meanings, it doesn’t help that the Bible often uses the terms interchangeably. This tells us something very important: whether a traveler, a temporary resident, or someone awaiting full residency, the way believers were to treat foreigners was always the same. While legal status might have made a difference politically (such as in the case of crime or certain legalities), the people of Israel were to treat immigrants the same way they treated anyone else. On four different occasions, Scripture tells us why:

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 22:21, NIV)
Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9, NIV)
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. (Leviticus 19:34, NIV)
And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:19, NIV)

In other words, Israel was to treat foreigners of every sort with hospitable reverence because their history also included living as strangers in a strange land. The Egyptians didn’t treat them hospitably; they enslaved them. The Israelites were not given a divine right to mistreat others; God expected them to learn from their history. Hard times and mistreatment in Egypt were to serve as motivation to treat others well, regardless of who they were.

Immigrant #1: zuwr (Strong’s #2114)

An interesting word, zuwr literally means “to turn aside,”as in reference to something that is “other.” The term refers to many different things, including a strange thing (such as an improper offering), a strange or “other” person (such as in adultery) or, in our context, a foreigner or stranger (who is “turned out” and requires lodging). Its usage comes from tribal culture, describing someone who isn’t part of one’s “tribe.” In the Old Testament, it refers to anyone who is outside of something, and is used to refer to individuals within Israel (travelers and residents alike) who were not native-born citizens. It is also used to describe Israelites of different tribes (especially non-Levites).

We see it used as “immigrant” most poignantly in Job 15:19 and 19:13-17. Here, Job describes himself as a stranger, foreigner, or alien due to his experience.

Under Biblical law, this particular term often separates immigrants in the Bible from native citizens. It exists to establish both legal separation and boundaries. It also separates the dos and dont’s for specified conduct among the Israelites. There are certain regulations specific to Israel’s citizens and, within certain tribes or situations, specific to certain Israelites. For example,no one – not immigrant, nor non-Levite – was to eat the ram sacrificed in the Levitical ordination ceremony (Exodus 29:33). Edible priestly sacrifices were only for a priest’s family (Leviticus 22:10-13).

These distinctions did not exist as an excuse to mistreat immigrants (or any Israelite regardless of tribe). Much like the world today, certain rights and privileges are only for a nation’s citizens or certain citizens within a nation. It’s a descriptive term, used to indicate “separation” of people, including immigrants and classes or tribes of citizens alike.

Immigrant #2: geyr (Strong’s #1616)

Often translated as “wanderer” or “sojourner,” geyr refers to a visitor, someone traveling through a country on the way to somewhere else, a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer to a nation, or a foreigner in Israel who lives without full citizenship. Once again, this term is used interchangeably with others (indicating treatment of such should be the same) to describe immigrants in the Bible. The word itself means “to dwell with” or “to dwell among,” indicating such individuals lived in Israel more than a day or two. Travel was arduous, and even if someone was temporarily within a nation – such as passing through on the way to another location or visiting family – they would be in Israel for awhile. Sojourners were to observe the same customs and laws as native citizens (Leviticus 24:22).

The nation of Israel was to do a number of things for the wanderer, including:

Leave remnants of the harvest for foreigners to collect (Leviticus 23:22, Deuteronomy 24:19)
Welcome them to celebrate Passover (Numbers 9:14)
Love them (Deuteronomy 10:19)
Allow them to select where they want to live (Deuteronomy 23:16)
Do not deny them justice (Deuteronomy 24:14-15,17)

Immigrant #3: nekhar and nakhriy (Strong’s #5326 and #5327)

Two words that refer to the same thing, nekhar and nakhriy are from a root that means “to be recognizable.” This refers to the way immigrants stand out from a native culture in appearance, custom, and language. It translates as “alien” or “foreigner” and its usage includes both people and foreign gods. In the case of immigrants in the Bible, it identifed a foreign-born person living in Israel who was not a legal citizen. There is no special stipulation that someone was awaiting citizenship; they were simply long-term foreigners living within Israel’s boundaries. Examples of its usage include:

Rachel and Leah raised concern their father regarded them not as heirs, but as “foreigners” (Genesis 31:15)
Gershom (Moses’ son) literally means “stranger in a strange land” (Exodus 2:22)
Ruth described herself as a “foreigner” before Boaz (Ruth 2:10)
Solomon’s many foreign wives (including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites) (1 Kings 11:1)
The wives of intermarriage (Ezra 10:10-11)
Israel’s inheritance (the land) given to foreigners when they fell into captivity (Lamentations 5:2)
In speaking of the fall of Edom, Obadiah states they will be captives of “strangers” (Obadiah 1:11)

Immigrants in the New Testament

The New Testament speaks of a much broader and more inclusive world than the early days of the Old Testament. While yes, it’s not inaccurate to describe Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and his family, and others of Old Testament times as “immigrants,” the ancient world was more independently tribal than the scene we enter in New Testament times. Centuries of occupation, empires changing hands, and new politics forced many different cultures to live and dwell together under one empire. Trade and travel were both more common. As a result, the idea of immigration isn’t as much a topic in the New Testament (at least not like in the Old). This doesn’t mean the idea of immigration vanished. Jesus and His family were political refugees under Herod’s regime (Matthew 2:13-23). Perhaps most relevantly, however, Jesus reiterates rules of hospitality in an oft quoted passage, Matthew 25:34-35 and 40:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’… “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’” (NIV)

Likewise, early church leaders admonished members to remember the “stranger” among them:

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2, NIV)

The message for believers today

I’m the first to agree that the Bible does sometimes present different advice for different situations. Some classify this as “contradictions,” but I believe it considers that not every single circumstance calls for the same response. When it comes to treatment of immigrants in the Bible, however, the message is surprisingly consistent. No matter what politics may exist, Christians are to love immigrants the same way they love themselves. As our neighbors, politics should not determine our treatment of any other human being, regardless of their nation of origin. It may sound challenging in light of policy or the matters presented, but it is the Christian’s posture to uphold God’s Kingdom before man’s. Sometimes being a good Christian means laying down national pride and opening up our hearts to recognize the cry of humanity is among us, everywhere.