Is That All the Bible Says About Immigration?

Why “Love the Sojourner” Doesn’t Do The Biblical Evidence Justice

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash

If you follow the immigration issue you will inevitably run across articles and social media posts that appeal to the Bible to make one emphatic point: the Bible tells us to love the immigrant. Often, the implication is that it is unbiblical and unloving if we believe borders should be controlled, or especially if we believe illegal immigrants of the criminal variety should be deported. After all, doesn’t the Bible say that we should, “love the sojourner?” And isn’t it the height of cruelty to raid a home and send someone to their country of origin?

Doubtless you have seen several social media friends not only post this kind of thing but defend it with the fervor of a fundamentalist backed into a corner. People who don’t often appeal to the Bible are quick-draw experts with two or three Scriptural quotations, taking them to not only be the only things the Bible has to say on the issue, but, ironically enough, taking them to be gospel. Suddenly they post like they believe, “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”

But Scripture has a lot to say about “the sojourner.” Not surprisingly, the issue is far more complex than a couple of verses in the Old Testament combined with Jesus’ command to love our neighbors.

So, what does it say, and who is the sojourner?

First, it needs to be said that the biblical story about the sojourner is complex, the modern issue of immigration is complex, and it is difficult to draw 1-to-1 comparisons between the two. Nevertheless, there is a lot to learn about God’s Laws on how his people should treat foreigners who come through their borders.

The Sojourner

The word, “sojourner,” comes from the Hebrew term, “gar,” which refers to a guest or temporary dweller, and is extended to foreigners living in a foreign land. In Exodus 2:22 Moses’ wife gives birth to a son while he is living in the wilderness of Midian, and she names him, “Gershom,” because they are “strangers in a strange land.” His name is derived from “gar.” The term is used often in the Old Testament and stretches from Moses to the Minor Prophets.

The Old Testament takes sojourners to be foreigners living among the Jews, often for a period of time. In a culture full of nomadic tribes, it would not have been uncommon for large families and tribes to pass through their land. Likewise, in a world of constant military and environmental upheaval, people of various nationalities would wind up in the land of Israel. Hence the command (given at least twice) to treat the sojourner well because you (Israel) were once sojourners in Egypt.

That command, though, forces us to ask what it means by treating them well.

Because there are so many references to the sojourner in the OT, it is useful to cite several important and representative passages. Then we will draw some conclusions about what the Bible actually says to Israel about foreigners living among them.

Exodus 12:48-49 "48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you."

Exodus 12:48-49 "48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you."

Leviticus 19:33-34 "33 When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Deuteronomy 23:7-8 "7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 8 Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord."

Deuteronomy 24:19-21 "19 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 for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow."

Jeremiah 7:5-7 5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever."

A Handful of Lessons

Clearly, there is more to the story than, “love the sojourner.” The first passage concerns Passover laws and the expectation that they will assimilate into the people of God in order to fully participate in the religious and cultural practices.

Next, the law about the Sabbath strikes us as unusually attentive to the foreigner. They are given the benefit of the Sabbath just like every native-born child of Abraham. At second glance, it is important to also say that they are required to obey the Sabbath laws if they live among Israelites. You would do well to track down the OT references to those laws, what they mean, and the consequences of breaking the Sabbath. Sabbath laws are no small thing to God.

The Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 23 passages are the favorites of those who have a one-dimensional view of the evidence. Nonetheless, the command is clear. The people of God were once foreigners – even slaves! – in a foreign land, so they should have compassion on those who need their help.

The Jeremiah 7 passage is similar, requiring the people of God to equally apply the Law of God to the sojourner as they would to each other. Again, while the first glance tells us this is uniquely compassionate, it also shows us the legal expectation placed on the foreigner who wants to live in the land of the Israelites.

The Deuteronomy 24 passage is economic provision for the foreigner. In essence, it tells the farmer to go over their crop once, then leave the rest to the foreigner. They, then, are responsible to do the work of harvesting their food.

None of this argues for, or can be used to support, a political position of open borders. The relevant passages simply don’t address that kind of political position. It is a torturing of the Scripture to explicitly or implicitly make the case that nobody can be turned away because, “you were once sojourners in Egypt.” That is simply not what the Scripture says or means.

The moral and political advance of the equal application of the law also means that sojourners are subject to the same laws and punishments as Israel. If you are a murderer, the Law of Moses knows what to do with you. If you are a rapist, a thief, etc., there are commandments and consequences that apply to you.

To put a point on it, the sojourner was expected to live by the laws of the land if they were to stay there for any period of time. It is naïve and cruel to imply that immigrants cannot be expected to live according to the laws of the land they enter.

There is an expectation to work instead of the provision of a perpetual safety net. If you are a sojourner, you get to glean your own grain and beat your own olives out of the tree. Other passages in Deuteronomy make provisions for stores of grain in local towns and villages as social safety nets. But none of them are free. Everyone worked and supplied the grain houses, then when disaster strikes, people have a source of food.

The sojourner is expected to worship as Israel did, to the point of circumcision. If they were going to enter into full fellowship with the Israelite culture, they were going to assimilate. This is the command of God, not the dictates of “conservatives.”

And then, their rights are protected and they are treated as equals. This must have been a significant political advance in their world. Israel was a slave nation in Egypt, so God commands them to not treat foreigners as slaves. The rights of the sojourners are protected, but as we have seen, that does not happen in a religious or political vacuum.

Conclusion

Much more could be added about the biblical role of national leadership and their responsibility to God and the good of the people living in their borders. At no point does God tell Israel to favor the lifestyles or religions of foreigners. Much to the contrary, godly national leadership is tasked with protecting the culture that God built.

So it is that we have no good biblical reason to jettison our culture in favor of foreign cultures just because they are foreign. In fact, we are responsible to God to judge evil and promote the good of our neighbors. All the ink and hot air spilled over “Western colonialism” and “White privilege” miss the point entirely. It is good and loving to assimilate people into a culture that is closer to the Law of God than the culture they left. It is an act of mercy.

Of course, individuals, Christians, and nations should learn to show compassion to those in need who are not like us. But at no point does the Bible, reason, or ethical reflection require us to jettison ethics for a false compassion.