Rahab, Ruth, Naaman, the widow of Zarepath). Paradoxically, only if her religion was pure could Israel be of help to foreigners (cf. For the same reason, covenants and marriages with foreigners were forbidden. Foreigners in this context represented hostile agents that would contaminate Israel and render her unholy before God. In order to occupy it, however, she had to purge the land of its foreign population. This was probably due to the peculiar circumstances of her origin.Īfter Sinai and the wilderness wanderings, Israel received the gift of the promised land. Yet, although ancient Near Eastern law codes stressed protection for the widow and orphan, only Israel's contained legislation for the resident alien. Such protection was particularly necessary as immigrants would not have the social network of kinship relations for support during exigencies. The alien peoples received special protection under the law ( Exod 22:21 23:9 ), and were even to be loved as native Israelites ( Lev 19:34 ). When Israel was constituted as a nation at Sinai (Exod 19-24), a concern for resident aliens was etched into the legal system. This pilgrim existence characterized early Israel ( Exod 6:4 ), as the embryonic nation was shaped in Egypt, another foreign country ( Exod 22:20 23:9 ). The patriarchs' lives were marked by a rootlessness, as the only land they actually received was a grave for Sarah, Abraham's wife (chap. Abram and his family, the founders of the Israelite nation, obeyed the call of God to emigrate to this land, leaving Mesopotamia to become resident aliens in Canaan ( 12:10 20:1 23:4 ). 12) commences with blessing as a family receives a divine pledge of land and a promise of progeny that will bless the alienated nations. If the early history of the Bible ends with curse the disintegration of humanity into many nations the beginning of Israel's national history (chap. A divided humanity, alienated from God and from itself, is in desperate need of a home. The tower of Babel incident ( 11:1-9 ) is the reason for these divisions, as God confuses the language and disperses the human race. 10), portraying the remarkable growth of the human community with its variety of racial, linguistic, and political divisions. This is the background to the important Old Testament theme of the promise of land.Īfter the judgment of the flood, the Book of Genesis records the Table of Nations (chap. With the fall, humanity is exiled from God's immediate presence into a "foreign" land. The creation account records the first human residence in the garden of Eden. A less permanent settler was known as a "stranger" or "temporary resident." Sometimes the term "foreigner" is used to translate a Hebrew word that generally means an "outsider" from a different race, tribe, or family. Person from a different racial, ethnic, and linguistic group as in contrast to a "native." Circumstances during biblical times often forced people to emigrate to another country, where they would become "resident aliens" (see Gen 19:9 Ruth 1:1 ).
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