What is man that Thou art mindful of him?” exclaimed the psalmist. And surely God’s mercy was great in bearing with Israel, granting them forgiveness time and time again. But, although His purpose and love was bound up in Israel, we are sometimes inclined to overlook His mercy toward the stranger. When we consider His provision in the Law for the stranger in the land of Israel, we see His mercy shining as a light down through the ages to beckon us on in confidence, for it is on the mercy of God we all depend.
We find various Hebrew equivalents for our English word “stranger”, the most frequent one throughout the OId Testament being “ger”, meaning a sojourner, that is, a man who settles in a country other than his own. In contrast we find the word “Nokri”, which denotes a foreigner whose dealings with a strange people are but temporary.
The Law of Moses was relatively unconcerned for the foreigner. Israel’s dealings with him were to be few, because they were God’s own people, holy and separated to Him alone. The Israelite who turned to the Gentile’s gods, as when many in Israel sank to sacrificing their children to Molech, was to be cut off from among his people, and we see the dire punishment of those who, in the time of Ezra, took wives of the nations about them. If an Israelite bought land from a foreigner, then he need not recognize the year of jubilee, when all land must return to its original owner. Likewise, if an Israelite lent money to a foreigner, he was able to charge reasonable interest, whereas no interest was to be taken from a fellow-Israelite. Thus we see that Israel’s dealings with the foreigner were to be few and fair, but no particular privileges were granted to him.
When a Gentile in his wisdom saw the goodness of the one true God and the blessedness of the people of God, and desired to live with them in their land, then we see the mercy of God providing for him in the Law of Moses. This man is a settler, or sojourner, the word in the Hebrew being “ger”, and we have many references to such in the Old Testament. The Jews in their national pride and jealousy were inclined to deal harshly with the strangers among them, and many times they had to be reminded of their behaviour to them by the Law and the prophets. But God declared in Deut. 10. 18 that He loves the stranger, executing judgment on his behalf and giving him food and raiment. Then comes the exhortation, so often repeated and so often unheeded, “Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt”.
The gleanings of the land were for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. We remember Ruth, a Gentile loved by the Lord because she sought Him in all sincerity, who in her poverty was forced to glean in the fields of Boaz. This beautiful law has a two-fold purpose. In providing food for the poor stranger, it taught him humility, and that he must be thankful for “the crumbs that fall from the master’s table”. It taught the Israelite that greed was wrong, and that he must be merciful even as God is merciful. The tithes which the children of Israel had to give to the Lord every third year were given to “the Levite, and the stranger and the fatherless, and the widow” (Deut. 14. 28-29). With the obedience of this law, too, came a blessing from the Lord. The judges in Israel had to protect the rights of the stranger as well as of the Israelite, Deut. 1. 16. The cities of refuge, too, provided protection for the stranger as well as for the Israelite, Deut. 35. 15.
The Jewish feasts were to provide a time of meditation and rejoicing for not only the children of Israel, but also the stranger. The sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy gives commandments about the three feasts: the Passover, the feast of weeks and the feast of Tabernacles. Here we find that the stranger also is commanded to rejoice with the children of Israel at the feast of weeks and the feast of Tabernacles. These two feasts are intimately connected with their harvest, the one at the beginning, and the other at the end of the harvest. As the stranger joined with the children of God giving praise and thanks to Him in joyful worship, we can imagine the thoughts that would cross his mind. To all mankind God gives the rich earth, the sunshine, the abundant harvest, sending “rain on the just and on the unjust”, and yet how few will pause and give Him thanks. But there is a certain stipulation in conjunction with the Passover. If a stranger desired to keep it, he must be circumcised. It is recorded in Exodus 12. 48, “And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof”.
This brings us back to the meaning of the feast, the sacrifice of the Lamb prepared by God from the foundation of the world. The benefit of His sacrifice is open to both Jew and Gentile, but they must approach it under the specifications laid down by God in His Word. No human creeds or ordinances will do: we must conform to God’s requirements.
God is merciful, but He is also just. The stranger, if he is to benefit from God’s mercy, must also bow down to His requirements. If he returned to his former worship, then, like the Israelite, he would be cut off for his idolatry. This same punishment for the abomination of eating blood also applied to the stranger, as well as the rules concerning uncleanness, unlawful lusts, and sins of ignorance or of presumption. Like Israel, the stranger must learn God’s commandments and statutes if he wished to settle in God’s land, and if he desired to identify himself with Israel he must be prepared to keep Israel’s law. In Lev. 24. 22 God states, “Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God.”
While considering the stranger in Israel, we do well to pause and think of ourselves. We were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2. 12). It is only through God’s abundant grace and mercy that we can draw nigh to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. Who are we that God should take us into account and call us to the privileged position in which we stand. Paul’s warning comes to each one of us, “Be not high minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee” (Rom. 11. 2021). We must never cease to be thankful that we have been called out from the world of strangers and brought into the family of Israel. Like the stranger in Israel of old, we must learn the great lesson of humility and sincere gratitude. If we do, then we can look with confidence to the glorious age to come, when the barrier between Jew and Gentile will no longer exist, when there will be no distinction between the stranger and the children, for all will be the sons of God, giving praise to His glorious Name for evermore.
Daniel The Prophet – (Part 3)