Syrian Refugees - Part 2

In my previous post, I stated that there are lots of different angles to the issue of refugees.  I want to look at one of those angles in this post.  What is the Biblical response to refugees?  This is completely separate from other issues such as the government response.  What do we do if, hypothetically, there are refugees living in our neighborhood?  What do we do about refugees who are living in Europe?  Do we as Christians have a responsibility in this area?

           

Old Testament

            I wanted to keep this discussion as Biblical as possible.  I looked up the word for “foreigner” in both Hebrew and Greek and looked at what the Old and New Testaments have to say about how we are supposed to treat foreigners.  The results surprised me.  The Hebrew word for foreigner is גָּר or ger.  It is often translated sojourner.  This is the closest Biblical equivalent to refugees.  It has the sense of a temporary inhabitant.  A newcomer who does not have inherited rights in the country.  It shows up all throughout the Old Testament. I give a list below of some of the passages.  What amazed me when I looked at how this word is used in the Old Testament is the number of times God makes no distinction between Israel and sojourners.  Foreigners are supposed to obey the laws of Israel.  They are allowed to take part in religious feasts.  They have many of the same benefits an Israelite has.  I often think of Israel as having been set apart to be separate from the nations.  What I tend to forget is that Israel’s mission was to be set apart so that they were an example to the nations of who God was.  They were not supposed to shun the nations, they were supposed to demonstrate God’s character to the nations.  If someone from another nation came to live among Israel, they were treated well and allowed to worship God because that was the end goal.  If a foreigner did not follow God, the consequences were serious, but no more serious then if an Israelite did not follow God.  The fact is that God is the God of both the Israelite and the foreigner, of both the Jew and the Gentile.  I believe this has profound implications for how we view immigrants and refugees.  

           

            The way this played out in Old Testament law is demonstrated in these passages.  There are a few common themes.  The first is that foreigners are grouped with widows and orphans.

Exodus 22:21-24 ²¹“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²² You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, ²⁴ and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”

Leviticus 19:10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 ¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

There is also a common theme that the reason Israel was not supposed to mistreat sojourners is that they were once sojourners themselves in Egypt.  Not only were they sojourners in Egypt, but Leviticus 25:23 points out that they are also sojourners on Earth.  

Exodus 23:9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

Leviticus 25:23 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.

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.

The previous passage and the following passage illustrate that not only were Israelites supposed to treat foreigners like they were native to Israel, but God expected both foreigners and Israelites to follow his laws.

Leviticus 18:26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

Interestingly, while Israelites were not supposed to eat things which had died naturally, they were allowed to give it to the foreigner.  The laws designed to distinguish Israel from the nations did not necessarily apply to foreigners.  The laws involving worship of God did apply to both equally.  So even if the food was not allowed for Israelites, they were allowed to use it to provide for the foreigner living among them.

Deuteronomy 14:21 “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

These next couple of verses illustrate that the expectation was that Israelites would host strangers and foreigners.  The passage in Job is in the context of Job discussing his devotion to God, which involved opening his home to foreigners.  

Leviticus 25:35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.

Job 31:32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

To conclude the Old Testament’s discussion of foreigners, here are two passages which show the seriousness of ignoring the needs of foreigners living among us.  In Ezekiel, God explains that the primary sin of Sodom was that they did not aid the poor and needy.  We have already seen that God seems to put foreigners in the same category as the poor and needy.  In addition to being foreigners, refugees have lost their homes and families.  Many refugees are widows and orphans.  Any warning about ignoring the poor and needy includes refugees.  If this is not clear from Ezekiel, God makes it very clear in Malachi 3.  The list of who God is going to judge begins with the people you might expect: sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who do not fear God.  But there are two other people lumped into this list who we may not expect: people who oppress those in need and people who thrust aside the sojourner.

Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

One of the big reasons people do not want refugees to come to America is fear.  The fear is understandable since there is risk in bringing foreign people into the country.  We will discuss that risk in some of the next posts.  However, the way I see it, that fear does not factor into a discussion of the Christian response to refugees.  We are to fear God, not man.  A lack of a fear of God is the last point in this list in Malachi.  When we operate out of a fear other than a fear of God, we are in a dangerous place.  I would argue that there is plenty of scriptural support that since God is so clear about our responsibility to welcome the foreigner, turning away refugees and foreigners cannot be motivated by a fear of God.

In the Old Testament, God makes it clear that Israel is supposed to take care of and love foreigners who are living among them.  This is serious enough that God puts people who thrust aside foreigners into a list of people such as sorcerers and adulterers who will be judged when He returns.  Now, it is possible that these passages refer to foreigners who have submitted themselves to God’s commands.  Israel was not expected to treat their enemies like this right?  This is relevant because the concern about accepting refugees is that terrorists and enemies of Christianity and America may come into our country.  While I firmly believe that statistics show that the vast majority of refugees are not terrorists, even if a refugee was an enemy of Christianity scripture speaks to that.  The Bible speaks a lot about enemies of the people of God.  I believe that looking through the Old Testament, it is clear that the enemies of God will be destroyed.  However, the authority and responsibility to destroy those enemies belongs to God.  Israel conquered their enemies with the help and power of God.  If an individual who belonged to a nation who was an enemy of Israel chose to come live in Israel, I believe that the previous passages applied to that individual.  This is based on Exodus 23:4-5.  “If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.”  While this does not specify a foreigner, the word enemy refers to someone who hates someone else.  So I think this passage would apply to both native and foreign enemies.  

New Testament

The New Testament actually has much less to say about sojourners.  This is most likely due to the fact that Israel was living as foreigners in Roman land.  The main passage which mentions how we as Christians are to treat strangers is Matthew 25.  I have included the full passage below.  

Matthew 25:31-46 ³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Just like in the Old Testament, the stranger is in the same list as the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.  The stranger is someone who is in need.  As Christians, we are supposed to move towards needs we see around us.  This includes the needs of foreigners and strangers living with us.  This is our main responsibility as Christians.  As Galatians 5:14 says, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus makes it clear in Luke 10:29-37 who our neighbor is.  In his parable, our neighbor could be anyone, even a Samaritan.  What is our cultural equivalent to Samaritans?  Samaritans had broken off from Judaism and had their own religious system.  Jews and Samaritans hated each other.  I would argue that if Samaritans were the neighbors of Jews, then Muslims are the neighbors of Christians.  If we are supposed to both welcome the stranger and love our neighbor, which includes Muslims, then when a Muslim foreigner comes to live in our community, I would argue that the Christian response is to welcome them in.  In the same way the Old Testament Jews were supposed to be motivated to welcome the sojourner because they were once sojourners in Egypt, as Christians, we also understand what it is to be a sojourner. Ephesians 2:12 and 19  say “¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” Hebrews 11:13 says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

To conclude, I believe that there is a common thread throughout all of scripture that the people of God are supposed to move to meet the needs of people around them.  This very clearly includes foreigners living in our communities.  Scripture is also clear that we are to show love to our neighbors.  This includes people we would call our enemies.  When we put these facts together, I firmly believe that the Christian response to refugees living in this country is to welcome them in and to show them love.  We should welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the character and love of Christ to people from other nations.  What better opportunity to do this than when they come and live with us.  Nowhere in scripture are we told that it is legitimate to fear either foreigners or our enemies.  I would argue that as Christians we need to be very careful to not push away the sojourner among us.  I want to be clear that the needs of refugees are not more urgent than the needs of the hungry, the widow, or the fatherless.  There is so much need in the world.  However, I do want to say that the needs of refugees and immigrants are just as important.  This post does not address what the government's response to refugees should be.  All I am arguing in this post is that if refugees and immigrants do come live with us, we need to build relationships with them and show them love.  We, as Christians, should advocate for them.  Our long term goal is to see God glorified by people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.  How does our view of refugees fit into this long term goal?

I want to close by discussing what we can practically do to meet the needs of refugees.  The biggest thing you can do is get to know a family of refugees.  Teach them about American culture.  Try to understand their needs and sacrificially meet those needs.  Often times, refugees have experienced trauma.  Just being there and being willing to listen to the hard things can help them process some of what they have experienced.  As an American, you also speak English, a language refugees generally are trying to learn.  Conversing with them can not only help build a relationship, but it can also help them grow their confidence in their ability to speak English.  Other things we can help refugees with is teaching them basic things about life in America: how to budget, how to drive, how to not get their identities stolen, how to file taxes, how to find a job, how to enroll in school, etc.  They have been uprooted from their homes and are living in a place they do not know, separated from family and friends and often with little knowledge of the language they need to survive.  These are all needs that the average person can meet if you are willing to invest in a relationship.

Many refugee families never meet and interact with a Christian.  Why is that?  They live in a culture where they are surrounded by Christianity.  All it takes is reaching out to one family and showing them the love of Christ.  Many refugees come from cultures which have a much higher focus on community than we do in America.  Just spending time with them and helping connect them to community here goes a long way to helping them feel welcomed.  If you do not know where to start, there are solid Christian organizations who work to build relationships with refugees and help them assimilate into the culture in cities around the country.  Connect with one of those organizations and they will be glad to help you see how you can use your gifts to meet the needs of the foreigner living among us.

Next Post

            The goal of this post was to isolate what the Christian response to refugees is.  The goal of next week’s post is to isolate what the government’s responsibility to refugees should be.  I will try to put the Christian response aside and focus on what the role of government is.  This is an area which I do not have a lot of experience with, but I will try to look at the different sides of the issue.  Since I will avoid talking about how Christians should respond in the next post, let me say right now before I get to my government post that regardless of what the government’s role is, I believe that Christians should advocate to the government for refugees.  In America we have a representative government.  That means the government should reflect the values and ideals of the people.  While our government is not Christian, if the nation is Christian, the government should have Christian values.  If the nation is humanistic, we would expect the government to reflect that.  Since we are Christians, I believe it is our responsibility to bring our values to the table when it comes to our interactions with the government.  Even if our government was not representative, I think it is our responsibility to advocate for justice whatever the government’s responsibility is.