As part of the Left’s orchestrated hysteria about illegals they got their willing minions in the clergy to pump out a few random, out-of-context, verses from the Old Testament (OT) to make it seem as if it is unbiblical to have borders and laws to enforce those borders. This is my third article in a series to show that, as in most things, the Left cares nothing for the truth.
If you are going to be serious about what the Bible says, you need to study the verses on any subject in context. To do so, you must look at all the verses that deal with that subject, minding the verses around them that are relevant to each specific verse. The best aid to this is a concordance; a book that includes every word in the Bible by verse. Concordances can be found for any translation of the Bible. Then you need to look up any synonymous words used as well. I looked up “alien(s)”, stranger(s)”, “foreigner(s)”, and “sojourner(s)”. I then read every verse in the OT in context to see what God’s attitude was about illegals and legal aliens. I established the following facts from what I found.
Fact 1: The Jews were to be a holy people before God, setting an example to the world of God’s love, wisdom, and truth though living out His Law. Deut. 14:2. Therefore, they witnessed to the world through their obedience to His Law. Part of that witness would be how they dealt with non-Jews.
Fact 2: No matter an alien’s status, illegal, legal foreigner, or naturalized citizen, HE HAD TO OBEY THE LAW OF ISRAEL! Person who defied the Laws of God, for instance, blasphemy (Num. 9:30; Lev. 4:16). But for the person who does anything defiantly [in breaking the law] whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people [i.e., executed]; because he has despised the Word of the Lord [the Law of Moses] and has broken His commandment. That person shall be completely cut off, his guilt shall be on him. Num. 15: 30-31.
Today, the national Law we follow is the laws constitutionally passed by our Congress and authorized regulations. Illegally entering our nation is certainly “in defiance” of our laws. Anyone who does must bear the legal consequences, just as God demanded of Israel. Other laws that all aliens had to observe on pain of death included Sabbath keeping (Ex. 20:10), not eating blood (Lev. 17:12), cannot commit “abominations” such as those listed in Lev. 18 (See, Lev. !8:26), worshipping false gods (Lev. 20:2), MUST observe the Sabbatical Year every 50th year (Lev. 25:6), observe the ritual of no leavened bread during the festival before Passover (Ex.12:19), and the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29), could not come near the Tabernacle of God (Num. 1:51), could not be priests (Num. 3:10), had to be ritually purified from sin, like citizens (Lev. 17:150, and had to obey ALL laws (Num.15:14-15).
Fact 3: In Exodus 12:43-48, God establishes The Passover. This passage tells us that the law for becoming a citizen of Israel was to be circumcised, demonstrating that you were converting to Judaism and embracing the full Law of God and ALL its religious, judicial, and cultural rules. In fact, no one who was not circumcised (a citizen) was allowed to eat the Passover at all! Ex. 12:48; Num. 9:14, 15:15-16. Ex. 12 :49 says that the Laws were to be the same for the born Israelite and the foreigner who lives among you.
The blurb sent out by the Leftists quoted this verse out of context to says that once illegals enter, they are entitled to the full rights of citizens, but the context of the Passover passage make sit clear that the full rights of an Israelite came ONLY to those who had fully converted to God. That meant learning and speaking Hebrew, dropping all allegiance to foreign nations and kings, rejecting all former gods, and fully adopting the Hebrew way of life as prescribed by God through Moses. In the same way the oath of a naturalized American citizen states that he gives up any allegiance to his former government. That means he will work for the interests of the United States ONLY from now on. To have the rights of a citizen of Israel, an alien had to BECOME an Israelite who observed ALL the words of the Law! Deut. 31:12. “The stranger who sojourns with you” and observes Passover was a citizen-sojourner, i.e. naturalized citizen. Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 31:12.
Fact 4: NON-citizen aliens (legal or illegal) could be treated differently form citizens in certain matters. No non-citizen could be king. Deut. 17:15. The cities of refuge (sanctuary cities for those who had committed manslaughter, not intentional murder) were for citizens only. Num. 35:15. The holy perfume of the Tabernacle couldn’t be put on an alien. Ex. 30:33. A Jew was forbidden to charge interest to a fellow Jew, but could charge it to foreigners. Deut. 23:20. Jewish widows could not marry a foreigner as long as their late husbands had brothers. Deut. 25:5. Jews couldn’t eat any animal that died of natural causes but an alien could, and the Jew could sell it to him. Aliens debts were not forgiven every seven years as were those of Hebrew citizens. Deut. 15:3. Those who say that illegals should be exempt from our laws or that once they cross into the US then they are entitled to the full panoply of rights that citizens enjoy have no Biblical basis for ignoring our laws.
Fact 5: Mercy and justice had to be shown to all aliens, legal and illegal, but according to the law. Ex. 22: 21-27, 23: 4-9. However, this does NOT mean what the Leftists citing these verses say it does. They would imply that the “Mercy and Justice verses mean that we can flout our own laws and allow illegals to do so.” The forgoing contextual examples of the Mosaic Laws for aliens show exactly the opposite. Just as in Moses’ day, illegals are subject to our laws and they don’t get special breaks. It means, rather, that they get the benefit of the laws of our nation regarding people of their legal status-no more, but no less. Israelites were obligated by law to leave part of their fields unharvested for aliens, widows and orphans, but all three groups had to gather it themselves, i.e. enjoy the dignity of work, not the degradation of welfare. Lev. 19:9-10, 23:22: Deut. 24:17-22. Charitable giving may be done by anyone to illegals at any time, but this does not change their legal status.
So the next time someone sends out canned Bible quotes to support any conservative or liberal stance, remember what the Apostle John says: ”Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1.
Check what the Bible says for yourself. Then, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32.
Image: CCO Creative Commons; https://pixabay.com/en/bible-hand-designate-read-1089968/
