Shalom, everyone! Throughout the Tanakh, The Almighty commands us to treat the stranger/foreigner (non-Israelites) fairly and with compassion. We are not to think that we are better than anyone else just because The Almighty made a covenant with our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with our ancestors at Mount Sinai. We are held to a higher standard of behavior because The Almighty gave us the Torah. The Almighty expects B’nei Yisrael to be a light to the nations, teaching them Torah, justice and the ways of peace and pleasantness.
The Almighty never breaks His covenants, we do. Whenever we do not adhere to His Covenant, we are in the wrong, not Him. And when we break His laws, especially those laws concerning the stranger, The Almighty will repay us with exile, enslavement, and oppression by strangers. As we do unto others, the same will be done unto us. One of the reasons we were thrown out of the Land of Israel and enslaved by other nations was because of how we treated the stranger in our midst. We cheated the stranger, we oppressed the stranger, we denied the stranger justice and fair treatment before the law, we even murdered the stranger. We have a 2,700-year exile to show for our actions. We must learn our lesson if we any hope of being regathered to the Land The Almighty promised us.
The Almighty has a special love for the stranger. The stranger who chooses to sojourn with B’nei Yisrael has given up their own family and people to join our community and serve The Almighty. Because of this loneliness and vulnerability, we are commanded by The Almighty:
- To show compassion unto the stranger and treat him fairly and honestly;
- To teach the stranger Torah and not be a hindrance to them if they wish to serve The Almighty and obey His commandments;
- To include the stranger in our mo’edim and celebrations before The Almighty, and;
- To provide financially for the stranger if they are poor and needy.
We are forbidden to oppress the stranger, to mistreat, cheat, or pervert justice for the stranger. We are forbidden to obligate the stranger to work on the Shabbat and other holidays, barring an emergency or other unforeseen circumstances. When we rest, so does the stranger.
The Almighty commands us to show compassion to the stranger because we were oppressed strangers in Egypt. We must defend ourselves against an attack and eliminate threats against our nation, however, we are not to behave cruelly as other nations do. We are not to do unto stranger things that we would not like done unto us. The Almighty cares deeply about His Name and His Reputation. If we mistreat the stranger, we bring shame to our nation and to The Almighty‘s Name and Reputation, for which He will exact vengeance upon us. The Almighty expects us to treat the stranger with the same compassion we are expected have for widows and fatherless children. He cares deeply for the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless child; He will hear their cry and severely punish those who oppress them.
The following are references from the Tanakh in which The Almighty commands us not to oppress the stranger, not to hinder the stranger from serving The Almighty and obeying His Commandments, and The Almighty‘s Promise to punish us both individually and as a nation, if we disobey this commandment:
You Shall Not Wrong a Stranger Nor Oppress Him
Exodus 22:21 ~ “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 23:9 ~ “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 19:33 ~ “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him.”
Leviticus 19:34 ~ “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the LORD am your God.”Deuteronomy 1:16 ~ “And I charged your judges at that time, saying: ‘Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.”
Deuteronomy 1:17 ~ “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment is God’s; and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it.’”Deuteronomy 10:17 ~ “For the LORD your God is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe,”
Deuteronomy 10:18 ~ “but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing.—”
Deuteronomy 10:19 ~ “You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”Deuteronomy 23:8 ~ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your kinsman. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land.”
Deuteronomy 23:9 ~ “Children born to them may be admitted into the congregation of the LORD in the third generation.”Deuteronomy 24:14 ~ “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land.”
Deuteronomy 24:15 ~ “You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it; else he will cry to the LORD against you and you will incur guilt.”Deuteronomy 24:17 ~ “Thou shalt not pervert the justice due to the stranger, or to the fatherless; nor take the widow’s raiment to pledge.”
Deuteronomy 24:18 ~ “But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing.”Jeremiah 22:3 ~ “Thus said the LORD: Do what is just and right; rescue from the defrauder him who is robbed; do not wrong the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; commit no lawless act, and do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place.”
The Stranger is Entitled to Equal Treatment Before the Law
Leviticus 24:22 ~ “You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the LORD am your God.”
Deuteronomy 29:9 ~ “You stand this day, all of you, before the LORD your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel,”
Deuteronomy 29:10 ~ “your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer—”
Deuteronomy 29:11 ~ “to enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions;”
Deuteronomy 29:12 ~ “to the end that He may establish you this day as His people and be your God, as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 29:13 ~ “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone,”
Deuteronomy 29:14 ~ “but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here this day.”
The Stranger in Our Community is Obligated to Obey The Almighty‘s Commandments. We are Forbidden to Hinder the Stranger from Keeping Torah
Exodus 12:19 ~ “No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country.”
Exodus 12:48 ~ “If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover to the LORD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.”
Exodus 12:49 ~ “There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.”Exodus 20:8 ~ “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.”
Exodus 20:9 ~ “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,”
Exodus 20:10 ~”but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.”Exodus 23:12 ~ “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your bondman and the stranger may be refreshed.”
Numbers 15:14 ~ “And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever may be among you, throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.”
Numbers 15:15 ~ “As for the congregation, there shall be one statute both for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you, a statute for ever throughout your generations; as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.”
Numbers 15:16 ~ “One law and one ordinance shall be both for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”Deuteronomy 5:12 ~ “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.”
Deuteronomy 5:13 ~ “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,”
Deuteronomy 5:14 ~ “but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do.”
Deuteronomy 5:15 ~ “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.”Deuteronomy 16:10 ~ “Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the LORD your God, offering your freewill contribution according as the LORD your God has blessed you.”
Deuteronomy 16:11 ~ “You shall rejoice before the LORD your God with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name.”Deuteronomy 16:14 ~ “After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days.”
Deuteronomy 16:15 ~ “You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities.”I Kings 8:42 ~ ““Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your name—”
I Kings 8:43 ~ “for they shall hear about Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm—when he comes to pray toward this House,”
I Kings 8:44 ~ “oh, hear in Your heavenly abode and grant all that the foreigner asks You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.”Isaiah 56:3 ~ “Let not the foreigner say, Who has attached himself to the LORD, “The LORD will keep me apart from His people”; And let not the eunuch say, “I am a withered tree.””
Isaiah 56:4 ~ “For thus said the LORD: “As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, Who have chosen what I desire And hold fast to My covenant—”
Isaiah 56:5 ~ “I will give them, in My House And within My walls, A monument and a name Better than sons or daughters. I will give them an everlasting name Which shall not perish.”
Isaiah 56:7 ~ “As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, And to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants— All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, And who hold fast to My covenant—”
Isaiah 56:8 ~ “I will bring them to My sacred mount And let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices Shall be welcome on My altar; For My House shall be called A house of prayer for all peoples.””
Isaiah 56:9 ~ “Thus declares the Lord GOD, Who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather still more to those already gathered.””II Chronicles 6:33 ~ ““Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your great name, Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm, if he comes to pray toward this House,”
II Chronicles 6:34 ~ “may You hear in Your heavenly abode and grant whatever the foreigner appeals to You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.”
We Must Provide Financial Assistance to the Needy Stranger in Our Community
Leviticus 19:9 ~ “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest.”
Leviticus 19:10 ~ “And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.”Leviticus 23:22 ~ “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corner of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am the LORD your God.”
Deuteronomy 24:19 ~ “When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go back to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.”
Deuteronomy 24:20 ~ “When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
Deuteronomy 24:21 ~ “When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
Deuteronomy 24:22 ~ “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.”
The Almighty Punishes Israel for Oppressing the Stranger. The Almighty Repays Us With the Same Injustice We Commit Against the Stranger
Deuteronomy 27:19 ~ “Cursed be he who subverts the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.—And all the people shall say, Amen.”
Jeremiah 7:3 ~ “Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell in this place.”
Jeremiah 7:4 ~ “Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD are these [buildings].””
Jeremiah 7:5 ~ “No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one man and another;”
Jeremiah 7:6 ~ “if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt—”
Jeremiah 7:7 ~ “then only will I let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for all time.”Ezekiel 22:7 ~ “Fathers and mothers have been humiliated within you; strangers have been cheated in your midst; orphans and widows have been wronged within you.”
Ezekiel 22:13 ~ “Lo, I will strike My hands over the ill-gotten gains that you have amassed, and over the bloodshed that has been committed in your midst.”
Ezekiel 22:14 ~ “Will your courage endure, will your hands remain firm in the days when I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken and I will act.”
Ezekiel 22:15 ~ “I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands; I will consume the uncleanness out of you.”
Ezekiel 22:16 ~ “You shall be dishonored in the sight of nations, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”Ezekiel 22:29 ~ “And the people of the land have practiced fraud and committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy, have defrauded the stranger without redress.”
Ezekiel 22:30 ~ “And I sought a man among them to repair the wall or to stand in the breach before Me in behalf of this land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none.”
Ezekiel 22:31 ~ “I have therefore poured out My indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of My fury. I will repay them for their conduct—declares the Lord GOD.”Zechariah 7:9 ~ “Thus said the LORD of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another.”
Zechariah 7:10 ~ “Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another.—”
Zechariah 7:11 ~ “But they refused to pay heed. They presented a balky back and turned a deaf ear.”
Zechariah 7:12 ~ “They hardened their hearts like adamant against heeding the instruction and admonition that the LORD of Hosts sent to them by His spirit through the earlier prophets; and a terrible wrath issued from the LORD of Hosts.”
Zechariah 7:13 ~ “Even as He called and they would not listen, “So,” said the LORD of Hosts, “let them call and I will not listen.””
Zechariah 7:14 ~ “I dispersed them among all those nations which they had not known, and the land was left behind them desolate, without any who came and went. They caused a delightful land to be turned into a desolation.”Malachi 3:4 ~ “Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of yore and in the years of old.”
Malachi 3:5 ~ “But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said the LORD of Hosts.”
Malachi 3:6 ~ “For I am the LORD—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be.”
