Biblical Scriptures About Conduct Toward Refugees

[DrSchadenfreude]

Exodus 22:21 

Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.


Leviticus 19:33


And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.


Deuteronomy 10:19 


Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.



Job 31:32 


The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveler.



Mathew 25: 31-40

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was a hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

[daleko]

Sept 18, 2022 13:33:56 GMT -5 DrSchadenfreude said:

Jeez Willie if you want to bring the Bible into the conversation.

Daniel 2:43
As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Acts 17:26
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Leviticus 19:19
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Deuteronomy 23:2
“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 7:3
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:1-3 ESV / 62 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Job 14:4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Genesis 1:25
And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[DrSchadenfreude]

Daleko,

     My responses are in red here.


Daleko wrote:

Jeez Willie if you want to bring the Bible into the conversation.

The proper treatment of refugees is a matter deserving serious theological discussion and scriptural exegesis.


Daniel 2:43

As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.


The Old Testament/Torah was focused mainly on establishing a "righteous"/holy tribe of Israel under the Law.   But even the tribalistic Torah proscribed the mistreatment/vexation of strangers/refugees, as I cited above.  

This later Daniel text is about intermarriage with non-Israelis.  It's not about basic, humane conduct toward strangers.


Acts 17:26

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,


That doesn't imply that migration across boundaries was proscribed.  Abraham, himself, was a migrant from Ur to Canaan and, later, the Twelve Tribes of Israeli were migrants from Egypt.

Moses, himself, married a Midianite woman, while sojourning as a stranger in Sinai.


Leviticus 19:19

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.



Again, this pertains to Old Testament tribalism-- an earlier covenant/revelation prior to the New Testament revelation of the Holy One of Israel, who would serve as the "Enlightener of the Gentiles"-- the Christ.

Deuteronomy 23:2

“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.


Torah/tribalism-- later transmuted by Christ-- the Enlightener of the Gentiles.  But, again, even the tribalistic Torah forbade the mistreatment/vexation of strangers.


Deuteronomy 7:3

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,


We're not talking about marriage.  We're talking about moral, humane treatment of strangers/refugees.


Deuteronomy 7:1-3 ESV / 62 helpful votes

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,


This is the extreme example of Torah based Israeli tribalism, relating to the military conquest of Palestine after the sojourn of the Twelve Tribes in Egypt.  Yet, again, read the Torah scriptures that I quoted above about the treatment of strangers.  "Thou shalt not vex the stranger."

And, finally, contrast this Old Testament teaching about the Israeli conquest of Palestine with Christ's Parable of the Good Samaritan, as an explicit example of fulfilling the "greatest" commandments-- to love God and one's neighbor.

(Incidentally, the Samaritans were regarded as ethnically and religiously "unclean" by the strict followers of the Torah.)


Job 14:4

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.


Study the revelation/dream of the Apostle Peter (in St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles) regarding the acceptance of the Gentiles into the first century Christian community.  The Apostles (all Jews) decided in council, and by divine revelation, that the Christian revelation was intended for all humanity, not only for Israel.


Genesis 1:25

And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

And all human beings are of the same species.  We're all Homo Sapiens.

[Walter]

Sept 19, 2022 21:05:33 GMT -5 daleko said:

Sept 18, 2022 13:33:56 GMT -5 DrSchadenfreude said:

Jeez Willie if you want to bring the Bible into the conversation.

Daniel 2:43
As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Acts 17:26
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Leviticus 19:19
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Deuteronomy 23:2
“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 7:3
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:1-3 ESV / 62 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Job 14:4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Genesis 1:25
And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Great, enlightened book. NOT.
SMH...Geez...and folks wonder why church attendance is waning.

[DrSchadenfreude]

Sept 20, 2022 7:44:36 GMT -5 Walter said:

Sept 19, 2022 21:05:33 GMT -5 daleko said:

Jeez Willie if you want to bring the Bible into the conversation.

Daniel 2:43
As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Acts 17:26
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Leviticus 19:19
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Deuteronomy 23:2
“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 7:3
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:1-3 ESV / 62 helpful votes
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

Job 14:4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.

Genesis 1:25
And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Great, enlightened book. NOT.
SMH...Geez...and folks wonder why church attendance is waning.

As I posted, (above) Daleko's scriptures reference the historic phase/precedent of Torah tribalism, not the later Christian (New Testament) revelation for all humanity-- including the Gentiles.

But even the original law (Torah) commanded Israel to behave humanely toward strangers in their midst.

For Christians, the definitive scriptural references about the treatment of refugees/strangers are the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of St. Luke, and the scriptures from Mathew 25:31-40 that I posted at the top of this thread.

Recall that the Parable of the Good Samaritan was a teaching of Christ in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?"-- on the topic of the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself.

"On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets," etc.