Scripture has concern for the sojourner, or resident alien. Sojourners have no family or tribal affiliation to the nation they reside in. The most common Hebrew word translated “sojourner” is ger, but others such as zār, ben nēkār, nokrı̂ also refer to a foreigner. Mostly, the undertones attached to these terms are negative, but occasionally they refer to the foreigners in a neutral or even positive way. Other renderings for the term ger are “foreign resident,” “stranger,” “foreigner,” “immigrant,” “client,” and “resident alien.” A ger was, in its narrowest sense, a person belonging to a household (usually an employee or a “hired servant”) but not related by blood or marriage to the family.
As outsiders, resident aliens faced all kinds of barriers and discrimination. They were socially vulnerable. Scripture often listed them with easily exploited groups: servants (Exod. 20:10; Lev. 25:6; Deut. 5:14); hirelings (Lev. 25:6; Deut. 24:14); the needy (Lev. 19:10; 23:22; Deut. 24:14; Ezek. 22:29); the poor (Deut. 10:18; 14:29; 24:17-21; 26:12; 27:19; Ps. 94:6; 146:9; Jer. 7:6; 22:3; Zech. 7:10).
Israel understood what it meant to be sojourners because their history until the conquest of Canaan had been an unending sojourn. Scripture describes them as sojourners (1 Chron. 16:19; 29:15; Ps. 105:12). They had few rights in the land that God had promised them and could settle down for any length of time in Canaan only with the permission of the local authorities (Gen. 20:1). The Bible describes Canaan as the land of the patriarchs’ sojourning (Gen. 17:8; 28:4; 36:7: 37:1: Exod. 6:4). Egypt was also a land of sojourning (Gen. 15:13; 47:4, 11; Exod. 22:21; 23:9; Lev. 19:34; Deut. 10:19; 23:7; 26:5; Ps. 105:23; Isa. 52:4).
When the Hebrews prepared to enter the Promised Land, God specifically inspired Moses to include laws in Israel’s legislation that would treat the sojourners very favorably. Israel’s own historical experience of the sojourners was the foundation based on which God urged them to treat the sojourners kindly. Several laws dealt with the sojourner. God gave as their premise the fact that the Hebrews had been sojourners in Egypt. “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 23:9; cf. Lev. 19:33, 34; Deut. 10:19; 16:9-12).
Israelite law granted resident aliens Sabbath rest (Exod. 20:10; 23:12; Deut. 5:14); the right to a fair trial (Deut. 1:16); permission to flee to the cities of refuge (Num. 35:15; Josh. 20:9); and participation in Israelite religious celebrations, including Feasts of Booths and Weeks (Deut. 16:11, 14), the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29), and the Passover (Exod. 12:49; Num. 9:14). Like the Israelites, sojourners had to refrain from consuming blood (Lev. 17:10), could not blaspheme God’s name (Lev. 24:16), and should observe the regulations involving the ashes of the red heifer sacrifice (Num. 19:2-10), and other sacrifices (Lev. 17:8, 9; 22:18-20; Num. 15:14-16). They could obtain atonement for sin (Num. 15:26-31). Also, they had to observe sexual and moral purity (Lev. 18:26).
To provide for their economic support, they could glean from the crops (Lev. 19:10; 23:22) and receive the triennial tithe (Deut. 26:11) and the produce of the land during the sabbatical year (Lev. 25:6). The rights and duties of the sojourners reflect those of their hosts. They were part of the assembly when God renewed the covenant with Israel (Josh. 8:33).
But the sojourners received such rights only if they identified with the covenant community (Exod. 12:43-47) and worshiped its God. The divine goal was to restore the unity of the human race to all those who would accept it. Those who rejected the offer of inclusion, however, were treated as “foreigners” (Hebrew nokri). Although the Old Testament uses the term to refer to people from other lands or ethnic groups, it mainly uses it to refer to those who opposed Israel or threatened its self-identity.
Psalm 144:7-11 states that the nokri was insincere and deceitful. The feminine form nokriya became a technical term for prostitute in the book of Proverbs (see Prov. 2:16; 5:20; 6:24; 7:5; 23:27). Ezra opposed the marriage of Jewish men to the non-Jewish women of Palestine because it was threatening the disappearance of God’s people into the foreign inhabitants of the land (Ezra 9:2). Instead of expanding His people, it was undermining their very existence. The nokri continued to present a challenge to the covenant community (Mal. 2:11). Earlier, Isaiah 2:6 had protested Israelite relations with such “foreigners,” and Jeremiah, using the imagery of a vine planted pure that has turned into a wild one, denounces his people’s spiritual prostitution (Jer. 2:20, 21). Israel had not transformed others but had been changed by them.
Because of the opposition of the nokri to the covenant community, Mosaic law was less sympathetic to them as a group. They could not eat the Passover (Exod. 12:43), their animals were not acceptable as sacrifices (Lev. 22:25), their debts to an Israelite were not canceled during the Sabbatical year (Deut. 15:3), and they could be charged interest on loans (Deut. 23:20).
Besides the nokri, the zar (“stranger”¬) was also hostile as a group to Israel. Scripture also uses the term for prostitutes or adulterers in the book of Proverbs (Prov. 2:16; 5:3, 20; 7:5; 22:14) and for national enemies (Isa. 1:7; Jer. 5:19; 30:8; 51:51; Ezek. 7:21; 11:9; Hosea 7:9; 8:7; Joel 3:17; Obad. 11). The zar, while they might reside in Israel or have political contacts with God’s people, also could not be accepted into the covenant community because of their refusal to accept the covenant obligations and stipulations.