Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Immigration and the Bible

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Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days, you have no doubt heard and seen the furor caused by President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order that places a temporary halt on refugees from seven different countries entering the United States. The liberal media, Hollywood celebrities and protestors angrily denounced this policy as “unconstitutional,” “un-American,” “racist,” “Islam-a-phobic” and just plain “mean-spirited.”

What is even more fascinating is how many people on my Facebook newsfeed started citing Scripture to justify an open borders policy. I thought this to be deliciously ironic since most of these same folks reject the Bible as oppressive and outdated when it comes to abortion, homosexuality, drunkenness and fornication. Now they want to quote Scripture! The Bible isn’t a Chipotle where you can make your own spiritual burrito based on your pet sins and preferences and throw out the stuff that doesn’t fit your pallet. We can’t have it both ways.

But, all this acrimony got me wondering, “What does the Bible actually say concerning immigration?” So, I started to do some digging and I was surprised what I found.

First, nations and borders were God’s idea. Remember back to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11? Mankind tried to build a civilization unified by one language and one religion. God put a stop to that by introducing the language barrier and scattering people to the four winds.

“7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth.” (Gen. 11:7-8). This judgment resulted in the different cultures and ethnic groups we still see today.  

In fact, the national separateness we experience today is a God-ordained protection against man’s prideful craving for absolute power and domination. The Apostle Paul preached to a group of philosophers in Athens saying:
            “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, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27)

Nationalism, not globalism is God’s will. We must be wary of the current trend towards the call for a one-world government. This the sure way to tyranny (in fact, this is one reason why the Tribulation period headed up by the Antichrist will be so bad). But, I digress.

Second, God’s people are to assist and assimilate the stranger in their land as best they can. Many of these principles were given to the Jewish people by God and were to be instituted as part of their national policy. (Now we understand that America is not ancient Israel. We are not a theocracy like they were intended to be. We ought not take those things which God intended for Israel and wrongly misapply them to our situation.) Here are a few general principles.     

The Lord told Israel soon after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 23:9). In ancient Israel, foreigners were to have proper rest from their work like everyone else (Ex. 20:10; 23:12; Deut. 5:14) and receive a fair wage on time (Deut. 24:14-15). Law courts were to be fair and impartial to outsiders (Deut. 1:16-17; 24:17-18; 27:19). There also were provisions for food in times of hunger (Lev. 19:9-10; Deut. 14:28-29; 24:19-22). Even more impressive was the command to allow foreigners to participate in Israel’s worship, the most precious part of their culture (Ex. 12:45-49; Lev. 16:29).

The Old Testament cites examples of foreign-born men and women who were accepted and become productive citizens of Israel. Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho, and Ruth, a widow from Moab come to mind. Both of these women are included in the genealogy of Jesus (Matt. 1:5-6).  

Moreover, Jesus showed kindness and compassion towards outsiders. Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, even though upstanding Jews thought of the Samaritans as half-breeds (John 4). On another occasion, Jesus healed the demon-possessed daughter of a Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:28). And don’t forget that Jesus was a refugee for a short period during his infancy when Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape wicked king Herod (Matt. 2:13-15).   

On the flip side of the issue, strangers—or immigrants—in the land of Israel were expected to assimilate into the Jewish society and obey many of the civil and religious laws. They would have had to learn Israel’s laws and speak the language to work and take part in the religious life of Israel (Deut. 31:8-13). Consider just a handful of passages from the Law:

“10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” (Exodus 20:10)

“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.” (Leviticus 18:26)

“16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 24:16).

David Jeremiah summarizes the issue of immigration and the Bible, “The message of the Bible concerning strangers in the land is clear: If they accept the national culture and work as participants in the national economy, they are welcomed and allowed full participation in the life of the nation. If they refuse to assimilate and cling to their old laws, beliefs and customs, their customs, their activities must be restricted for the good of the nation.”[1]

Third, ancient people practiced what we today would call “vetting” or “documentation.” So how did people become legal aliens in another country? The classic example is when Jacob’s family went to Egypt to escape a famine in Canaan. By divine providence, Jacob’s son, Joseph was already the Prime Minister in Egypt and helped with the immigration process. Still, Joseph’s family asked Pharaoh for permission to move to Egypt:

And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were” … “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen” (Genesis 47:3-6).

This means that the Hebrews, though foreigners, obtained legal status in Egypt. They went through a “vetting” process by standing before the Pharaoh.

Fourth, as Christians we must submit to government authorities and the laws of the land. Paul writes in Romans 13:1-2, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”

God has instituted governments and kings for His sovereign purpose and to ensure law and order. God expects us to obey the laws of the government. The only exception to this is when a law of the government forces us to disobey a command of God (Acts 5:29). Illegal immigration is the breaking of a government’s law and is not supported biblically. Moreover, there is nothing in Scripture that contradicts the idea of a sovereign nation having immigration laws, imposing “bans,” building walls or closing the borders all together.

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Immigration is a complex issue. The vast majority of immigrants in the United States have come for the purpose of having a better life, providing for their families, and escaping poverty. These are admirable goals. Certainly, the U.S. is still a beacon of hope for many. As Christians we should be compassionate to the poor and the needy who come to our land. As Americans we should be wise and realize that immigration is not “a right,” but a privilege. It is wise to protect our own citizens first. It is wise to have a screening process to see if immigrants have ties to terrorism. It is wise to make sure that immigrants are willing to assimilate, obey the laws of the land and contribute to upholding the fabric of this society.  

Franklin Graham, evangelist and leader of Samaritan’s Purse, was recently interviewed by the media on the topic of immigration and I think he had a good response, “We live in a very dangerous world and I think the president’s first priority is to protect the American people and until there is a better system in place for vetting and knowing who comes into America, I believe every person who comes unto the U.S. should be vetted. We need to know who they are and what they believe, if they share the same core values of freedom and liberty.”[2]

There is no reason why we cannot have a balanced approach—we must be compassionate and wise. The Bible holds these truths in tension. In fact, it was Jesus who said to his disciples, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16).    


[1] David Jeremiah, Is This The End? (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 50.
[2] <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/frankling-graham-refugees_us_5889049ce4b061cf898c6c42> 

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