>I want to join Chris Heard in evaluating Tim Gorringe’s article on Numbers 15, published in the Expository Time 117.8 (May 2006) 316-318.  There are two issues that I want to emphasize.

First, Numbers 15 does not say anything about immigration or the plight of foreigners in Israelite society.  The situation of the resident alien (the sojourner) in Israel was different from what we find in our days in Britain and in America. In the Old Testament, those foreigners (the gerim) who lived under the protection of Israel were subject to the same laws as the Israelites.

The reason for laws protecting foreigners in Israel was because the Israelites themselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.  This is the emphasis of Numbers 15:14-15:

“And if any foreigners living among you want to present an offering by fire, pleasing to the Lord, they must follow the same procedures.  Native Israelites and foreigners are the same before the Lord and are subject to the same laws. This is a permanent law for you.”
    
Second, Gorringe does not understand the true intentions of the laws of Deuteronomy.  He wrote:  “We know from Deuteronomy that there were groups who wanted immigration controls, ID cards, the cricket test (‘Which team do they support?’).”

This statement is not correct: there were no groups in Israel that were demanding immigration controls.  To the contrary, the laws in the book of Deuteronomy are a prime example of how human rights were to be protected in Israel.  The book of Deuteronomy made an attempt at providing legal, social, economic, and religious rights to the resident aliens.

The laws of Deuteronomy were enacted to make Israelite society more egalitarian in order to prevent social and economic stratification. In addition, the laws of Deuteronomy are a reflection of the reformers’ commitment to equality for all citizens in Israelite society, including women and resident aliens.

The goal of the laws in Deuteronomy was to produce a just society, a society in which all persons could live freely, experience just treatment from people in power, and care for those who were less privileged.  In order to establish a just society, the people of Israel should be committed to seek and implement justice to all people. Thus, the laws in the book of Deuteronomy provide a model for how a community should uphold the value of all persons in Israelite society.

The laws in the book of Deuteronomy have much to say about the rights of those people who depended on the protection of Israelite society.  These individuals include the widows, orphans, sojourners, and slaves.

The Deuteronomic effort to enact laws that would protect and provide for the disadvantaged who lived in Israelite society was revolutionary. Deuteronomic laws repeatedly admonished Israel not to exploit, oppress, or cause harm to the needy. Deuteronomy declares that the God of Israel is greatly concerned about the treatment of the poor and the oppressed. Therefore, all members of Israelite society are to take personal responsibility for the needs and protection of the disadvantaged.

There is no sense of rejection of foreigners who chose to abide by the laws of Israel during the period of the monarchy. In Judaism, we find a distinction between the foreigners who accepted the laws of Israel (the gerim or sojourners) and the foreigners (the nokri) who did not accept the laws of Israel. Something similar is found in Deuteronomy 14:21 “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner (gerim) who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner (nokri).”

There is nothing in the Old Testament about illegal immigrants. The principal issue about immigration today in Britain and in America is that some immigrants do not want to obey the laws of these two countries. Those immigrants who obey the laws would be identical with the gerim of the Old Testament, but those who refuse to obey the laws would be compared to the nokri.

Gorringe speaks of the problem Moses had with the Egyptians: “At the same time there were always voices which reminded people that they too had been economic migrants, speaking a different language, eating different food, having problems with the local police (Exod 2).”

The mention of Exodus 2 is a reference about Moses fleeing from Egypt.  The only reason Moses had problem with “the local police” was because he broke the laws of the land.  When a resident alien breaks the laws of a country, that ger loses the protection of the society in which he or she is a citizen.  That is what happened to Moses.

As Chris has already pointed out, Gorringe takes a passage completely out of context to prove a political point.  If Gorringe had used the Book of Deuteronomy to prove his point, he probably would have a better argument.  However, his use of Numbers 15 weakens and almost invalidates his argument.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary