Word Studies - The Stranger

In studying the Old Testament, we often come across references to "the stranger" in Israel. While we generally understand this to refer to a person who was not of the twelve tribes, a few references to the stranger are somewhat perplexing as we read our English Bibles. Sometimes distinctions are drawn that are difficult for us to understand. For example, Deuteronomy 14:21 contains a prohibition of Israelites eating anything that died of itself, but gives some unusual orders as to the disposal of such animals: "Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it to the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it to an alien: for thou art an holy people to the LORD thy God." (King James Version). What is the difference between a stranger and an alien?

Instructions regarding who would eat the feast of passover are found in Exodus 12:43-49. In verse 43 we read, "There shall no stranger eat thereof...," and in verse 45, "A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof." Then in verse 48, "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then he shall come near and keep it..." Could a stranger eat or not? What is the distinction drawn between a stranger and a foreigner?

Leviticus 25:47-55 stated that an Israelite who sold himself into slavery to a sojourner or a stranger could be redeemed at any time or else would be released in the year of jubilee. How could this law be enforced upon outsiders? Actually, the stranger was not "an outsider." The word "sojourner" here translates the most common word for "stranger" found in Hebrew scripture, "ger" (pronounced "gayr"). It is derived from the verb "gur," meaning "to live among those not blood relatives." [Harris, Archer, and Waltke; Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Volume I, page 155]

The "ger" was the recipient of the benefits of the poor tithe in Deuteronomy 14:28, 29. He bore a special relationship to Israel and to the Law. "The stranger within the gates" was among the Israelites by choice because of his faith in the true God. These strangers were often poor and subject to oppression because they were not landholders, since the land was parceled out to the families of Israel as a perpetual possession. Thus, they were often mentioned with the fatherless and widows in Israel. The Lord warned the people not to oppress the stranger, but to remember that they had been strangers themselves in Egypt (Deut. 10:18, 19).

God placed certain requirements on the "ger," but he was not obligated to keep all the law. He was required to hear the solemn reading of the law (Deut. 31:12) and to observe the prohibition of leaven during passover week (Ex. 12:19). It was he who could eat the passover feast if he submitted to circumcision (Ex. 12:48), but God did not require it. Those forbidden to eat the passover in the same passage were foreigners who did not serve the true God.

The sabbath laws applied to the "ger" as well as to the native according to Exodus 20:10 and 23:12, as did the laws of chastity in Leviticus 18. He was to observe the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 16:29; Deut. 16:14). He suffered the death penalty for idolatry and was not to eat blood (Lev. 17:8-13). He was the one who could be given and could eat an animal that died of itself in Deuteronomy 14:21, but afterward he was to be ritually cleansed (Lev. 17:15). Recall that an Israelite could sell the carcass to an "alien." This was the foreigner who had no part with Israel.