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2018-07-15

God’s Perspective on Immigration

(Leviticus 19:33-34a, NIV)

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land,

do not mistreat them.

The foreigner residing among you

must be treated as your native-born.”

I.  Introduction

     Some of the earliest scenes from the Bible are stories of immigrants.  The father of Abram was a man named Terah who left his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans, and migrated to the land of Canaan.  In short, Terah and his adult son and daughter-in-law, Abram and Sarai, along with his grandson Lot were immigrants.  That’s how Moses described them when he wrote, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan” (Genesis 11:31a, NIV).

     They didn’t travel to their intended migrant destination.  Instead, “When they came to Harran [a village Terah named after his deceased son, Lot’s father], they settled there” (Genesis 11:31b, NIV).

      Abram and Sarai lived in Haran until after the death of Abram’s father, Terah.  Then they migrated to the land of Canaan, their original destination.  Moses wrote, “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you’…So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there” (Genesis 12:1…4-5, NIV).  For the second time in their lives, Abram, Sarai, and Lot were immigrants.

     Due to what we might call a natural disaster, Abram, Sarai, and Lot became immigrants for yet a third time.  Moses wrote, “Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe” (Genesis 12:10, NIV).

II.  The First Immigration Law

     Because he was evidently a fearful man, Abram concocted a scheme that backfired on him and caused the Pharaoh of Egypt to pass the first immigration law that I can find in the Bible.  Moses wrote, “As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘I know what a beautiful woman you are.  When the Egyptians see you, they will say: This is his wife.  Then they will kill me but will let you live.  Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.’  When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.  And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace” (Genesis 12:11-15, NIV).

     Then Abram’s scheme began to unravel because God judged the host country for the way they were treating Sarai—an Israeli immigrant.  Moses wrote, “The Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.  So Pharaoh summoned Abram. ‘What have you done to me?’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?  Why did you say: She is my sister—so that I took her to be my wife?’” (Genesis 12:17-19a, NIV).  Important spiritual principle:  “God holds host countries responsible for the way immigrants in their country are treated.”

     At that point Pharaoh passed the first immigration law.  Pharaoh said, “Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” (Genesis 12:19b, NIV).  He then gave orders to the men serving under his authority to enforce his new immigration law.  Moses wrote, “Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had” (Genesis 12:20, NIV).  The first immigration law was a deportation order.

     From this Biblical account, we can conclude that it is appropriate for the leader of a nation to enforce immigration laws by deporting immigrants who are deemed a security risk to the host nation.  Abram, Sarai, and Lot were the first immigrants to be deported, as far as biblical history is concerned.  It happened when Pharaoh said to Abram, “Now then, here is your wife.  Take her and go!” (Genesis 12:19b, NIV).

III.  More Migration

     Abram’s grandson, Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel, also became a migrant as the result of a severe famine that struck the land of Canaan.  Moses described Jacob’s migration from Canaan to Egypt when he wrote, “So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan.  Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring” (Genesis 46:6-7, NIV).

     The descendants of Jacob remained in Egypt for more than 430 years until a severe case of xenophobia [from two Greek words: xenos—“foreigner” and phobos—“fear,” thus the definition is “the fear of foreigners”] swept across Egypt, initiated by a new Pharaoh.  Moses wrote, “A new king… came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.  Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh” (Exodus 1:8a…8c-11, NIV).

     Xenophobia caused the Egyptians, citizens of the host country, to mistreat these Israeli migrants and, as a result, God judged Egypt with Ten Plagues that left the country in ruins.  Pharaoh and the Egyptians then demanded the deportation of the Israeli immigrants because they viewed them as a security risk to their country.  Moses wrote, “During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites…Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go…The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. ‘For otherwise,’ they said, ‘we will all die!’…the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.  At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt” (Exodus 12:31a…32a…33…40-41, NIV).  Thus began the Israeli migration back to the land of Canaan.

IV.  God’s Perspective on Immigration

     As the Israeli immigrants were returning to Canaan from Egypt, they stopped for a layover at the foot of Mt. Sinai where they received God’s Law.  Inserted into that Law was a rather startling statement about immigrants.  Moses wrote, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (Leviticus 19:33-34a, NIV).

     Did you get that?  God said, “When a foreigner resides among you…do not mistreat them.”  In fact, God said, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.”  In other words, when a host country allows productive, law-abiding immigrants to live within its borders, those immigrants are to be treated just like the citizens of that nation are treated! 

     When judging nations, Jesus takes into consideration whether or not those nations have welcomed immigrants.  Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him…Then the King will say…‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger [foreigner] and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’” (Matthew 25:31-32a…34a…34c-36, NIV).  It is in the best interest of any nation to welcome productive, law-abiding immigrants!  God is pleased when nations do so.

     However, it is also in the best interest of any nation to deport immigrants who have proven themselves to be a security risk to that nation.  As we have already discovered, that’s exactly what Pharaoh did to Abram and Sarai.  That’s also what a later Pharaoh did to all of the descendants of Jacob which resulted in the Exodus.

     It is also in the best interest of any nation to refuse entrance into its country any immigrants whom its leaders deem to be a security risk.  That is what the King of Edom did to the Israeli immigrants when they were returning from Egypt to Canaan.  Moses wrote, “Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying…‘We are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. Please let us pass through your country’…But Edom answered: ‘You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword…Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them”  (Numbers 20:14…16b-17a…18…21, NIV).  I can find no Biblical record of God criticizing Edom for this immigration policy.

V.  Conclusion

     The Bible is not a policy book on immigration, but it does reveal to us God’s will for immigrants and their host nations.  For example, God doesn’t want immigrants mistreated.  He also wants them to have the same responsibilities and benefits as citizens.  Moses wrote, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (Leviticus 19:33-34a, NIV).

     This Scripture seems to indicate that US immigration reform should include a legal pathway to citizenship for the 11.3 million undocumented immigrants who are currently, as Moses put it, “residing among you”—provided they are productive, law-abiding immigrants.  By the way, only half of them, approximately 5.5 million, are Mexican immigrants.  They should be “treated as your native-born” which means required to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship —pay local, state, and federal income tax; pay Social Security and Medicare tax; get a driver’s license; and pay a reasonable fine for breaking US immigration law to gain entrance into the country, just like any other American citizen would be penalized for breaking a federal law—then and only then should they be given the benefits of citizenship.

     God will bless nations who welcome productive, law-abiding immigrants.  Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger [foreigner] and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:34c-36, NIV).

     However, it is in the best interest of nations to refuse entrance to and/or deport immigrants who have demonstrated themselves to be a security risk to a host nation.  Pharaoh deported Abram, Sarai, and Lot; a later Pharaoh deported all of Jacob’s descendants causing the Exodus; and the king of Edom refused to allow the Israeli immigrants to enter his country.  In all three of these incidents, the leaders of nations deemed the immigrants to be a security risk.

Next Steps

• Believe in Jesus to receive the gift of eternal life.  Jesus said, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).
• Ask God to clearly teach you His perspective on immigration.  Moses wrote, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (Leviticus 19:33-34a, NIV).



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