Reference: Stranger
American
Is sometimes used in a special sense, easily understood from the context. It usually denotes a foreigner, who is not a native of the land in which he resides, Ge 23:4. The Mosaic Law enjoined a generous hospitality towards foreign residents, saying, "Thou shalt love him as thyself," Le 19:33-34; De 10:18-19; 24:17; 27:19. They were subject to the law, Ex 20:10; Le 16:20, and were admitted to many of the privileges of the chosen people of God, Nu 9:14; 15:14. The strangers whom David collected to aid in building the temple, 1Ch 22:2, probably comprised many of the remnants of the Canaanite tribes, 1Ki 9:20-21. Hospitality to strangers, including all travellers, was the duty of all good citizens, Job 31:32; Heb 13:2.
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I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
but the seventh day shall be the sabbath of the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manslave, nor thy maidslave, nor thy beast, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
And when he has made an end of reconciling the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the testimony and the altar, he shall cause the live he goat to be brought;
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not oppress him. But the stranger that dwells with you shall be as the natural of yourselves, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I AM your God.
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover and according to the laws thereof, so shall he do; ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and for the natural of the land.
And when a stranger sojourns with you or whoever is among you, for your ages, if they will offer an offering on fire of an acceptable savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.
he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Ye shall love, therefore, the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow's clothing for a pledge,
Cursed is he that twists the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
And all the peoples that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the sons of Israel, their children that were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, upon those Solomon levied a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel, and he made them masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.
The stranger did not lodge in the street, but I opened my doors to the traveller.
Do not forget to show hospitality; for thereby some, having entertained angels, were kept.
Easton
This word generally denotes a person from a foreign land residing in Palestine. Such persons enjoyed many privileges in common with the Jews, but still were separate from them. The relation of the Jews to strangers was regulated by special laws (De 23:3; 24:14-21; 25:5; 26:10-13). A special signification is also sometimes attached to this word. In Ge 23:4 it denotes one resident in a foreign land; Ex 23:9, one who is not a Jew; Nu 3:10, one who is not of the family of Aaron; Ps 69:8, an alien or an unknown person. The Jews were allowed to purchase strangers as slaves (Le 25:44-45), and to take usury from them (De 23:20).
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I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the state of the soul of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Both thy menslaves and thy maidslaves, which thou shalt have, shall be of the Gentiles that are round about you; of them shall ye buy slaves. Ye may also buy of the children of the strangers that live among you and of those of their lineage that are born in your land, who are with you, and they shall be your possession.
And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons that they shall guard their priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever,
Unto a stranger thou may lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands upon the land which thou doest enter in to inherit.
Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. In his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and with it sustains his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. read more. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; each one shall be put to death for his own sin. Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow's clothing for a pledge, but thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the LORD thy God ransomed thee from there; therefore, I command thee to do this thing. When thou doest reap thy harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, or for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When brethren dwell together and one of them dies and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.
And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God and worship before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God has given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you. read more. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thy fruits the third year, which is the year of tithing and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates and be filled; then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought the consecrated things out of my house and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
I am become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's sons.
Fausets
A foreigner settled among the covenant people, without Israelite citizenship, but subject to Israel's laws, and having a claim to kindness and justice (Ex 12:49; Le 24:22; 19:34; 25:6; De 1:16; 24:17-19; 10:18-19; 16:11,14; 26:11). (See PROSELYTES.) In contrast to one "born in the land," not transplanted, "ezrach." Geer, toshab; geer implies the stranger viewed in respect to his foreign origin, literally, one turned aside to "another people"; toshab implies his permanent residence in the hind of hision. Distinguished from the "foreigner," nakri, who made no stay in Israel. The stranger included the "mixed multitude" from Egypt (Ex 12:38); the Canaanites still remaining in Palestine and their descendants, as Uriah the Hittite and Araunah the Jebusite, Doeg the Edomite, Ittai the Gittite; captives in war, fugitives, and merchants, amounting under Solomon to 153,600 males (2Ch 2:17), one tenth of the population.
Strictly, the stranger had no share in the land. It is to be a peculiarity of restored Israel that the stranger shall inherit along with the native born (Eze 47:22). Still anomalies may have been tolerated of necessity, as that of Canaanites (on conversion to the law) retaining land from which Israel had been unable to eject their forefathers. Strangers were excluded from kingship. Though tolerated they must not violate the fundamental laws by blaspheming Jehovah, breaking the sabbath by work, eating leavened bread at the Passover, infringing the marriage laws, worshipping Moloch, or eating blood (Le 24:16; 18:26; 20:2; 17:10,15; Ex 20:10; 12:19). If the stranger were a bondservant he had to be circumcised (Ex 12:44). If free he was exempt, but if not circumcised was excluded from the Passover (Ex 12:48); he might eat foods (De 14:21) which the circumcised stranger might not eat (Le 17:10,15).
The liberal spirit of the law contrasts with the exclusiveness of Judaism after the return from Babylon. This narrowness was at first needed, in order to keep the holy seed separate from foreign admixture (Nehemiah 9; 10; 13; Ezra 10). But its degeneracy into proud, morose isolation and misanthropy our Lord rebukes in His large definition of "neighbour" in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lu 10:36). The law kept Israel a people separate from the nations, yet exercising a benignant influence on them. It secured a body of 600,000 yeomen ready to defend their own land, but unfit for invading other lands, as their force was ordained to be of infantry alone. Interest front a fellow citizen was forbidden, but from a stranger was allowed, subject to strict regard to equity. The hireling was generally taken from strangers, the law guarded his rights with tender considerateness (De 24:14-15). (See NETHINIM; SOLOMON'S SERVANTS.)
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For seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or born in the land.
And a mixed multitude went up also with them and many sheep and cows.
but every man's slave that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
And if a stranger shall sojourn with thee and desire to make the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and make this sacrifice; and he shall be as one that is natural in the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. The same law shall be for the one who is natural, and for the stranger that sojourns among you.
but the seventh day shall be the sabbath of the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manslave, nor thy maidslave, nor thy beast, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
And any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you that eats any blood at all, I will set my face against that person that eats blood and will cut them off from among his people.
And any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you that eats any blood at all, I will set my face against that person that eats blood and will cut them off from among his people.
And any person that eats that which died of itself or that which was torn by beasts whether it is a natural of your own country or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.
And any person that eats that which died of itself or that which was torn by beasts whether it is a natural of your own country or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.
Ye shall, therefore, keep my statutes and my rights and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither the natural of your own nor any stranger that sojourns among you.
But the stranger that dwells with you shall be as the natural of yourselves, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I AM your God.
Likewise, thou shalt say to the sons of Israel, Any man of the sons of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel that gives any of his seed unto Molech shall surely die; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
And he that pronounces the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him; the same with the stranger as with the natural, if he pronounces the Name, he shall be put to death.
Ye shall have one manner of law: as for the stranger, so shall it be for the natural; for I am the LORD your God.
But the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy slave and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren and judge righteously between every man and his brother and the stranger that is with him.
he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Ye shall love, therefore, the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.
And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy manslave and thy maidslave and the Levite that is within thy gates and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God has chosen to place his name there.
And thou shalt rejoice in thy solemn feast, thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy manslave and thy maidslave and the Levite and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy gates (or within thy towns).
Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. In his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor and with it sustains his life, lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow's clothing for a pledge, but thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the LORD thy God ransomed thee from there; therefore, I command thee to do this thing. read more. When thou doest reap thy harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, or for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.
And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God has given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite and the stranger that is among you.
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after David, his father, had already numbered them; and one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred were found.
And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who have begotten sons among you; and they shall be unto you as native born among the sons of Israel; they shall have cast lots with you to inherit among the tribes of Israel.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
Hastings
This seems, on the whole, the most suitable English word by which to render the Heb. z
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Then he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, for among us that is a reproach.
For seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or born in the land.
Now these are the rights which thou shalt set before them.
And if a man smites his slave or his maid with a rod and he dies under his hand, he shall be surely punished.
Thou shalt neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the state of the soul of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the state of the soul of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
And they shall eat those things with which they were reconciled, to fill their hands to be sanctified; but a stranger shall not eat thereof because they are holiness.
Whoever compounds any like it and puts any of it upon a stranger shall be cut off from his people.
And you shall hold this as a perpetual statute: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether it is a natural of your own country or a stranger that sojourns among you;
But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holiness of rejoicing unto the LORD.
No stranger shall eat of the holy thing; a guest of the priest or a hired servant shall not eat of the holy thing.
If the priest's daughter becomes married unto a stranger, she may not eat of that which is set apart of the holy things.
And if a sojourner or stranger who is with thee becomes rich and thy brother who is with him becomes poor and sells himself unto the stranger or sojourner who is with thee or to the race of the lineage of the stranger,
And when the tabernacle departs, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons that they shall guard their priesthood; and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
And those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, before the tabernacle of the testimony towards the sunrise, shall be Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel; and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover and according to the laws thereof, so shall he do; ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and for the natural of the land.
And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee and serve thee; but thou and thy sons with thee shall serve before the tabernacle of the testimony.
Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priesthood for every thing of the altar and within the veil, and ye shall minister; for I have given the service of your priesthood as a gift, and the stranger that comes near shall die.
but the seventh day is the sabbath unto the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy manslave nor thy maidslave nor thine ox nor thine ass nor any animal of thine nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manslave and thy maidslave may rest as well as thou.
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land into which thou must enter to inherit it and has cast out many Gentiles before thee, the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Ye shall love, therefore, the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.
And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.
And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.
And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy manslave and thy maidslave and the Levite that is within thy gates and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God has chosen to place his name there.
because they did not meet you with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Thou shalt not do violence unto a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates.
Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow's clothing for a pledge,
When thou doest reap thy harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, or for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.
And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass the Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God gives thee that thou shalt set thee up great stones and plaster them with plaster; read more. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law when thou has passed to enter in unto the land which the LORD thy God gives thee, a land that flows with milk and honey, as the LORD God of thy fathers has said unto thee. Therefore, it shall be when ye have passed the Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones, and thou shalt offer burnt offerings upon it unto the LORD thy God; and thou shalt offer peace offerings and shalt eat there and rejoice before the LORD thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. And Moses with the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying, Take heed and hearken, O Israel; today thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.
and it shall be, when that one hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.
And Saul's son had two men that were captains of companies; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon, a Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth also was reckoned to Benjamin;
For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul; they have not set God before them. Selah.
to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words,
Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
And I gave it into the hands of the strangers for a prey and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
And I will bring you out of the midst thereof and deliver you into the hands of strangers and will execute judgments in you.
Strangers have devoured his strength, and he does not know it; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he does not understand.
For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind; they shall have no harvest; the fruit shall yield no meal: if so be it yields, the strangers shall swallow it up.
So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God, that I inhabit Zion, the mountain of my holiness: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more.
In the day that thou didst stand on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves.
Now at this sound, the multitude came together and were confounded because each one heard them speak in his own tongue.
Morish
1. This term was applied to any sojourning among the Israelites, who were not descendants of Israel. The law gave injunctions against the oppression of such. Nu 15:14-30.
2. Gentiles are also called 'strangers' from the covenants of promise (Eph 2:12), showing that the covenants made with Israel did in no wise embrace the Gentiles, though God's grace at all times extended to them.
3. Those called strangers in 1Pe 1:1 were Jews away from their own land: sojourners of the dispersion.
4. Both the O.T. and the N.T. saints were and are strangers upon earth. David said, "I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." Ps 39:12. They "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb 11:13. The same is true of the saints now. 1Pe 2:11. Their citizenship is in heaven, and this earth is no longer their home or their rest.
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And when a stranger sojourns with you or whoever is among you, for your ages, if they will offer an offering on fire of an acceptable savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do. One statute shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourns with you, a perpetual statute, for your ages; as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. read more. One same law and the same right shall be for you and for the stranger that sojourns with you. The LORD also spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel and say unto them, When ye have come into the land where I bring you, then it shall be that when ye begin to eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an offering unto the LORD. Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an offering; as the offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye offer it. Of the firstfruits of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an offering in your generations. And when ye err and do not observe all these commandments which the LORD has spoken unto Moses, even all that the LORD has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses and from then on, for your ages, then it shall be, if the sin was committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock as a burnt offering, for an acceptable savour unto the LORD with its present and its drink offering, according to the law, and one he goat as the sin. And the priest shall reconcile all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it is ignorance; and they shall bring their offering, an offering on fire unto the LORD and their sins before the LORD which they committed in their ignorance. And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the sons of Israel and the stranger that sojourns among them, seeing all the people were in ignorance. And if any person sins through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year as the sin. And the priest shall reconcile the soul that errs ignorantly, when he sins by ignorance before the LORD, he shall be reconciled; and it shall be forgiven him. Ye shall have the same law for the one that sins through ignorance, both for the natural born among the sons of Israel and for the stranger that sojourns among them. But the person that does something consciously, whether they are natural born or a stranger, the same reproaches the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off and believing them and embracing them and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Peter, apostle of Jesus, the Christ, to the strangers scattered in Pontus, in Galatia, in Cappadocia, in Asia, and in Bithynia,
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from the carnal desires which war against the soul
Smith
Stranger.
A "stranger," in the technical sense of the term, may be defined to be a person of foreign, i.e. non-Israelitish, extraction resident within the limits of the promised land. He was distinct from the proper "foreigner," inasmuch as the latter still belonged to another country, and would only visit Palestine as a traveller: he was still more distinct from the "nations," or non-Israelite peoples. The term may be compared with our expression "naturalized foreigner." The terms applied to the "stranger" have special reference to the fact of residing in the land. The existence of such a class of persons among the Israelites is easily accounted for the "mixed multitude" that accompanied them out of Egypt,
formed one element the Canaanitish Population,which was never wholly extirpated from their native soil, formed another and a still more important one captives taken in war formed a third; fugitives, hired servants, merchants, etc., formed a fourth. With the exception of the Moabites and Ammonites,
De 23:3
all nations were admissible to the rights of citizenship under certain conditions. The stranger appears to have been eligible to all civil offices, that of king excepted.
De 17:15
In regard to religion, it was absolutely necessary that the stranger should not infringe any of the fundamental laws of the Israelitish state. If he were a bondman, he was obliged to submit to circumcision,
if he were independent, it was optional with him but if he remained uncircumcised, he was prohibited from partaking of the Passover,
and could not be regarded as a full citizen. Liberty was also given to an uncircumcised stranger in regard to the use of prohibited food. Assuming, however, that the stranger was circumcised, no distinction existed in regard to legal rights ha between the stranger and the Israelite; to the Israelite is enjoined to treat him as a brother.
Le 19:34; De 10:19
It also appears that the "stranger" formed the class whence the hirelings were drawn; the terms being coupled together in
The liberal spirit of the Mosaic regulations respecting strangers presents a strong contrast to the rigid exclusiveness of the Jews at the commencement of the Christian era. The growth of this spirit dates from the time of the Babylonish captivity.
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And a mixed multitude went up also with them and many sheep and cows.
but every man's slave that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
And if a stranger shall sojourn with thee and desire to make the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and make this sacrifice; and he shall be as one that is natural in the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
But the stranger that dwells with you shall be as the natural of yourselves, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I AM your God.
No stranger shall eat of the holy thing; a guest of the priest or a hired servant shall not eat of the holy thing.
But the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy slave and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee
As a hired servant and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee.
Ye shall love, therefore, the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt surely appoint as king over thee the one whom the LORD thy God shall choose; one from among thy brethren shalt thou set as king over thee; thou may not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever,
Watsons
STRANGER. Moses inculcated and enforced by numerous and by powerful considerations, as well as by various examples of benevolent hospitality, mentioned in the book of Genesis, the exhibition of kindness and humanity to strangers. There were two classes of persons who, in reference to this subject, were denominated strangers, ????. One class were those who, whether Hebrews or foreigners, were destitute of a home, in Hebrew ??????. The others were persons who, though not natives, had a home in Palestine; the latter were ????, strangers or foreigners, in the strict sense of the word. Both of these classes, according to the civil code of Moses, were to be treated with kindness, and were to enjoy the same rights with other citizens, Le 19:33-34; 24:16,22; Nu 9:14; 15:14; De 10:18; 23:7; 24:17; 27:19. In the earlier periods of the Hebrew state, persons who were natives of another country, but who had come, either from choice or from necessity to take up their residence among the Hebrews, appear to have been placed in favourable circumstances. At a latter period, namely, in the reigns of David and Solomon, they were compelled to labour on the religious edifices which were erected by those princes; as we may learn from such passages as these: "And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred; and he set three score and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens," &c, 1Ch 22:2; 2Ch 2:1,16-17. The exaction of such laborious services from foreigners was probably limited to those who had been taken prisoners in war; and who, according to the rights of war, as they were understood at that period, could be justly employed in any offices, however low and however laborious, which the conqueror thought proper to impose. In the time of Christ, the degenerate Jews did not find it convenient to render to the strangers from a foreign country those deeds of kindness and humanity which were not only their due, but which were demanded in their behalf by the laws of Moses. They were in the habit of understanding by the word ??, neighbour, their friends merely, and accordingly restricted the exercise of their benevolence by the same narrow limits that bounded in this case their interpretations; contrary as both were to the spirit of those passages which have been adduced above, Le 19:18.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the sons of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I am the LORD.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not oppress him. But the stranger that dwells with you shall be as the natural of yourselves, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I AM your God.
And he that pronounces the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him; the same with the stranger as with the natural, if he pronounces the Name, he shall be put to death.
Ye shall have one manner of law: as for the stranger, so shall it be for the natural; for I am the LORD your God.
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover and according to the laws thereof, so shall he do; ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and for the natural of the land.
And when a stranger sojourns with you or whoever is among you, for your ages, if they will offer an offering on fire of an acceptable savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.
he executes the rights of the fatherless and the widow and also loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Thou shalt not twist the rights of the stranger nor of the fatherless nor take a widow's clothing for a pledge,
Cursed is he that twists the rights of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel, and he made them masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God.