{"id":93371,"date":"2026-01-22T12:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=93371"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:47:18","slug":"notes-on-foreigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-foreigners\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on Foreigners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>The Resident Alien<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Hebrew word is <em>gerim<\/em>. These are people who live within Israel&#8217;s borders, often as refugees or laborers.<\/li>\n<li>Leviticus 19:33-34 &#8220;<em>When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>These people were granted legal rights equal to those of native-born Israelites.<\/li>\n<li>However, they were required to follow the laws of the land.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Hostile Foreigner<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Hebrew words are\u00a0<em>zarim<\/em> and\u00a0<em>nokrim<\/em>. These are people with political ties to other nations or who came as invaders.<\/li>\n<li>II Samuel 22:45-46 &#8220;<em>Foreigners pretend obedience to me; As soon as they hear, they obey me. Foreigners lose heart, and come trembling out of their fortresses.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Limited Immigration<\/h2>\n<p>Some groups were barred or treated with extreme caution due to historical risks.<\/p>\n<h3>Ammonites and Moabites:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Deuteronomy 23:3-4 &#8220;<em>No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<li>Nehemiah 13:1-3 &#8220;<em>On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. So when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.<\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Military Response<\/h2>\n<h3>Ammonites<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>I Samuel 11 &#8211; Saul repelled the Ammonites who besieged Jabesh-Gilead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Marital Restrictions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Worshipers of false gods were forbidden to marry Israelites to prevent corruption (Deuteronomy 7:1-6; Ezra 9:1-2; Nehemiah 13:23-29)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Walls and Borders<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Most large cities and many smaller ones had fortified walls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Resident Alien The Hebrew word is gerim. These are people who live within Israel&#8217;s borders, often as refugees or laborers. Leviticus 19:33-34 &#8220;When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201],"tags":[1892,1894,1891,1893],"class_list":["post-93371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-notes","tag-aliens","tag-borders","tag-foreigners","tag-strangers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16545,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-gentiles-who-converted-to-judaism-worship-in-the-same-way-as-a-native-jew\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":0},"title":"Did Gentiles who converted to Judaism worship in the same way as a native Jew?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding the Gentiles who repented of their wickedness and converted to Judaism (such as Ruth, and the 120,000 of Nineveh that repented), were they commanded to follow all the laws and commandments the same way as all Jews were? Did they then worship in the same way, offer sacrifices,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66670,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-an-alien-believer-or-an-alien-sinner\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":1},"title":"What is an alien believer or an alien sinner?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I was reading somewhere in an article mentioning the \"alien believer.\" I am not sure what it actually means. I have noticed there are two different persons: \"alien sinner\" and \"alien believer.\" My question is: Cornelius, in Acts 10:2, was godly and had a fear of God in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-law-be-a-dividing-wall-if-other-nations-could-become-israelites\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":2},"title":"How could the law be a dividing wall if other nations could become Israelites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Exodus 12:48-49 tells us that someone from another nation (a Gentile) could be circumcised and keep the Passover (in other words obey God) and become part of Israel (a Jew). Verse 49 says that there's one law for everyone. Jew or Gentile must obey the same law.\u00a0It seems that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28532,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-alien-sinner-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":3},"title":"What does &#8220;alien sinner&#8221; mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I came across an article on your website by James Sasser comparing Romans 4 and James 2.\u00a0In it, he uses the term \"alien sinner\" several times in reference to Abraham and Romans 4:4-5.\u00a0Can you define this term for me? It is something I have not heard mentioned before. Thanks!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11820,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-isaiah-566-8-prove-that-god-wanted-non-jews-to-keep-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":4},"title":"Doesn&#8217;t Isaiah 56:6-8 prove that God wanted non-Jews to keep the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Now if the Sabbath was only for the nation of Israel, why does it say in Isaiah 56:6-8 that God wanted the strangers (non-Jews) to keep and observe His Sabbath along with the covenant besides the nation of Israel. Now think about it, if he wanted people outside the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-pacifist\/","url_meta":{"origin":93371,"position":5},"title":"What is a pacifist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What's a pacifist? Because I know the Bible says to turn your swords into something that is not used to kill. Answer: A pacifist is someone opposed to violence for any purpose. He believes that every matter can be handled without violence. Thus a pacifist is opposed to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}