Immigration and the Bible


Immigration is in the news a lot these days.  Have you noticed that it comes up often in the Bible?  Immigration is important to the story of God’s people, Israel.  In Genesis, Abraham migrates from Ur to Canaan, and lives as an alien.  In Joseph’s time, the Israelites migrate to Egypt during a famine.  In Exodus, God saves the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and in Joshua, he takes them back to Canaan and enables them to conquer it.


In the Old Testament law, God often reminds his people to be kind and fair to immigrants because they were once immigrants themselves:


“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”  Exodus 22:21 (NRSV)


“You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”  Exodus 23:9 (NRSV)



The book of Exodus says that Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites because he saw this group of immigrants as a security threat (Exod. 1:8-10).


In the New Testament, Jesus becomes a refugee right off the bat, as the holy family flees Judea for Egypt (see Matt. 2:13-15).  The apostle Peter reminds Christ followers who get cozy in this world that they should see themselves as aliens and to live in reverent fear (1 Peter 1:17). 


Despite this background, we American Christ followers have a varied record on immigration.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Protestant preachers railed against Catholic immigration.  Everything you hear people say today about Muslims, people said about Catholics in those days.  Maybe worse!  Many Protestants thought the pope was the antichrist of Revelation!


 On the other hand, Christ followers in America have been instrumental in bringing immigrants here, and helping them settle when they came.  We want to accept the “right kind” of immigrants but bar the “wrong kind” of immigrants.  Yet we often disagree on which is which!



The immigration issue today is complex and difficult.  Nonetheless, when we think about immigration, we need to bring the witnesses of the scriptures and church history to bear.  At the minimum, we need to make sure that all people in our country receive fair and just people, regardless of where they’re from.

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