Immigration
Introduction
to enter and usually become established especially: to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence
to stay as a temporary resident
Key Terms
A temporary guest or sojourner was usually someone who wanted to take up temporary residence or had moved from one tribe or people to another, and then attempted to obtain certain privileges or rights belonging to the natives
appar. of a more temporary and dependent (Lv 22:10; 25:6) kind than the גֵּר (with which it is often joined)
This term occurs thirteen times in the OT, always in conjunction with another term: with “hireling” (Ex. 12:45; Lev. 22:10; 25:6, 40); with gēr (Gen. 23:4; Lev. 25:23, 35, 45, 47; Nu. 35:15; 1 Ch. 29:15; Ps. 39:12 [MT 13]). Since the expression never appears alone, its precise significance is not clear. Its root, Heb. yšb, suggests some type of resident alien, but the distinction between the gēr and the tôšāḇ is perhaps minor; the terms were readily interchanged.
temporary resident, sojourner, stranger, i.e., an alien living in an area that is not one’s normal country, as a class of people with less social rights (Ge 23:4; Ex 12:45; Lev 25:6, 23, 35, 40, 45, 47; Nu 35:15; 1Ki 17:1; 1Ch 29:15; Ps 39:13[EB 12]+), note: for NIV text in 1Ki 17:1
guest, i.e., one associated as a temporary resident with a family, but still of the same ethnic class (Lev 22:10)
This term occurs thirteen times in the OT, always in conjunction with another term: with “hireling” (Ex. 12:45; Lev. 22:10; 25:6, 40); with gēr (Gen. 23:4; Lev. 25:23, 35, 45, 47; Nu. 35:15; 1 Ch. 29:15; Ps. 39:12 [MT 13]). Since the expression never appears alone, its precise significance is not clear. Its root, Heb. yšb, suggests some type of resident alien, but the distinction between the gēr and the tôšāḇ is perhaps minor; the terms were readily interchanged.
The definition of an “outsider” (v.10) is interesting. He was a temporary visitor or workman. The slave was considered family. The principle is that an outsider should not eat of the holy things (vv.12–13). A married daughter with a nonpriest husband was no longer in the priest’s family. A widow or divorced daughter with children might bring a stranger’s children into the family. This was not allowed. But a priest’s daughter without children would revert to her childhood status.
A holy thing: that is, the offerings given to God by the people of Israel.
Because a priest’s holiness was shared by the members of his family, they too could participate in the food reserved for the use of the priests. This privilege, however, was denied to those who were not priests (RSV ‘outsider’; NEB ‘stranger’), or who were the priest’s visitors or hired servants. A non-Israelite slave who was part of a priest’s family was permitted to eat consecrated food, being a regular member of the household.
a worker under contract to work for a wage, usually of lower social/economic status
alien, stranger, foreigner, i.e., one who is of a different geographical or cultural group, often with less rights than the reference group (Ge 15:13),
cause trouble and hardship to another by controlling and confining, as an extension of a pressing motion
noḵrî
The noḵrî presented a serious threat to Hebrew life and worship (Zeph. 1:8; Mal. 2:11), and in general the Mosaic legislation was much less sympathetic to him than to the gēr. No noḵrî was permitted to eat the Passover (Ex. 12:43); none of his animals was suitable for sacrifices (Lev. 22:25); debts owed to him by an Israelite were not remitted in the Sabbatical Year (Dt. 15:3); interest could be collected from those who had borrowed money from an Israelite (23:20 [MT 21]); animals which had died a natural death could be sold to him for consumption (14:21). Isa. 2:6 scolds the Israelites for intercourse with “foreigners.” Jeremiah bemoans the fact that whereas Israel was planted V 4, p 563 a choice vine (šōrēq) of pure seed (zeraʿʾĕmeṯ), they have degenerated into a wild vine (haggep̱en noḵrîyâ) (Jer. 2:21).
In its most limited application a zār was an outsider to the household (Job 19:13–19). Similarly the levirate law of marriage forbade a childless widow from marrying a “strange man” (ʾîš zār), if the deceased husband had an unmarried brother (Dt. 25:5). In 1 K. 3:18 the two harlots assured Solomon that there were no witnesses to the tragedy described; no zār was in the house.
Zār is used also of laymen, especially individuals who do not belong to the priestly or Levitical families (Ex. 29:33; 30:33; Lev. 22:10ff.; Nu. 1:51; 3:10, 38; 16:40 [MT 17:5]; 18:4, 7). The same distinction is applied to foreigners. In Isa. 61:5 foreigners are contrasted with the nation of Israel, presented as priests of Yahweh, while Joel 3:17 (MT 4:17) warns that Jerusalem is not to be defiled by zārîm. The term is also used of illegitimate sacrificial fire (Ex. 30:9; Lev. 10:1; Nu. 3:4; 26:61).
As outsiders, zārîm tended to be viewed with suspicion. Frequently they are portrayed as creditors who seize one’s possessions (Ps. 109:11; Prov. 6:1; 11:15; 14:10; 20:16), or as outsiders who enter the estate and consume all of the produce (Prov. 5:10). In Ps. 54:3 (MT 5) the psalmist expresses a particular paranoia toward the vengeful stranger, but Prov. 27:2 commends praise from a zār.
Key Questions
Foreigners or sojourners had certain rights but also certain limitations while in Israel.
