The Stranger in Your Midst
וגר לא־תונה ולא תלחצנו כי־גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים
You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
– Exodus 22:21
This parashah addresses something that has become today more of a matter of personal choice but that in the days of ancient Israel would have been considered as paramount to a Torah-observant life. I am talking about hospitality. As HaShem delivers his people from slavery, he wants them to never forget their former state. Why? The end of the story, the end of the game, is that every knee shall bow to him and that every tongue shall confess and praise him. Not Israel only, but the whole of humanity. As the smallest of all nations, as the weakest of all peoples, HaShem chose Israel to show the rest of the world that if he could use such a small nation—and I would add, such a stubborn and stiff-necked people—he could use us too.
Adonai didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because Adonai loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Adonai has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7–8)
The intense love affair between HaShem and Israel is beautifully depicted in Ezekiel 16 where, in a poetic way and under HaShem’s inspiration, the prophet describes the Exodus from Egypt—the time when HaShem looked at Israel, soiled and dirty, and took her in his bosom. “Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord Adonai, “and you became mine. Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sealskin sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck. I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Adonai. (Ezekiel 16:8–14)
He adopted us not because we were deserving but solely because he loved us. HaShem wants us to never forget these early, humble beginnings. He wants us to reflect often on these times. It is only by remembering these early beginnings that we can have the mercy it takes to have compassion on the stranger within our midst and remember, “You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him” (Exodus 22:21). We are only able to show hope to others as we remember our own early beginnings. We can show them mercy only as we remember our sinful ways. We can show care and compassion only as we contemplate our former oppression. When we forget where we come from, when we forget our former state, when we forget our sinful condition, we only show disdain, arrogance, and indifference. As he has been with us, we are mandated to be with others from the nations. Israel is mandated to show the nations, and the stranger in its midst, the same care, love, and hospitality that HaShem showed to her. We received his blessings for free, so freely we should share them with the world. Israel left Egypt with a great multitude from the nations (Exodus 12:38). So as Israel became a nation, it immediately had to deal with the issue of non-Israelites in its midst, an issue that HaShem addressed right away, because he knows the sectarian separatist heart of man. HaShem made sure that, in its status of “chosen people,” Israel did not develop a spirit of elitism. This commandment seems to peer into the future at a time when the nations will flock to the house of Yaakov to hear the Word of the Lord. Not counting that for two thousand years now, two-thirds of the world has learned about the God of Avraham, in some form or another, as they live by a seven-day week and have a judicial and moral code based on the Ten Commandments. Now, many are flocking around his Jewish children in some form or other in order to learn from them the Torah. As Jews, we are mandated by the command of Exodus 22:21 to receive these people from the nations with the same grace that HaShem received us. We should never look down on them or have a distant, aloof attitude toward them. We must freely extend to them the same hand of fellowship that HaShem freely extended to us. Through the inspiration of HaShem, Isaiah said:
Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Adonai speak, saying, “Adonai will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For Adonai says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai to serve him, and to love Adonai’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord Adonai, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are gathered.” (Isaiah 56:3–8)
The Talmud tells stories of how Avraham used to invite people to his tent to eat and hear about his God. Later, we hear about Rachab and Ruth as examples of those foreigners accepted in the fellowship of Israel. They are even mentioned in the genealogy of the Messiah (Matthew 1:5). Those whom HaShem accepts, who are we to reject? Later, King David built a tabernacle that Amos prophesied would be the rally point for Israel and the nations. When faced with the decisions concerning Gentiles turning to HaShem, James was reminded of the Amos prophecy concerning the broken tabernacle of David. James broke the silence to reply.
After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations to take out of them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written, ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up that the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.’ All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.” (Acts 15:13–18)
From Avraham to John the Revelator, all the prophets have seen and foreseen the day when the nations will join themselves to Israel. Regardless of practical and theological issues, it is the grand plan, a plan that Yeshua came to initiate. Just before he ascended to the Father, Yeshua told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem. Ten days later, on Shavuot, a miracle happened that Peter interpreted as initiating the time when the Spirit of God will no longer be allowed only upon the Jewish people but also on those from the nations who turn to him (see Acts 2).
May we accept and receive others even as he accepted us!
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