It seems like we are living in the Charles Dicken’s novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”
How is a Christian to understand the controversial social issues surrounding racism? Does the Bible give any guidance on how a Christian should think about such matters? I believe it does. The Bible is a book of wisdom for life and offers guidance for every situation and concern; guiding believers through the most entangled current social dilemmas.
Just as Dicken described Paris before the French Revolution, there appear to be high levels of fear, distrust, disagreement, and at times out-of-control expressed anger in our communities. Western culture is divided about many things—many fundamental and important things. Racism is resurfacing in media reports as people with different upbringings, socio-economic statuses, and educational backgrounds, as well as differing skin pigmentations, look at each other with distrust and scorn. Racism remains among us.
What is a foreigner?
If we search the pages of Scripture, a Christian perspective on race relations can be found. Although the word racism isn’t found in the Bible, the word alien or foreigner is. The Hebrew term alien is “Gare.” It often refers to a sojourner or guest (“Guwr”). It’s the closest biblical term we have that refers to an individual as a minority. A “Gare” was commonly a new-comer or stranger to the community as was the case with Lot (Gen 19:9). The alien was someone who had no inherited rights including land ownership, employment, access to welfare, food, government representation, police protection, the justice system, mercy, or safety. Aliens were the ultimate powerless people within ancient society. With no legal rights, they lacked hope that the future would be better than the present. They, as well as their families, were often taken advantage of because they looked, acted, and believed differently from the main culture.
The Jewish Levitical Laws addressed the treatment of aliens that chose to live among the Jews. They were not new laws but elaborations on a previously emphasized Mosaic commandment. The aliens among the Hebrews were not to be mistreated or oppressed (Ex 20: 21; 23:9). To the contrary, they were to be treated as a native-born Hebrew and loved “as yourself” (Lev 19:33-34). The background for the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” comes from the biblical laws on how to treat a foreigner (Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19). The reason for such care and respect for an alien who lived among them was because the Hebrews themselves had experienced living as aliens in Egypt. They knew how hard it was to survive as a foreigner in a hostile land. And, they knew that in that condition God expressed his love toward them, which was their sustaining hope in life. During that time, God treated them with loving kindness as his own children and loved them as part of his family. While the Hebrews lived in Egypt, they were a minority poorly treated by the majority. And yet, God loved them and treated them with dignity. Being thought of as an alien in ancient cultures has many parallels to being identified as a minority group today.
Abraham and Moses were aliens
To get a handle on the complex social issue of racism, let’s first look at the Old Testament patriarchs Abraham and Moses.
Abraham was called by God to leave his home country and sojourn to a foreign land. God’s calling on his life caused him to become an alien. He was well educated, capable of supporting his own family from his own resources, yet he found himself in a land where he had severely restricted rights (Gen 23). For instance, he had no place to bury his wife Sarah when she died. He had no right to own land so he was forced to purchase land from the Hittites. They took advantage of both his wealth and vulnerability as an alien. They knew he had civil rights, so they sold him the land he needed at a grossly inflated price.
Nevertheless, God worked this out to Abraham’s advantage. Unfortunately, it took the death of his beloved wife for Abraham to become a landowner in a foreign country. This initial land purchase was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise that Abraham, whose family was a minority group in Canaan, would one day possess this land and become the majority. His descendants would become the majority population and no longer be treated as aliens in a foreign land. This was a mammoth promise from God, for Abraham had yet to produce even a single heir. God always works for the good for those who are called according to his purposes (Rom. 8:28). He is powerful enough to even use unjust and unfortunate circumstances to secure his people’s welfare.
Moses was an alien too (Ex. 2:22). When Zipporah gave him his first son, she named him Gershom from the Hebrew word “Gare” meaning alien or stranger. Gershom’s name translates into “the alien.” Moses was a stranger in a strange land where he, like Abraham, had no civil rights. He felt this so strongly that his firstborn was named “Alien.” During this time God protected Moses, his wife, and newborn son, as well as the whole ethnic group known as the Hebrews. They were slaves with virtually no rights, yet their population multiplied as God blessed them.
Hatred or Kindness?
Here we begin to see what God thinks of minorities and how he wants us to treat aliens. The Egyptians treated the Hebrews with contempt. They hated shepherds and most of the Hebrews were shepherds. But God was kind, merciful, and sympathetic towards the minority Hebrews. His response to the Hebrews is a model for how we as his followers are to treat minorities among us. We are to love them just as we love ourselves.
Cover photo from: African Chess Pieces
https://www.stockfreeimages.com/2531485/African-chess-army.html
