No Danger for the Stranger

Exodus 22:21-28 NASB

"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.   "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.   "You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Exodus 23:3, 6, 9 NASB

nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.   "You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. "You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:10-11 NASB

"You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

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Banner says, "PKK is not a terrorist organisation"

Immigration is a hot issue. Some people prize their national identity pretty highly. There's no shame in seeing the benefits of your nationality; in the Bible it is recorded that the apostle Paul used his Roman citizenship to protect himself at least a couple of times. But God is concerned for the vulnerable, and along with orphans and widows, he instructed his people not to wrong or oppress the stranger.

A few Bible translators translate the word 'stranger' as 'foreigner',
as in Exodus 22:21 NCV (New Century Version):

“Do not cheat or hurt a foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt."

Here in verse 21 it is clear that God was talking about people not considered local. Interestingly, God's people the Israelites had been living in Egypt for nearly 450 years. You'd have thought that would make your family local enough. It doesn't. The people in power get to decide who is local and who is a stranger in God's own land. Today there are people groups all over the world who have spent as much as a millenia living, working, building and contributing in one location and are still not considered local.

God does not want his people to perpetuate that mindset. In fact, it seems God is more concerned about fair treatment of the foreigner that the abolition of slavery.

What is your opinion of the immigrant? Jesus was an immigrant of sorts here on earth. And if you make it to heaven you'll be one in God's kingdom.

Makes the golden rule hit home.

Fruitful in the Land of my Affliction

GEN 41:51-52 ESV

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house."  The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

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Joseph has had it hard. He was singled out by his father as the most loved of 12 boys. That's gotta hurt! The whole robe thing is embarrassing. He's sent by his Father to effectively be a nark and check up on his brothers. That's not going to make you popular. Then God gives Joseph these dreams that no one wants to hear, not even his father. He's tossed in a deep hole and then sold to his cousins as a slave and in turn sold in Egypt. Joseph does well though until a sex crazed woman lies about him. And He's tossed into another pit, jail. And again he does well and even gets a big break with the cupbearer to Pharaoh, only to be forgotten for another two years. So when Joseph is 30 he has a huge life change and comes into fame and fortune! And he is railroaded into marrying the daughter of a false religion's leader.

But Joseph makes the best of the situation and gets busy! Now he has two sons. Joseph's son's names are significant. In fact when the twelve tribes of Israel are named throughout all history you will not hear Joseph himself named. Instead you hear of Joseph's sons! Have you ever thought about the fact that built into the twelve tribes of Israel are two half Egyptian grandson's to the high priest of an Egyptian god? 

Sometimes we need another perspective. And nothing can quite give us a new vantage point like a newborn baby. All that a newborn encapsulates fills us with hope. They are needy, vulnerable, and full of possibility and still they are resilient and demanding.

Joseph sees a new future when God blesses him with sons. And the blessing erases the past and provides for the future.

Now I'd like to encourage each one of you to have sons! But I mean spiritual sons! You are not too old, too single, too afflicted to ask God to make your faith fruitful. What your church needs are new believers. What your family needs is someone who has newly come to trust Jesus. We need in the church today the hope that comes with people being born again. Wherever you are, whatever your state in life, I'm asking you to pray that God makes you fruitful! I'm asking that you hope for newborns in the kingdom of God. And I pray as they come you give them names, may be new names. In addition to brother or sister call them Hope! Name them Ephraim! 

As time goes on and God speaks of his people, he uses different tribes to refer to the whole or called them all Israel after Jacob's name change. When heartbroken over his people God's term of endearment in the book of Hosea is Ephraim. So an Egyptian boy whose grandfather was a very important religious leader for an Egyptian god and his other grandfather was a man who actually wrestled with the one true God of promise. Ephraim, the son of Joseph is a sign of fruitfulness that comes from affliction.