Numbers 15:13-16. The Bible Speaks About The Immigration Question. Here Is One Place.
The Bible Speaks About The Immigration Question. Here Is One Place.
Numbers 15:13-16 Kevin E. Jesmer 6-24-16
There is mention about foreigners who lived among the Israelites in the time of Moses. Look at verses Numbers 15:13-16, “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 14 For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’”
God was well aware that there were foreigners among the people and do you know what? He was alright with that. They were allowed to be among the people of God. But they had to make the same sacrifices as the Israelites were making. One sacrifice was to be made for all, worship God in God’s way–not according to their own customs or desires. The laws and regulations applied to the foreigner and the native Israelite alike. The laws were not just secular laws, but even spiritual laws that involved worship. The Israelites and the foreigner would be same before the Lord. This is what was required if they want to dwell among the Israelites.
The God of the Bible had a purpose for this. He wanted to establish the nation of Israel as a Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation. They were to reveal the glory of God, God’s redemptive ways. They were to bring forth the prophets, the Word of God, and the Messiah Jesus. They were to point the whole world to God himself. The demand that all of the foreign-born must follow the laws of the land, including the spiritual laws about sacrifice, were to keep idol worship from the hearts of the Israelites and keep them on the track to fulfilling God’s holy purpose for them.
This ignites some thoughts about the immigration issues today. Many foreign-born people are very happy to hear that God accepted the foreign-born among his nation in the Bible (1400 BC). Many were willing to abide by the laws of the land, but not the spiritual laws of Israelites. But those who submitted were welcome to live among the Israelites and enter the Promised Land together with them. But the fact that the Bible states that the foreigner had to submit to some of the spiritual laws of the Israelites, would not go over too well with many.
This brings up some thoughts about immigration today. It would be very hard to accept the principle brought forth in this passage, for it seems unreasonable to us, to make people summit to religious laws already established in this land. We do agree with subjection to secular laws. But in a sense we are making people be subject to spiritual laws, indirectly. Many of the laws of the land have their foundations established on Judea-Christian principles. And so, by making immigrants abide by the laws of the land, we are making them abide by some Judeo-Christian principles, whether we intend to or not. They need to submit to laws built on Judea-Christian principles that sometimes go directly against immigrants’ religious beliefs. This is something we can not avoid.
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