I’m tired of people trying to accuse Christians of being un-Christian because they want to maintain our borders.  Then they quote verses like Leviticus 19:3

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

But like everything the world does they are wrong.  The whole point here is the word ‘sojourns’.  This is a person traveling through your land.  It doesn’t say make them a citizen, it is implied in many scriptures that you should make them a Jew, but it’s not about erasing borders or a one world utopia.  The whole point of God’s plan was to set Israel apart to bless the world.  That’s why he put them in the middle of it, on a small land bridge between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Desert which connects Europe, Asia and Africa. There were major trade routes going through this land and God is saying not to take advantage of these people

It is a common theme in literature, especially Dickens, and Hugo, of the shady inn keeper taking advantage of travelers.  I think Sacha Baron Cohen’s portrayal of Thenardier in Les Misérables  is the perfect example.  As we have seen Cohen is more than a little shady and the movie does a great job of portraying Hugo and Dickens’ view of the inn keeper. He takes advantage of everyone, giving them dubious food, over charging them and downright theft.  People on the road are at risk, they are vulnerable, so don’t take advantage of them.  As God points out you Jews were once sojourners so you should know how it feels.

The idea is even present in Greek Mythology.  The myth of Philemon and Baucis, tells the story of a few greek Gods coming down to Tyana to seek lodging.  The community rejected them except for Philemon and Baucis.  So the gods destroyed the town for lack of hospitality.  Which sounds strangely like stories from the Old Testament like the destruction of Sodom.  Some people think the strange story of Lot offering his daughters was about hospitality.  Lot was trying to protect the two angels who were posing as sojourners, when he offered his daughters

If you do some thinking about the Old Testament, and try to see what God is doing, it is far more beautiful and far more complicated than just throwing out verses.

There are a lot of verses limiting what foreigners can do in and among the people of God, gentiles were unclean.  And as far as land went Numbers 36:7 says “The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. “   Land could not even leave a tribe much less a nation.   And every 49 years on Jubilee the land returned to the original clan.  Leviticus 25:10 “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. “

Also a few verses about moving your neighbors’ property markers. Deuteronomy 19:14: “Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.” Deuteronomy 27:17: “Cursed is the man who removes his neighbor’s boundary stone”  As far as I can tell, the liberals want to move our property markers, while maintaining their gated communities, keeping out both illegals and Conservatives.

Another issue with verses like this is the presence of these verses.  I think about this a lot with reference to the New Testament. There is a big difference between people hearing the words of Jesus then and the words of Jesus now.  When Jesus spoke his words were new, well for a lot of people.  It was a new way of hearing the Old Testament.  It was a new way of viewing the Pharisees and a new way of living.  But after 2000 years, the evils of the human heart have been working and twisting those words, and in many ways there are a lot of people back to where the Pharisees were.  They have turned the Bible into a system of works they can achieve while missing the entire point.  So even with the Old Testament verses, there is a difference between caring for the traveler in your land and the traveler in your land who knows those verses and the commands of your God and uses those against you.  This is where we are at. Abusing our immigration policy is public policy for many countries in South and Central America.  They know our rules and our compassion and they take advantage of it.  Giving into this system is not compassion it is enabling and destructive to all parties involved.  And then of course when you leave the Word of God and say, start killing millions of babies in the womb, those visitors in your land generally carry swords and want to take the place over.

And trying to have a moral people by enforcing one verse out of thousands is just crazy.  The verses our country needs most are generally found in Leviticus 18 not 19.