Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Love the stranger because Israel themselves were strangers in Egypt. The command rests on who God is, for He is great and mighty and shows no partiality, and He Himself loves the stranger by defending the fatherless and widow and giving food and clothing. To love the stranger is to imitate Him, loving the outsider as oneself with mercy and compassion beyond national boundaries. That love is practical pity and help for the suffering neighbor, as in welcoming strangers at feasts of thanksgiving, leaving harvest in the field for the poor and the stranger, and sharing spiritual blessings with those who choose to dwell with God's people. It is to be lived out in wholehearted obedience to God's commandments, crowding life with good works and tender, fair treatment of others instead of unbelief, selfishness, and oppression.
Setting and Wording
The command stands in the rehearsal Moses gave to Israel before entering the land of Canaan, within the special instruction of Deuteronomy 8, 10, and 11 that carries direct meaning for the present time. It is part of what the Lord requires for good and of His expressed will, to fear Him, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and soul by keeping His commandments and statutes. That keeping allows no adding and no taking away, and those statutes and judgments show wisdom and understanding and lead to life and to perfection of Christian character.
It belongs together with circumcising the heart and being no more stiff-necked, with cleaving to Him and praising Him for multiplying Israel from seventy persons who went down into Egypt to as many as the stars of heaven. It was to be framed into song and sung in the congregations of Israel so they would not forget it. It is also to be taught as education to students, including lessons for physical well-being.
The command to love the stranger is grounded in the stated reason that Israel were strangers in the land of Egypt. That same word speaks now as directly as it spoke to backsliding Israel. The reflection of God's own care is the ground of the duty, for He shows no partiality and provides the stranger with food and clothing.
God's Character and Demand
The command to love the stranger rests on who God is and what He does, for He is God of gods and Lord of lords, great, mighty and terrible, who has done great and terrible things seen by His people. He regards not persons and shows no partiality, and He takes no bribe or reward. He executes judgment for the fatherless and the widow, defending them, and He Himself loves the stranger by giving him food and clothing and raiment. His care for the vulnerable is therefore the ground and measure of what is required.
He judges all by incorruptible principles that cannot be bought or sold. His care is merciful, and it stands as a model for Israel to copy, calling for tenderhearted and fair treatment rather than domination or oppression. That mercy reflects Christ's saving concern, for Christ died to save the stranger just as truly as He died to save Israel. To love the stranger is thus to imitate God in that same love. This keeping of His will is done through humility and meekness and wholehearted obedience and devotion, with prosperity hid with Him in Christ.
The stranger is to be loved as oneself. Mercy, love and compassion are to be shown not only toward brethren but toward the stranger within the gates, even the stranger who chose to dwell with them, treating him tenderly and helping him when in need. That love reaches beyond national boundaries and forbids looking down on him because he is not of Israel and outside Israel.
Practical Care for Strangers
Love for the stranger means practical pity and help for a stranger, a neighbor, a brother in suffering who is wounded and dying, with even more compassion than would be shown to a beast of burden. The wounded traveler's uncertain identity should not have kept the priest and Levite from helping him, for the command reaches beyond national boundaries and calls the stranger to be loved as oneself. Though priests and scribes read this law, they did not bring it into practical life.
In Israel this care included welcoming strangers at thanksgiving feasts when recounting God's mercies, and leaving a portion in the field at harvest for the stranger and the poor. Strangers were to share in spiritual blessings, and those who chose the society of those who knew and acknowledged God were to be received so they would learn Jehovah's law and glorify Him by obedience. Israel was still to stand distinct and holy and separate from the nations that knew not God, yet not look down on the stranger for being outside Israel. This kindness reflects saving concern for the stranger as truly as for Israel, for Christ died to save the stranger just as truly as to save Israel.
The verse is to be borne in mind, grouped with the most important things, published in a little book, circulated everywhere, and acted upon, especially by Seventh-day Adventists. It requires God's children today in spiritual and in temporal things to impart blessings to the world. Keeping it refuses to go more and more after worldly ambitious display and refuses to be converted by the world and the nominal churches to their ideas. Keeping it means crowding life with all possible good works, being cheerful, pitiful, courteous, free to love the brethren and help everyone possible, thereby pleasing God and the heavenly universe and leaving a fragrant influence behind. It includes taking a personal interest in a young person alone in a foreign country with sympathy and practical care rather than abandoning him, and treating even the stranger who chose to dwell with them tenderly and helping him when in need.
His workers are to be tender-hearted in God's merciful ways, giving tenderhearted, fair treatment rather than domination or oppression. They are not to grasp advantages from others while claiming to serve His cause. The command is to be practiced, in contrast to unbelief, murmuring, perversity, and rebellion which must never be practiced. Practicing it belongs to knowing God's Word, obeying the Ten Commandments as the expression of God's character and revelation of His will, seeking the grace of Christ to stand on vantage ground, giving God the heart's best service in His vineyard to receive His grace and love, and closing the heart to Satan's lures by standing firm on eternal truth. It belongs to walking in the light as children of light having the righteousness of Christ, pure, holy, and undefiled, at peace with God and free from condemnation, putting far away all injustice, fraud, and selfishness, honoring God by obedience, with His promise of every temporal and spiritual advantage and honor among all nations.
Love the stranger because Israel themselves were strangers in Egypt. The command rests on who God is, for He is great and mighty and shows no partiality, and He Himself loves the stranger by defending the fatherless and widow and giving food and clothing. To love the stranger is to imitate Him, loving the outsider as oneself with mercy and compassion beyond national boundaries. That love is practical pity and help for the suffering neighbor, as in welcoming strangers at feasts of thanksgiving, leaving harvest in the field for the poor and the stranger, and sharing spiritual blessings with those who choose to dwell with God's people. It is to be lived out in wholehearted obedience to God's commandments, crowding life with good works and tender, fair treatment of others instead of unbelief, selfishness, and oppression.
Setting and Wording
The command stands in the rehearsal Moses gave to Israel before entering the land of Canaan, within the special instruction of Deuteronomy 8, 10, and 11 that carries direct meaning for the present time. It is part of what the Lord requires for good and of His expressed will, to fear Him, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and soul by keeping His commandments and statutes. That keeping allows no adding and no taking away, and those statutes and judgments show wisdom and understanding and lead to life and to perfection of Christian character.
It belongs together with circumcising the heart and being no more stiff-necked, with cleaving to Him and praising Him for multiplying Israel from seventy persons who went down into Egypt to as many as the stars of heaven. It was to be framed into song and sung in the congregations of Israel so they would not forget it. It is also to be taught as education to students, including lessons for physical well-being.
The command to love the stranger is grounded in the stated reason that Israel were strangers in the land of Egypt. That same word speaks now as directly as it spoke to backsliding Israel. The reflection of God's own care is the ground of the duty, for He shows no partiality and provides the stranger with food and clothing.
God's Character and Demand
The command to love the stranger rests on who God is and what He does, for He is God of gods and Lord of lords, great, mighty and terrible, who has done great and terrible things seen by His people. He regards not persons and shows no partiality, and He takes no bribe or reward. He executes judgment for the fatherless and the widow, defending them, and He Himself loves the stranger by giving him food and clothing and raiment. His care for the vulnerable is therefore the ground and measure of what is required.
He judges all by incorruptible principles that cannot be bought or sold. His care is merciful, and it stands as a model for Israel to copy, calling for tenderhearted and fair treatment rather than domination or oppression. That mercy reflects Christ's saving concern, for Christ died to save the stranger just as truly as He died to save Israel. To love the stranger is thus to imitate God in that same love. This keeping of His will is done through humility and meekness and wholehearted obedience and devotion, with prosperity hid with Him in Christ.
The stranger is to be loved as oneself. Mercy, love and compassion are to be shown not only toward brethren but toward the stranger within the gates, even the stranger who chose to dwell with them, treating him tenderly and helping him when in need. That love reaches beyond national boundaries and forbids looking down on him because he is not of Israel and outside Israel.
Practical Care for Strangers
Love for the stranger means practical pity and help for a stranger, a neighbor, a brother in suffering who is wounded and dying, with even more compassion than would be shown to a beast of burden. The wounded traveler's uncertain identity should not have kept the priest and Levite from helping him, for the command reaches beyond national boundaries and calls the stranger to be loved as oneself. Though priests and scribes read this law, they did not bring it into practical life.
In Israel this care included welcoming strangers at thanksgiving feasts when recounting God's mercies, and leaving a portion in the field at harvest for the stranger and the poor. Strangers were to share in spiritual blessings, and those who chose the society of those who knew and acknowledged God were to be received so they would learn Jehovah's law and glorify Him by obedience. Israel was still to stand distinct and holy and separate from the nations that knew not God, yet not look down on the stranger for being outside Israel. This kindness reflects saving concern for the stranger as truly as for Israel, for Christ died to save the stranger just as truly as to save Israel.
The verse is to be borne in mind, grouped with the most important things, published in a little book, circulated everywhere, and acted upon, especially by Seventh-day Adventists. It requires God's children today in spiritual and in temporal things to impart blessings to the world. Keeping it refuses to go more and more after worldly ambitious display and refuses to be converted by the world and the nominal churches to their ideas. Keeping it means crowding life with all possible good works, being cheerful, pitiful, courteous, free to love the brethren and help everyone possible, thereby pleasing God and the heavenly universe and leaving a fragrant influence behind. It includes taking a personal interest in a young person alone in a foreign country with sympathy and practical care rather than abandoning him, and treating even the stranger who chose to dwell with them tenderly and helping him when in need.
His workers are to be tender-hearted in God's merciful ways, giving tenderhearted, fair treatment rather than domination or oppression. They are not to grasp advantages from others while claiming to serve His cause. The command is to be practiced, in contrast to unbelief, murmuring, perversity, and rebellion which must never be practiced. Practicing it belongs to knowing God's Word, obeying the Ten Commandments as the expression of God's character and revelation of His will, seeking the grace of Christ to stand on vantage ground, giving God the heart's best service in His vineyard to receive His grace and love, and closing the heart to Satan's lures by standing firm on eternal truth. It belongs to walking in the light as children of light having the righteousness of Christ, pure, holy, and undefiled, at peace with God and free from condemnation, putting far away all injustice, fraud, and selfishness, honoring God by obedience, with His promise of every temporal and spiritual advantage and honor among all nations.