Strangers in the Land: Ger 27

Deuteronomy 14:21, 28-29

“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the ger who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a nokriy; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the ger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

What Does It Say?

Chapter 14 is divided into two main topics. The first half mainly deals with what animals in what conditions are clean to eat. The second half deals with tithing.

I have some things to say about the content of these verses, but first there are some linguistic issues to deal with.

For some reason, the NKJV chooses to translate ger as "alien" in verse 19, despite using "stranger" in almost ever other instance. I don't see any particular reason, especially since it's contrasted with "foreigner" (nokriy). If anything, it makes ger seem equivilent to nokriy since "foreigner" is a synonym with "alien" (unless space people are involved). This is doubly confusing because ger is translated as "stranger" later in the same chapter (verse 29). This is then triply confusing since the KJV (which the NKJV is based on) uses "stranger."

This weird translation does however help us draw a line between ger and nokriy. Nokriy is generally used to describe people and things that are not just foreign, but alien. For example, Solomon's wives are nokriy in 1 Kings 11, and they lead him to the worship of alien gods. The alien women taken as wives in Ezra 10 are also described as nokriy, and Ezra 9 informs us that these alien women were also leading the Israelites to false worship, "doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites."

In fact, nokriy is almost associated with terrible things - aliens who will take the land from the Israelites, wicked people with strange customs, armies of foreigners come to spread fire and destruction. There are only a handful of neutral to positive uses:

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a nokriy?” 

And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” 

-Ruth 2:8-12

Here Ruth is clearly humbling herself by using nokriy. While her former category was indeed nokriv, she has overcome that by choosing the worship of the true God and her mother-in-law's people. Boaz recognizes that she is now worthy of blessing and acceptance.

“Moreover, concerning a nokriy, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the nokriy calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.

-1 Kings 8:41-43

Again, this is someone who starts out as a nokriy, but humbles themselves to come to the temple for the sake of God's name. This is a positive nokriy, who has overcome his wicked customs.

There are a few other positive or neutral usages, but we'll come to them in due time. For now, let's say that a nokriy is in general a particularly loathsome pagan who we must separate ourselves from, but under certain circumstances (such as Ruth's circumstances), they may be redeemed and accepted.

Going back to Numbers 14, note that the unclean meat is given to the ger and sold to the nokriy. This ties in with the tithing regulations. The ger has a right to be in the land and should be cared for. Even if they aren't keeping kosher (in eating unclean meat), they are still given food from the tithes.

The nokriy, on the other hand, have to pay for their food. As far as I can tell, they also don't qualify for any of the legal protections offered to ger. The only legal rights they have (that I have seen so far) are:

1). They can buy unclean meat.
2). They can take out loans at interest (Deu 23:20)
3). They can come to the temple to worship the Lord.

A former nokriy such as Ruth also would have some rights due to her conversion to worship the Lord and her status as a widow of an Israelite man.

I think the different categories are starting to make sense to me. You've got ger, which are protected foreigners living long term, towshab which are short term visitors who don't get the same privileges, and nokriy who are "undesirables" that we don't want in our country.

Ger - Desirable foreigners willing to abide by our laws, deserving of reasonable assistance when in hardship. Allowed to convert, but not obligated to. Cannot hold office over the native people.
Towshab - Temporary guests such as tourists, temporary workers, merchants, and so on. Have some legal protections, but are not deserving of assistance in hardship (not obliged to help them). I haven't seen anything that says they're not allow to convert, but they're not obligated to.
Nokriy - Undesirable foreigners with particularly detestable customs. Marrying them is a sin (assuming they are still nokriv). Are free game in some cases (ie, you can charge them interest). Having these people inherit your land is a curse. You don't want them on your land and you don't want your neighbors marrying them. You can engage in economic contracts with them. However, if one of them seeks the Lord and His worship, they may overcome their previous status.

Next: Deuteronomy 16