[Sections dealing directly with ger in bold]
“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes one’s living in pledge.
“If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you.
“Take heed in an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!
“When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the ger who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
“You shall not pervert justice due the ger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the ger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the ger, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the ger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.
What Does It Say?
This section of Deuteronomy 24 is a list of laws of human decency. For example, don't take a millstone as security for a pledge (ie, 'I promise I'll pay you back, and I'll give you my millstone as collateral'). If you take one millstone, you render the mill useless, since it can no longer crush grain. Obviously there's nothing sacred about millstones, but there is something sacred about a man's ability to work and feed himself. If you take away one millstone, you take away his ability to eat.
The ger laws fall into this category as well. God repeats the charge not to deprive the ger (or fatherless or widow) of their justice as well as the reasoning that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. This section takes it a bit further - it is not just the Israelite's experience as slaves that should motivate them to treat others better, but the fact that God redeemed them.
There's a good argument that this prefigures the teachings of Jesus on forgiveness. God commands Israel to uphold justice for those that are weak, because God redeemed Israel when they were weak. Jesus commands us to forgive others, just as we were forgiven by Him (and indeed were redeemed by His death).
The law on gleaning follows a similar logic, but it also includes a blessing. The Israelites are commanded to leave some food in their fields for the ger (and fatherless, and widows) because of their experience as slaves, but also "that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."
We have discussed this principle again and again and again, but there's a danger of thinking these things apply only to the Israelites. If the Israelites are supposed to uphold justice for the weak and give from their abundance that the poor may not starve because God redeemed them from Egypt, how much more must we do these things because God redeemed us from Sin and Death? This is of course reading into the text, but we as Christians should believe that all of the Old Testament is supposed to point us to Christ.
So far, the Old Testament hasn't given us anything like "Thou shalt not have more than 5% of thy total population be foreign born." While we've seen prohibitions on what type of ger can live in the land and what they can/can't do, the strongest emphasis of the Old Testament so far is that we must treat the ger well (in the sense of not oppressing and helping with food).
1). There will be ger - the Bible treats it as a given that there will be some number of foreigners in the land.
2). The law is the law - foreigners are expected to abide by the same law, with the exception of a few ritual observances they may choose to opt out of.
3). Kindness and support of ger is not optional - Property owners are expected to make it possible for ger (and other marginal members of society) to not starve to death. Oppressing/taking advantage of ger (and so on) is super not okay with God.
Really, the only debate we should be having is over how many ger to let in. That's something the Bible hasn't covered so far, but I think we can use our wisdom to say that if it threatens the continued survival of the native population, it's too much.
Next: Deuteronomy 26
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