Strangers in a Hostile Land

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. – Leviticus 19:34

It is a core tenant in most belief systems, whether Jewish or Christian or Secular Humanist, that it is the responsibility of the community to care for the weakest, the most vulnerable members of their society. We came up with laws and moral codes to protect the children, the elderly, the travelers, the sick, the widowed; the people that most rely on the kindness and compassion of strangers. They are often adrift, left without means of support or preyed upon by cruel and vicious predators. Scam artists, thieves and conmen steal from men and women living on fixed incomes. Children must practice active shooter drills in their own schools, places that we used to consider safe havens. And the sojourner, the traveler, the refugee, is finding that our most ancient laws about hospitality and compassion have been all but forgotten.

When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. – Leviticus 19:33

There has always been a sacred relationship between the traveler and the native, the guest and the host. Repeatedly throughout the Bible, God commands that His Chosen People should treat the sojourner amongst them as they would any member of their own Tribe. In myths all over the world, whether in Greece or in India, whether in the nomadic peoples of Scandinavia or the rooted people of Rome, the Guest is to be treated with compassion, with respect, with kindness. To treat a Guest to your home, or your Nation, in bad faith, with rudeness, with disrespect, was to invite the disfavor of the Gods. The very Cosmos would strike down the offending Host. Often, the Gods themselves would take on the form of a beggar or descending angels would wear the guise of travelers from far away lands and they would render judgment on their hosts.

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:19

To be the sojourner, to be the traveler, is to be alone. The traveler is cut off from their home, their language, their customs and must make their way in a land they do not understand. They must be on guard on all sides, for they know that they have no friends, no family where they are. They are alone. It is an act of compassion, of kindness, to reach out to the traveler, to say to them, “You will find a home here. You will find family here.” Every person now alive has known what it is to be like a stranger in a new land, or has come from strangers in a new land, or has been made a stranger in their own land. At some point in your history, maybe at multiple points in your history, you have been the sojourner, the one who has been cut off from all you’ve known and who has had to make their way alone.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” – Zechariah 7:9-10

It is cruelty that makes you harden your heart against the traveler, the refugee, the sojourner. Whether your decisions come from fear, indifference or anger, it is always cruelty to hurt someone and it is an especially evil cruelty to hurt someone in need, who is alone, who needs help. There is no justification in harming a visitor. There is no justice in jailing a sojourner. There is no Grace, no Compassion, no God, in the actions of a Nation that refuses to aid the weakest within its borders. If God has turned His face from you, it is only because you have turned your face from Him first. You turn your face from God every time a refugee disappears into a camp for processing. You turn your face from God every time an immigrant is beaten and killed while a traveler in your land. You turn your face from God when you choose Fear and Cruelty over Compassion and Righteousness.