Ancient Israel was open to migrants

In my last column, I said the Bible’s attitude toward the “alien” or immigrant is univocal. We are to love him as ourselves, and treat him as a brother.

In this piece, I plan to point out the public policy toward foreigners that is set forth in God’s law/word.

Next time, I hope to answer common Christian objections to implementing that policy in our day. (Feel free to email me before then with your best arguments.)

First, there was no legislative body in ancient Israel under Moses. No one was making up rules and policies to add to the law given by God. The law they were to follow was the one that was given. Even their future kings were strictly warned (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) about departing from what was written, either to the right or the left.

The law of God, like the U.S. Constitution millennia later, is a “limited powers document,” which means the government created therein only has the powers that are explicitly spelled out.

Neither of the above documents grants any government the right to limit immigration. There was zero border control in ancient Israel, even though the countries on all sides were prone to desiring Israel’s destruction.

There was no legal means (for example) to prevent the Moabites from covertly sending agents of chaos into the midst of God’s people.

Likewise, the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) only grants to Congress the authority to regulate naturalization, not immigration. These facts may irritate some folks, but they are historical facts nonetheless.

If we state the policy toward migrants in God’s law in modern, legal parlance, the practice in Israel was “open borders with limited political franchise.” There was no hindrance to the movement of travelers. People were free to come and go as they pleased. But, they were not allowed to participate fully in the life of the nation, being excluded from some vital functions. To be full citizens, they had to become Israelites, through a process of conversion.

This remarkable, open policy is best displayed in Deuteronomy 23:15-16: “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.”

Even the runaway slave, coming as a refugee, was welcomed, to decide for himself where he’d like to live inside Israel.

The U.S. immigration policy until 1925 was a reflection of Israel’s. We grew into a super-power during that time, when “coming here legally” meant simply placing your feet on the land. The seventh of the “injuries and usurpations” of King George III listed in the Declaration of Independence was about the tyrant’s hindrance of migration and naturalization in America. The colonies actively wanted foreigners to join them.

In summary, the famous phrases cast on the Statue of Liberty are a fair re-statement of a biblical policy toward migrants.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:

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