Strangers In Egypt

Thus says Exodus 22:21 in The King James translation:


The commandment against mistreatment of the strangers is often connected to a ban on abuse of widows and fatherless children, exemplifying the most vulnerable groups in a paleo-conservative society.

The threats connected to the systemic mistreatment of these groups varies from "the sword" against men, producing even more fatherless and widows, to being left without means of protection when accidents and misfortune occurs.

Prophetic judgement or socio-political mechanism?
I will not go too deeply into whether or not there is some sort of natural connection between racism and civil upheaval, violent conflict or foreign aggression, even if it is likely:

The heartless attitude towards individuals can be perceived as a manifestation of general anti-social tendencies in a society, and at least this type of callousness is likely to spill over into society and undermine its morale.

Particularly when comes to the oppression of strangers, it may have geopolitical consequences, from economic stagnation - as trade routes are naturally diverted to countries where foreigners can expect better treatment - to military reprisals, for instance if racism accidentally targets a high ranking official of foreign origin, as it would be probable in an environment of racist intolerance.

What is more interesting is that Judaism is one of the few religious codes so adamant on curbing mistreatment of immigrants. Not even Christianity has adopted these principles at any point in its history. Islamic cultures, in spite of their legendary hospitality and courtesy towards strangers, are not very accomodating when it comes to other religious beliefs.

You may argue that Jews are not very good at keeping the commandment to treat foreigners with decency and respect, but even in the case of Palestinians - arguably "strangers" in Israel - the mechanism of built in retribution seems to be in effect, even if the prophets may have seen the seed of conflict as a product of divine judgment rather than socio-political mechanisms.

Christians should know the mindset of the stranger
The most interesting thing about the commandment not to abuse or mistreat the stranger is the way it is emphasized that Jews were strangers in Egypt and, in one case, how they know what the stranger feels like, for the very same reason.

In the New Testament Jesus encourages his followers to love their neighbour, stressing by the parable of the Good Samaritan that the neighbour is not necessarily the one who lives closest by or even a countryman. He even commands people to love their enemies, which may be geopolitical suicide if taken literally, but an interesting philosophical suggestion: Have we ever investigated what can be accomplished by way of "proactive kindness"?

St. Paul, always the radical interpreter, at one point states:


When I find these ideals so interesting, it is because few people have murdered others more enthusiastically than Christians, in word and deed, and even their fellow believers over things as trivial as theological disputes. The strangers in Europe, most notably the Jews themselves, were subjected to disciminatory laws, forced conversion and inquisition, from the rise of the Byzantine Empire to the German Third Reich, culminating with Holocaust.

The problem for Christians is that they were never strangers in Egypt and, as such, they do not know what the stranger feels like. They were strangers in ancient Rome, ruthlessly persecuted under several emperors - most notably Nero - but like the Jews forgot their heritage in times of wealth and prosperity, so did the Christians upon achieving the role as the dominant cultural force of Europe. Now, as for modern Christians in the more or less secular West, they still do not know the mind of the stranger - only the entitlement and disappointment of a group once in control of every aspect of society.

This is, essentially, a paradox, because the Bible - the New Testament, in fact - urges them to be "like strangers in this world", meaning they should have their loyalty and their identity in Heaven, as spiritual beings who do not belong and do not readily submit to the twisted social mechanisms that governs this earthly existence. In brief: Christians should know what the stranger feels like, because they are still supposed to be strangers in what is often referred to as a "spiritual Egypt".

I've often asserted that in this sense - and in many others - there are no believers. Everybody is first and foremost attached to the physical reality, and for all the talk of "saving" people by creating converts the efforts to secure numerical growth of churches appear to be either political schemes or a response to survival mechanisms common to any organization or culture.

The fearful experience of immigrants
Perhaps you can only know what it means to be a stranger, if you are in fact a stranger. Perhaps you must be dislocated by accident or willfully dislocate yourself in order to comprehend what any alien knows by heart: The hatred of an indigenous population in which you are forced to live certainly feels like a death threat. Not only do you fear murder from the most radical ethnocentrists in the group, but you fear expulsion and a state of isolation in which you have no buffers in case of accident or poverty or disease.

Further down the road, in a cultural environment characterized by ethnocentrism, nationalism and racism, you fear what all Jews all over the world fears: The day they will round you up on collective charges, more or less concocted, in order to uproot and exile you - or even murder you in back alleys or concentration camps.

Many an Old Testament commandment may not make much sense to a modern individual living in a secular society governed by rational thinking. The commandment not to exhaust or oppress the stranger makes sense for more reasons than mere idealism, and in spite of any scepticism about religion in politics it is a principle that should be taken serious also by atheists. We have recently witnessed how heavy-handed national politics of Europe can seriously disrupt diplomatic relations and the security of citizens of all colors and creeds.

Regardless of the impetus to defend freedom of speech, to safeguard secular values and to curb the influence of religious fundamentalism of the Islamic kind, the right and plight of the immigrant and descendants of immigrants must remain a high priority for any conscientious nation. If not for the sake of ethics, at least for the sake of security - and if none of those concerns matter, to safeguard everybody else from the inevitable aggression against other minorities, as the mob runs out of foreign blood to spill.

The commandment not to abuse and mistreat the stranger is, perhaps, the most important contribution to a new world culture to be found in the ancient Semitic tradition. It is a rudimentary description of a social law, an intuitive identification of a crucial political principle.

This is why it is the topic of my first "secular sermon".

26-01-2009