Truly it is a beautiful story when we look at how God has orchestrated His law to reflect His own holy, unchanging character. When we study the law of God, we are not merely looking at civic codes for an ancient people. We are looking at a system of justice that points directly to the character of our Redeemer. The law is made immortal not because of its beauty, but because it is an integral part of the greatest story that’s ever been told, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And as we’ve been looking at this detailed section of the law, we must consider how God’s justice applies to those who are vulnerable among us. Today, we are looking at God’s commands regarding the stranger, the sojourner, the immigrant who dwells in the land. This is a profound test of covenant faithfulness. How a people treat the stranger reveals what they truly believe about the God who owns the land.
The Divine Ownership of the Land
First, to understand the foundation of this command, we must recognize who actually owns the earth. In God’s order, in God’s way, we do not have absolute sovereignty over the ground we walk upon. We are tenants. God makes this abundantly clear in Leviticus 25:23 (NKJV), where He declares, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
What do we mean by this? Well, men boast of their property and their borders from various causes. Do they not? Pride, inheritance, military conquest, national identity. But God reminds Israel, and He reminds us, that the land belongs entirely to Him. We are all sojourners residing here by His grace. If we understand that we are merely guests in God’s domain, it fundamentally changes how we view another guest who crosses our path. We cannot hoard what was given to us by grace, and we cannot mistreat those who are seeking refuge in the land that God ultimately controls.
The Justice Due the Stranger
Because God owns the land, He alone sets the rules for how the inhabitants must treat one another. He issues a clear, unambiguous command in Leviticus 19:33 (NKJV): “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.” This is not a suggestion. This is a binding obligation of covenant faithfulness. God placed this law squarely in the middle of His demands for national holiness.
Furthermore, God attaches a severe warning to those who would pervert this justice. Deuteronomy 27:19 (NKJV) says, “Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.” To pervert justice means to use the legal system, or economic leverage, or social power to oppress someone simply because they lack native protections. When a nation begins to oppress the stranger, they are not just committing a civic crime. They are violating the Sixth and Eighth Commandments. They are stealing the stranger’s dignity and destroying their livelihood. They are inviting the curse of God upon their society.
The Indictment of the Prophets
When we read the history of Israel, we see a tragic cycle of apostasy and rebellion against God’s law. And one of the primary markers of their national rebellion was their abuse of the stranger. God sent His prophets to indict the nation for this very sin. Ezekiel 22:7 (NKJV) lays out the charges against Jerusalem: “In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow.”
Notice how the oppression of the stranger is linked directly to the breakdown of the family and the dishonoring of parents. It is a symptom of a society that has entirely lost its reverence for God’s order. Zechariah 7:10 (NKJV) echoes this same divine standard: “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.”
When men abuse authority, they will give an account. Malachi 3:5 (NKJV) warns that God Himself will intervene: “And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—because they do not fear Me, says the Lord of hosts.” The mistreatment of the stranger is rooted in a lack of the fear of God. If their authority came from man, we would expect human corruption. But God placed those laws there, and when leaders and citizens ignore them, they face the Judge of the earth.
The Condition of Blessing and the Gospel Picture
God’s patience with a rebellious nation is long, but His justice is certain. Yet, He always offers a path of repentance. In Jeremiah 7:5-7 (NKJV), God lays out the condition for remaining in the land: “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.”
If you don’t mistreat the sojourner, God lets you keep the land. It is a tangible demonstration of obedience. But we must look deeper, because the law is meant to drive us to Christ. A type is something that was divinely intended to be a picture of Christ, and the Old Testament provision for the stranger is a picture of our own salvation.
Ephesians 2 reminds us that we were once aliens and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. We were the ultimate spiritual strangers. We had no right to dwell in God’s presence. But through the blood of Jesus Christ, we who were once far off have been brought near. This is the center of the gospel message. Christ took in the stranger. He justified the alien. He gave us an eternal inheritance in a land we did not deserve.
Therefore, we must love the stranger among us. We advocate for biblical justice as unto the Lord. Not as unto men, but as unto the God who has given them life. We show mercy to the sojourner because our King showed infinite mercy to us when we were wandering, rebellious strangers in need of a Savior. As Christians, we need to make sure that we are not guilty of supporting injustice to the stranger that is in our midst.
