As the Eagle Catches Her Young on Her Wings (Deuteronomy 32:10-14)

Good day! Indeed, it is a good day today. After all, Psalm 118:24 declares, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad it in.” Today is an especially good day, for it is Sunday! Ah yes, Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, the day of the week Christian set apart as holy, the day of the week Christians set apart to worship the Lord and to rest. And what a better way to rest than to watch football! I’m not sure if this is a boast or a confession, but in my colleges, I could easily watch right after church, from noon to midnight. As much criticism as football players and coaches have received for working on the Sabbath, think about how many more people rest on Sabbath because they can be found sitting in the stands or on their coach, watching. It’s almost like Jesus had people like me in mind when he resurrected on Sunday, knowing the future Christians would make Sunday their Sabbath, and knowing the NFL would schedule most of its games on a Sunday.

Where I grew up, our mailing address was technically Perkiomenville, but we more like Frederick. If you’re familiar with left half of Montgomery County, my home was halfway between the Boyertown/Gilbertsville area and the Harleysville/Souderton/Telford area. If you’re not familiar with that area, I grew up about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia. With that being said, if you knew someone who liked a sport, that person most likely rooted for the Philadelphia team in that sport. If a person liked hockey, that person rooted for the Flyers. If a person liked baseball, that person rooted for the Phillies. If a person liked basketball, that person rooted for the Sixers. If a person liked football, they rooted for the Eagles. I fell into that statistic. I liked watching football, and therefore, I rooted for the Eagles.

Another person who fell into that statistic was my Bible quizzing coach. My favorite thing about my Bible quizzing coach was that we could talk about the Bible, which made me both a better quizzer and a better Christian. My second favorite thing about my Bible quizzing coach was that when we weren’t talking about the Bible, we were talking about sports because we liked the same sports. My coach, living in Pottstown (Pottstown is probably the next biggest town to Frederick/Perkiomenville), also rooted for the Eagles. We could spend hours talking about the Eagles. I remember one time my coach turned to me and said, “You know, the Philadelphia Eagles are the most Biblical team name.” I chuckled. My quiz coach was one of those who would joke around and kid around with the guys, so I thought he was just joking or kidding. His face, however, showed he was dead serious. I stopped laughing. “OK, I’ll bite,” I said, “Please tell me how the Philadelphia Eagles have the most Biblical name.” “That’s easy,” my quiz coach replied, “The word Philadelphia appears in the Bible, and the word eagle appears in the Bible. Therefore, the Philadelphia Eagles have the most Biblical team name in sports.” To this day, I’m still not sure how much he was being serious, and how much he was kidding.

Indeed, the word Philadelphia appears in the Bible. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you know the location of the word. The church in Philadelphia is one of the churches John addresses in the book. Might I also add the church in Philadelphia stands alone as the only church that John compliments and does not discipline. Go Philadelphia! (Not sure he would say the same about the church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…) Indeed, the word eagle appears in the Bible, 29 times to be exact. Of those 29 times, 26 of them come from the Old Testament. Yes, only 3 times does the New Testament use the word eagle. Interesting enough, all 3 appearances happen in the book of Revelation. This is a helpful reminder that most of the times we see the word eagle in the Bible, it’s the prophets using the eagle as prophetic metaphor. The most famous instance comes from Isaiah 40:31, where Isaiah writes, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As famous as that verse is, I don’t find that verse the most interesting. I find the use of eagles most interesting in Deuteronomy 32:11. Today, we’ll observe how Deuteronomy 32:11 uses the eagle as a metaphor, and we’ll observe it in its context of Deuteronomy 32:10-14.

In Deuteronomy 32:10, Moses sings, “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness.” Where exactly the “desert land” and “howling waste of the wilderness” is has caused a lot of conversation among scholars. Most scholars (Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, David Brown, Richard Brathcher and Howard Hatton to name some) think in the immediate context and think that the desert refers to the Sinai Desert, where God established the Mosaic Covenant with the Israelites through Moses. Indeed, the Sinai desert has a lot of howling, from howling animals to howling winds. This, too, would work because, at the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant, God promised that he would provide, sustain and take care of his people, the heart of this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage. While a majority of scholars believe Deuteronomy 32:10 refers to the Sinai Desert, a minority of scholars dissent.  Some scholars like, Jack Deere, believe that the desert land referred to in Deuteronomy 32:10 is Egypt. For the Israelites in their slavery, Egypt was a howling waste in the wilderness. It was nowhere near the Promised Land, the land flowing of milk and honey. In Egypt, the Pharaoh, who thought of himself as a god, killed the firstborn of the Israelites. On the contrary, Yahweh, the true God, cared for the Israelites. Eugene Merrill does not believe the desert refers to any even in the Israelites’ present, but rather, it refers to their past. The Lord found the patriarchs in Genesis wandering in desert as nomads. Since then, God has focused on working his redemptive history around these people, which involves protected them and providing for them.  Still other scholars, like Carl Keil and Franz Delitzsch, thinks the first half of verse 10 should be taken metaphorically, symbolizing that the Lord found the Israelites under unfortunate circumstance, and he took them out and placed them into a place of blessing. Still, the emphasis is on a caring God.

Either way, whenever or wherever Yahweh found the Israelites, he reacted to the Israelites’ helplessness with gestures of love and caring. This picture of the Lord encircling the Israelites most likely means God put a protective shielding barrier around the Israelites, but it also has undertones of love, like Yahweh encircled Israel with his arms in a loving embrace. The last words in the Hebrew text reads “The little man in the pupil.” This saying probably came from the fact when a person looks into another person’s pupil, that person sees a miniature reflection. The English phrase “the apple of his eye” will suffice here. This end of the verse explains why the Lord took care of the Israelites: the Israelites are the apple of his eye. The Hebrew word refers to the center of the eye, or the pupil. Just as the pupil is the center of the eye, so God’s people are the center focus for providing tender care.

Deuteronomy 32:11 switches to a new metaphor to explain how much Yahweh loves his people. Verse 11 compares God’s care for his to people to how an eagle cares for its young. Eagles place their nests in high elevations, like mountains, plateaus, cliffs or just very tall trees. When the time comes for the eaglet to learn to fly, the mother eagle has many ways that she teaches the little eaglets. First, she demonstrates how to fly. A mother eagles will fly around her nest, even sometimes hovering over the nest, displaying what flight looks like. Yes, despite having quite the opposite size of a hummingbird, just like the hummingbird, the eagle can flap its wings so fast that it can virtually hover in one place. The eaglets, look at their mother ahead, will begin to realize these wings attached to their back have a purpose. They might begin flapping their wings. In fact, on the opposite end of that, eaglets separated from their mother early in life never become airborne because they don’t know how to use their wings. Second, if the eagle chicks have not yet left the nest, the mother will quite literally push the eaglet out of the nest with a nudge, and the eaglet will begin plummet from the cliff. At this point, instinct kicks in and the eaglet takes flight and begins soaring. If not, the mother eagle will not let her chick fall to its death. Rather, the mother eagle does a nose dive, so she ends up below the eaglet. She catches the eaglet on her wingspan, and she brings the eaglet back into the nest. The mother eagle understands the eaglet is not ready. Third, if the eaglets have yet to fly away from the nest, as verse 11 reads, the mother eagle will agitate the nest. She begins to take it apart piece by piece. The goal here is that the little eaglet will think they can no longer reside in the nest safely or comfortably, so it abandons the nest for a new home. Why does the mother eagle go through all this? The mother eagle’s only concern is that the eaglets learn to fly and take care of themselves. She will go to any lengths to teach her eaglet this life lesson, even if it means pushing the eaglet out of its comfort zone, even destroying the comfort zone to get it to move on in life.

The metaphor works perfectly for the Israelites. Although the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites as slaves in Egypt, it would not surprise me to find out some of them got comfortable in their slavery. In fact, Exodus 16:3 (NIV) reads, “The Israelites said to [Moses and Aaron], ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.’” Yes, shortly once out of Egypt and in the Sinai Desert, some of the Israelites already complained that life got worse leaving Egypt, and they wished they could returning to Egypt! Deuteronomy 32:11 reminds the Israelites that Yahweh, like the mother eagle, had a better plan of a more fulfilling life for his children, which including the Israelites living freely in the Promised Land. This life of fulfillment would take training and discipline. The Lord used the Israelites’ time in the Sinai desert to train them and discipline them. It may not have been what the Israelites wanted, but the Lord knew the Israelites needed it. Just like the eagle, God would catch the Israelites when needed, but only when needed. When the Israelites could not learn their lesson, Yahweh provided for them, protected them and took care of them when the Israelites lived the Sinai desert, just like he did in Egypt. Also remember with this illustration that the rough desert exposes the eaglet as weak and helpless. It would never survive in the desert alone. It needs to learn survival from its mother, and when it can’t learn, it needs its mother to survive. In the same way, the Israelites needed to learn from Lord, yet at the same time they needed to totally depend on God for all things.

In Deuteronomy 32:12, Yahweh makes it clear that no foreign god came to the aid of the Israelites. God alone tended to the Israelites’ needs. Therefore, the Israelites in exchange should only serve and trust in the Lord for help. The Israelites had struggled to stay faith to Yahweh. The previous generation of Israelites forgot this when the built the golden calf. Yahweh warns the next generation to not make the same mistake. The Lord faithfully protected and provided for the Israelites; therefore, the Israelites shall faithfully worship God alone.

When the Israelites obediently trusted in the Lord, they did reap the benefits. Deuteronomy 32:13 describes those benefits. Since God, in the words of Deuteronomy 33:26, “who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty,” the Israelites would reach to the tallest mountains, in both the desert and the Promised Land. Elevation would not stop the Israelites form conquering the land. In Old Testament times, whoever conquered the high lands would rule over the lands below it. Because of the omnipotent hand of Yahweh, who is higher than any human, the Israelites would conquer those high lands, and on conquering the high lands, the Israelites would rule over the land below it. Since the Israelites would have access to the highlands all the land below it, they would also have access to all its produce and other provisions of the land. Moses carefully chooses the verb “suckle” in verse 13. As uncomfortable as this metaphor might sound, this paints a mental picture of a mother breastfeeding her child. Just as a mother shows her love and provision in one act, God’s love and provision is one in the same. You might have noticed the phrase “honey out of the rock” in verse 13. Wild honey bees in Israel can make their nest almost anywhere, even in the crevice of the rocks. Olive trees, which grew abundantly in Israel, can grow in the harshest areas, even in rocky soil, even on rocky ledges. Furthermore, the phrase “oil out of the flinty rock” paints a picture that Israelites will harvest so much olive oil, it will almost appear as if the rocks used on the oil press seeped olive oil! Together, the phrases “honey out of the rock” and “oil from the flint rock” symbolizes that even the most barren areas would become rich and produce.

The list of rich and flavorful foods in Deuteronomy 32:14 illustrate the bountifulness of the Transjordan land, the land the Israelites dwelled just before entering the Promised Land. Even at this point, when the Israelites are in a healthy land and about to enter a bountiful land, Yahweh never said to the Israelites, “You should be good from here on out. You’re on your own.” No, in  Deuteronomy 32:14, the Lord assures the Israelites that he has continued and will continue to provide the Israelites access to any provision they need. In fact, grammar nerds will find it interesting that Moses wrote the whole Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage in the present progressive, meaning God’s provision is a present action ongoing into the future. By the end of this stanza, Moses communicates a clear message to the Israelites. From Egypt, to the Sinai Desert, to the Transjordan, to the Promised Land, the Lord protected and provided for the Israelites, out of his enormous love for them.

Let’s re-visit that metaphor and symbolism back in Deuteronomy 32:11. Earlier, I used explained the metaphor and its symbolizing in its then-and-there tense, referring to the Israelites. Now, I want to explain the metaphor and its symbolism in a here-and-now tense. Now I will use a more inclusive, all-encompassing term. Instead of using the term “the Israelites,” I’m going to switch to the broader, all-encompassing term “God’s people.” Listen to the metaphors and symbolism in Deuteronomy 32:10-14, now with the term “God’s people” instead of “the Israelites.”

God found his people in an unfortunate situation. God had bigger and better plans for his people. Therefore, God took his people out of that unfortunate situation. Out of pure love, God protected and provided for his people when God’s people could neither protect themselves nor provide for themselves. During that time, God took the time to train, disciple and discipline his people. God instructed his people how to live. Then God gave his people the opportunity to try to live it out themselves. If God’s people stumbled and fell, God would rescue his people and pull them back to safety, and he would continue to protect them and provide for them. Sometime God’s people would get too comfortable in their current position, and then God would push them to an uncomfortable state to encourage them to pursue bigger and better blessings, like God intended. God alone protected and provided for God’s people, with no other help. Never at any point did God abandon the people of God at a “good enough” spot, for the Lord wanted to continue the good work in them until it had come to completion.

The reason I use this inclusive, all-encompassing terminology is because the truths that we learn about God in Deuteronomy 32:10-14 (in regards to his protection, his provisions and his love) can be applied to all of God’s people, both those there-and-then and here-and-now, including the 2^nd generation of Israelites out of Egypt, and including you. I see 4 lessons we can learn from this passage. First, if you ever find yourself in an unfortunate place or an unfortunate time in your life, do not think that means God likes you there or God wants you there. Sometimes God allows unfortunate circumstances into his people’s lives, but God’s allowing does not mean God’s approving! On the contrary, when the Lord finds us in the unfortunate place, the Lord, out of love, desires to protect us from those unfortunate circumstances because the Lord, out of his love, has bigger and better plans of blessing for us. Second, God loves us! We all know that God loves us, but do we really know what that entails? God’s love for us means so much more than God has warm, fuzzy feelings about us. The Lord desires to manifest his love for us outwardly. He does so by protecting us and providing for us. Those protection and provision may not be what we had in mind, but they are what God had in mind, and they are better for us, better than we can ever comprehend. Third, this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 passage also teaches us that, in order to reach bigger and better blessings, sometimes we need to receiving training, discipling and discipling. We may not always like it or enjoy it, but if we want to move on to the bigger and better blessings, God needs to bring us through the trials. Finally, this Deuteronomy 32:10-14 should assure you that the Lord will not abandon you when you reach a “good enough” spot or a “close enough” spot. To borrow from Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…” Until you reach that time of blessing of life, and even when you do arrive there, God will be there for you, protecting you, providing for you, and pouring out his tender love for you.

So then, how shall we, as God’s people respond to these truths about God we learned from Deuteronomy 32:10-14? Remember, Moses speaks to the second generation of Israelites out of Egypt in Deuteronomy 32:10-14. Moses did speak a similar message to the first generation of Israelites out of Egypt. In Exodus 19:4,5, the Lord, via Moses, tells the Israelites, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.” Although not as poetic as Deuteronomy 32:10-14, Exodus 19:4,5 reminds us that another outward manifestation of God’s love is the covenant he made with his people. When two parties enter into a covenant, both parties have stipulations, or conditions, they must meet. If they meet those conditions, they reap blessings, but if they do not meet the conditions, curses fall upon them. See, God desires to bless his people with protection and provisions, but he expects obedience to his word and commands in return. The first generation of Israelites out of Egypt failed to adhere to the covenant. In fact, if you read the rest of Deuteronomy 32, Moses goes into great detail to remind the second generation of Israelites how the previous generation failed to obey the covenant, to warn the second generation of Israelites to follow the covenant.

Consider this your warning, too. The term “warning” sounds pessimistic, so let’s re-word it to more optimistic terms. The pessimistic will think, “I have to obey, or else I will get cursed,” but the optimistic thinks, “Since the Lord has held up his covenant by protecting me and provided for me, I can’t think of a better way to show my thanks and love toward him by holding up my end of the covenant by obeying his commands.” You’ll find out a circular process will happen. The more the Lord blesses you, the more you’ll desire to obey the Lord’s commands. The more you obey God’s commands, the more God will bless you. There’s no need to “name it, claim it,” there’s no need to actively pursue it. If you hold up your end of the covenant, the Lord will hold up his end. Once again, it may not be what you want or expect, but God knows you better than you know you, so he will bless you better than you can expect.

So next time you see an eagle, whether that’s a bird, a symbol of the United States of America, or a football player from the pro Philadelphia football team, may it remind you that you have a God that loves you very much, and may thinking of his love make you respond with a heart of obedience to his Word.

Immigrant Story

Just a couple of weeks ago I finished my summer course Christian Leadership and Administration. One of the books I read for the class was written by a pastor who talked about the pastor as a church leader. Naturally, coming from a pastor, talking about pastors, the author threw in a chapter about preparing and preaching sermons. Since I just completed two classes on preaching over two semesters, I believed I had learned everything to know about preaching, so I skimmed over the chapter instead of reading it in depth. Through my skimming, I did notice one piece of advice he gave that I liked, I have adapted, and I will use right now. He said that any time a pastor preaches a sermon out of the ordinary, the pastor should give a disclaimer, just in case if any visitors were present, they would not get the wrong idea about the church or the pastor. So let me put my disclaimer in here. I do not preach politics from the pulpit. I do not like pastors that do preach politics from the pulpit. I do not attend churches that preach politics from the pulpit. I seek only to speak biblical, theological and spiritual truths from the Word of God. Due to current events in the world of politics, however, I can see this message coming across as a political statement. I want to make clear this in no way is a political statement. In fact, when the current event came out, I considered totally scrapping this sermon and starting anew. After thinking about it, I chose not to, however, because maybe the current event will make this sermon more relevant and more applicable.

If you are unaware of what current event I’m referring to, let me fill you in. One of the televisions at work is set to CNN. CNN has informed me that the 2016 Presidential race is well under way…even though it’s only 2015. On the Republican side, one of the first men to announce his candidacy is Donald Trump, a man famous for building skyscrapers and firing celebrities on his reality show. Trump decided to kick off his presidential bid by announcing his plan for immigration reform. In his speech, he said this about Mexican immigrants (and once again, I will add a disclaimer that many television networks say: the views of Mr. Trump do not reflect my views)-

“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems… It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

 

Naturally, comments like that will result in fall out. Upon hearing the comments, the U.S. territory Puerto Rico dropped out of the Donald Trump’s Miss Universe beauty pageant. Soon after, many Latin American countries followed suit. At the same time, since Donald Trump has announced his presidential run, his rating rises every day. Some polls even have ranked Donald Trump has the number one choice for Republicans in the presidential race. Some political analysts give Donald Trump’s comments credit for shooting him up in the political race. How does someone make such comments, and yet still remain so popular?

But as the preacher in Ecclesiastes said, there is nothing new under the sun. This current event reminded me of a personal experience I had in fall 2009, as I began my third year at Lancaster Bible College. The past summer I decided to change my major from Bible Ministry to Bible Education. While all my Bible credits transferred without any problem, because I had to start brand new in the education department, I found myself, a junior, sitting in many education classes with first-semester freshman. One such class was The Teaching Profession, the fancy name that LBC gave its Intro to Teaching class. A few weeks into the class, we came across the chapter in our textbook called “Race and Ethnicity in the Classroom.” While the textbook was a few years old, my professor did an excellent job keeping the statistics up to date. She reported that by the 2020s decade, even by the year 2020 itself, that the races and ethnic groups that have been defined as the “minorities” in the U.S. will become the majority, quantity-wise, in the classroom. It’s also possible that by 2020, 50% of students will speak English as a secondary language, and 10% will not even know English at all. My professor asked the classroom for any reaction; any thoughts or feels this news provoked. My reaction was surprise, not at what the teacher taught, but how my classmate reacted. Their reaction was shock, fear, anger, horror, terror. It was as if some great evil had fell upon this country and something needing to be done about it. Now, granted, these students were freshmen in their first semester of college. They had not received their Bible or theology courses yet. But from hearing their testimonies the opening week of class, I knew most of the students were your “typical church kids.” They have attended church since one week old, attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School since 3 years old, and both regularly attended and been actively involved in both Jr. High and Sr. High youth group. Not once did a pastor, youth pastor, youth group leader, Sunday School teacher or Bible School teacher present what the Bible said. For the Lord talks about it at least five times explicitly in the Bible. Luckily for them, the professor had me doing devotions next class. Since devotions had to do with what we were learning in class, I had the perfect opportunity to share what God had say about race, ethnicity and immigrants. Today, I would like to share them with you. Back then, I only got a few minutes, so all I could do was simple present a couple verses and tie them together. Now, I want to expand on these verse. From a literal, plain reading of the verses, it will be clear where God stands on this. But when we look back on the original context, the historical context and the cultural context, the meaning behind these verses become even stronger.

Let’s take our first look at the first appearance in Exodus 22:21. While you’re turning there, since I know many of you use different Bible translations, let me explain the one word that will appear different depending on your translation. The Hebrew manuscripts have the word ger. The New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV) and the Revised Standard Version (RSV) all choose to translate the word as “stranger.” This translation is a little out of date, and it makes sense, if you think about it logically. Later on, the verses call the Israelites ger in the land of Egypt. After residing in Egypt over 400 years, it’s hard to call any person a stranger. Heck, the Israelites might have even known the land better than the Egpytians knew it! So the Israelites are far from strangers. The 1984 edition of the New International Version (NIV, 1984 ed.) calls them aliens. But thanks to the rising popularity of science fiction, which you can thank the space race in the late 20^th century for that, the modern-day reader could confuse the Israelites for Martians or extraterrestrials. Talk about the confusing theology that would produce! So the 2011 edition changed the word from “aliens” to “foreigners,” which most other Bible translations also choose. I personally think this is arguing semantics. They could say the word “alien” makes people think that the Isarelites or Martians or extraterrestrials, but I could say that the word “foreigner” makes people think the Israelites were in a 70’s rock band. (And then when I read the Israelites were on a journey, I could think the Israelites were in an 80’s rock band.) The best translation is probably what the English Standard Version (ESV) chooses, the word “sojourner.” But you will hear me use stranger, sojourner, alien and foreigner all interchangeably. Just promise when you hear “alien,” you won’t think of Martians or extraterrestrials, and when I say “foreigner” you won’t think of any 70’s rock band (although, for your entertainment, I will later make a bunch of Foreigner references. See you if can catch them all.)

The Lord first mentions how to treat foreigners in Exodus. Actually, God mentions twice. In Exodus 22:21, the Lord commands, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” God commands it again in Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” You’ll notice many similarities in these verses. So why would the Lord repeat the command, so close to one another? The literary context, on its spot within the text, might explain. Since Exodus 22:21 is so close to the Ten Commandments, Exodus 22:21 might be seen as an expansion of the Ten Commandments. If the Ten Commandments can be summed up as, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then Exodus 22 explain in detail how to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might and how to love your neighbor as yourself. Then Exodus 22:21 reminds us that the sojourner is our neighbor, and we need to love the sojourner as our neighbor. In Exodus 23:1-9, God teaches Israel how to execute justice in the court systems. Exodus 23:9 teaches Israel that justice must extend to the foreigners living among them, even though they are not Israelites.

But take a close long at the big, glaring similarity, Every time the Lord says, “for you were sojourners in the land in the Egypt.” The Lord calls the Israelites back to remember their history.

Do you remember Israel’s history? I bet many of you do because you grew up in church. So for you, I will quickly fast forward with an abridged version of Israel’s history, only highlighting the important details that led up to God giving Israel this commandment. But if you haven’t, please do, for it’s a wonderful story of God blessing his people Israel as they struggle to comprehend God’s holiness for their lives. The story of how Israel got to God giving them commandments on Mount Sinai begins in the book of Genesis, with a man name Joseph. At the age of 17, Joseph starting having weird dreams that told him that his brothers would bow down to him. As you older siblings can imagine, these dreams did not go over well with Joseph’s brothers. They wanted to kill him, but Reuben, the firstborn, did not want that bloodshed on his hands, so they sell into slavery in Egypt. Long story short, Joseph lands in jail. There, he uses his experience with dreams to help interpret the dreams of those in jail with him. News of experience in dreams reaches Pharaoh, who is having some pretty crazy dreams himself. He brings Joseph to him and says to him, “I’ve been having some pretty weird dreams. I’ve seen 7 skinny cows eat 7 fat cows, and I’ve seen 7 sick heads of grain eat 7 healthy heads of grain. And it’s starting to freak me out, since cows don’t eat each other and heads of grain don’t eat each other. What does it mean?” Joseph explains to Pharaoh, “Oh, this is easy! 7 fat cows and 7 healthy heads of grain mean 7 years of plentiful harvest. 7 skinny cows and 7 sickly heads of grain mean 7 years of famine. When the skinny cows eat the fat cows, and the sickly heads of grain eat the healthy heads of grain, it means the famine years will be so bad, it will be like the plentiful years did not even happen! If I were you know, I would save and store up all your extra in the plentiful years so you will be alright during the famine years. Pharaoh replies, “You sound like you know what you’re doing, so I’ll put you second in change of all Egypt so you will have all the power to do what you need to do to save Egypt.” Sure enough, Joseph’s planning saves Egypt from starving to death. But from the story in Genesis, we learn that the famine affected all the Middle East, including Joseph’s family back in Canaan. Joseph’s brothers, hearing how Egypt is surviving, decide to go to Egypt to see if they can get any food. Once again abriding the story, Joseph eventually reveals to his brothers his identity, and he says to them, “No more of this going back and forth for food. You come live with me in Egypt, and I will take care of you.” While the book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and Joseph, it ends on a fairly happen. Jacob’s descendants are living in peace and happiness in Egypt, enjoying plentiful blessings.

Then comes the book of Exodus. In the first chapter of Exodus, verse 8, the tides begin to turn. Verses 8 to 10 read, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’” How could this new king not about the man who single-handedly, with God’s help, save a whole nation? It’s not that he does not have knowledge about what Joseph did, but he does not recognize Joseph for what he did, and here’s why. Now what I about to say does not appear in the Bible, per se, but Old Testament scholars have teamed up with historians who specialize in Ancient Egyptian history and archaeologists who specialize in ancient Egyptian archaeology. Together, they have matched up their timelines, and they believe what is happening here is not just a change in kings, but also a change in dynasty. They believe that previous king was half-Egyptian, half-semetic, or half of him was Middle Eastern. So when Joseph, another semite, asks for permission to move his family into Egypt, he has no problem letting another semite like him into the country, for he’s partially blood related. But then a new king, from a new dynasty comes into power. He’s pure-bred, 100% full Egyptian. After a tumultuous change of power between the two families in the Egyptian kingdom, the new king does not like semites, nor does he like any foreigner for that matter. So when calls together his people, the other pure-bred, 100% full Egyptians, I can imagine him saying to his people, “Look, this is a great nation. But do you know what’s ruining this country? Immigrants. Egypt is for Egyptians, not for any foreigner to steal from our success. We’re better than them, so let them work to give to us, instead of us working to give to them.” I think that’s why the new Pharaoh enslaves them instead of kicking them out. Pharaoh sees they are a blessed people, Pharaoh wants that blessing, but Pharaoh knows losing the people of Israel means losing the blessing. So he enslaves them. Even through their enslavement, Israel continues to receive blessing after blessing from God, making the people of Israel even greater, and making the new Pharaoh even more nervous. So he then proceeds to kill the baby boys.

But God hears the Israelites crying out in their oppression, and He has compassion on them. So God sends Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Pharaoh says no, so God sends 10 plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind. After the first 9 plagues, Pharaoh remained as cold as ice. Sometimes he was even hot blooded. But after the 10^th plague, on that blue morning,blue day, Pharaoh finally got the message at let the people go. But Pharaoh wasn’t happy about that. He became cold as ice yet again. So Pharaoh sent the whole Egyptian army to retrieve the Israelites and bring them back. The army was so big, when the Israelites saw them, they must have thought they had double vision! Moses thought fast and prayed, “Lord, this is urgent!” and God answered their prayers. If Israel wanted to know what love is, they found out what love is from God on that day, when God showed compassion on them yet again and rescued them from the Egyptians yet again. It must have felt like the first time, when the Lord first took them out of Egypt. (Did you catch them all? J)

So God brings them to Mount Sinai, and the first thing the Lord reminds them at Mount Sinai is what just happened. It is as if the Lord is saying to his people, “Remember what was it was like to be an alien in a foreign land? Remember how they worked you from sunrise to sunset, every day of the week? Remember how they work you harshly and brutally until you were sick and dying? Remember how you wished that someone showed you compassion, and if on the rare occasion someone did, how happy and relieved you were? I want you to remember those feelings. Then remember that’s the heart, too. You wish you were treated with love and compassion, so treat the foreigners among you with love and compassion.” The Israelites would need to practice their compassion to foreigners right away. Exodus 12 informs that not only did the Israelites leave, but also a mixed multitude of Egyptians and other foreigners. I can imagine the foreigners from other nations coming to Moses, saying, “We prayed to our gods to save us, and they never did. Your God came and saved you, so we want to follow your god, for he saves his people.” The Israelites would need to remember give the same rights and respect as any Israelite. The Israelites would need to especially practice this for the Egyptian among the multitude that went with them. Once again, I imagine Egyptians coming to Moses, saying to him, “We clearly saw our gods defeated by your god with the 10 plagues. Our gods are weak, but your God is strong. We want to worship him.” The Israelites might be tempted to seek revenge. They might want enslave the Egyptians, for the Egyptians enslaved them. They might want to kill their Egyptian baby boys, for the Egyptians killed the Israelite boys. The Lord ends the desire for revenge right here. The Egyptians living among them get treated with the same right and respect as any Israelites. They are to be treated with love and compassion, not revenge. If any Israelite wants to object to God’s command, God will keep calling them to remember their history.

On the same Mount Sinai, the Lord present to the Moses and the Israelites the laws found in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus, God commands Israel once again, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 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.” Once again, God reminds Israel of their history, strengthening the command through the historical context, but God also strengths through the literary context and the cultural context. The book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The word “holy” (or some form of it) is the most repeated word in book, probably due to God repeatedly commanding Israel, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” I’ve already given you your Hebrew word for the day, so I’m not going to give you another one, but the root of the Hebrew word is derived from the root meaning “set apart.” What makes God so holy, so righteous, so good is that he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods of the other nations. Therefore, it makes logical sense that if the Israelites are to be holy like God is holy, and if Yahweh is holy because he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods, then the worshippers of Yahweh must also think, speak and act differently than the worshippers of the other gods. One of those ways they can act differently than the other nations is to treat the alien within their land differently.

To fully appreciate how this commandment does that, you have to understand how most nations of the ancient Middle East treated its foreigners. An alien in a foreign land was given no rights, nor was a native given any obligation to treat an alien with respect. On the contrary, it was common for the sojourner to be exploited and extorted. If a sojourner dared to attempt to go to court over such injustice, rarely would a judge hear the case. If he did, the judge would most often favor the native over the foreigner. More often, the native would bring the foreigner to court, and the foreigner would fight a uphill battle, only to lose. If anyone showed any charity to a sojourner, it was out of the kindness of his or her heart. The Holy God, Yahweh, wanted his people, Israel, to be holy by living contrary to this culture. Notice how Leviticus 19:34 contains a form of that famous 2^ndgreatest command, “Love them as yourself.” The Israelites would have known that command and would have made the connection that the foreigner living in their land is still their neighbor. Therefore, God commands them to love the foreigner. In a world that exploited and extorted the foreigner, the Lord commands his people to love and to show compassion to the foreigner. In a world that showed favoritism to the native over the sojourner in the courts, the Lord wants Israel to reflect God’s justice by bring equality and fairness in the court. By doing so, Israel will love the foreigner like God loves the foreigner, and therefore, Israel will be holy like God is holy.

And might I quickly add a tidbit of application for the 21^stcentury American. If you are anything like me, you might start to get nervous when people start talking about holiness. You worry it might lead to legalism, and people will start judging other people for not following do’s and do not’s to the letter. But note here how God links up holiness and love. If Israel wants to pursue holiness, they have to learn to love everyone, including the sojourner. So the pursuit of holiness involves the pursuit of love. If in your pursuit of holiness, you are not loving, then you’re not pursuing holiness.

The Lord repeats the command again in Deuteronomy. If you know the original audience, then it becomes clear why God has to repeat the command. The name of the book, Deuteronomy, literally means “second law.” The Lord has to give the Law a second time because this is the second generation of Israelites after the Israelites who came out of Egypt. The new generation of Israelites might be tempted to say, “Lord, I understand why our parents had to be kind to the sojourner. I get that. But I was never a slave. Therefore, you can’t use that defense against me.” The Lord would disagree. The Lord once again says, “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there.” God even uses in the Hebrew the plural version of you. Our brothers and sister in Christ down south would read it “y’all shall remember that y’all were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed y’all from there.” It is a part of Israel’s history for all generations, so all generations must obey this command. But I want to look at Deuteronomy for another reason. The Lord expands on how to love the sojourner among them. Take a look at Deuteronomy 24:14-15,17-22-

“¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojournerswho are in your land within your towns. ¹⁵ You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. ¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ “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 sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
 

Notice how God keeps pairing the sojourner with the widows and the fatherless (orphans in the NIV). God puts them in the category of the poor and helpless. This is a helpful reminder for us Americans, who are the 1% wealthiest in the world. When we move from one country to another, it’s because we love the geography or the culture of the new nation over the old nation. That was rarely the case back then. Back then people moved from country to country because of some great disaster or tragedy back in their home country. It could be famine, war or political unrest. The disaster would destroy their homeland, leaving them nothing. They are left with no other choice than to start brand new in a country and a new homeland. And they didn’t have U-Haul back then. If they could afford a cart, they fill the cart to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. If they could only afford one horse, donkey or camel, they loaded its back to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. But if they could not afford either a cart or an animal, all they took with them is what they could load on their back. They had to start in their new land with little to nothing. They came to the new land poor and helpless. God wants his people to recognize this. Therefore, showing the sojourner love is to show the foreigner grace. The Israelites can show the sojourner by providing the foreigner the leftovers of his harvest.

Now when Pastor Rob Bell reads this passage, he imagines the Israelites saying, “That’s not fair! I planted the crops, I watered the crops, I took care of the crops, therefore, I should get the fullest of the harvest!” Therefore, Rob Bell concludes that grace is unfair (in a positive connotation). I’m not sure I would call it unfair. Maybe undeserving, but not unfair. Rather, I would say that grace returns the unfair to the fair. God questions the Israelite who thinks this is unfair, “Do you think it’s fair that the widow lost her husband and now has no income? Do you think it’s fair that the orphans have no parents, who can’t provide the basic necessities from food and water to love and support? Do you think it’s fair that the sojourner had to leave his home and most of his possessions to travel to a new a strange land?” That Israelite has to quietly answer “No.” God calls Israel to show grace to share the pain. The Israelite can say, “Here, I will give to you, taking loss, so I can feel the pain of loss like you are feeling.” The Israelite can relate, and then will truly show love.

So we looked at 4 different verses, from 3 different books, in 3 different contexts. Just through a literal, plain reading of the text, it’s clear what God wants us to do. He wouldn’t have repeated it so much if he didn’t want us to take it too seriously. Then we looked at the 3 contexts, and we saw how the 3 contexts further strengthened the meaning of the verse. So how do we as Americans apply in the 21^st century?

First, to fully and truly reach out to someone, we must reach out to them in their culture. I’ve traveled abroad twice. Once I spent 1 ½ weeks on a missions trip in Honduras after 8^th grade. A second time, I 3 ½ weeks in a semester abroad in Israel, learning the history, geography and culture of Israel. Both times, in Honduras and Israel, they would always speak English! Sometimes, both Israel and Honduras would even bring out American food for our meals. In Honduras, no one forced me to speak Spanish, eat the local food, and wear clothes like everyone else in the country. In Israel, no one forced me to speak Hebrew, eat like an Israeli or dress like a Middle Eastern man. They showed me love and compassion by reaching out to me in my culture and showing hospitality. Therefore, when I know someone from a different culture enters my world, I try to show them love and compassion through hospitality. The warehouse I work in is like the future classroom of 2020. I am in the minority by being white and speaking English. One guy I worked with spoke Spanish primarily, and he spoke a broken English secondarily. I would struggle to do my job because I struggled to understand him! Then I remembered my experiences in Honduras and Israel, so I decided to reach out to him. I dusted off my notes from my 3 years of high school Spanish and re-learned my Spanish. My Spanish is as broken as his English. But between my broken English and his broken Spanish, we begin to understand each other better. We even connected better, to the point I could ask him, “Como estas tu famila?” (“How is your family?”) If you want to reach out the foreigner living near you, reach out to their world and culture.
 

Second, think of your identity in Christ. We often explain our relation as the church to God in metaphors. The more popular ones are bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the family of God. One of our identities we don’t often talk about is that we our citizens of the kingdom of God. That as national implications. I would even go as far as say that our citizenship in the kingdom of God supersedes any other national identity, whether we are citizens, or dual citizens or are the alien living in the foreign land. Therefore, a Christian living in the United States of America is an alien in a foreign land. Sometimes it’s easy to feel like an alien in a foreign land when Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that is contrary to the Bible. But sometimes Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that agrees with Biblical teaching. That I see as God’s grace. So we know what it’s like to be an alien in a foreign land. We know how hard it can sometimes be, and we know the feelings of pure joy and relief when we get grace. That feeling should be our motivator, and it should motivate us to show love, compassion and grace to a sojourner adjusting to the local culture.

And just another quick side thought. I’m slow to say this because I’m still developing it. Another current event happening is that relations between the U.S.A. and Cuba are finally beginning to warm up. The first sign of such healing happening is that Cuba has allowed the U.S. embassy to reopen. The cool thing about an embassy is that no matter how big or small the plot of land is, even it’s just one acre, that land is considered land of the embassy’s nation, not the land of the nation where it resides. So the U.S. embassy in Cuba is considered U.S. territory, not Cuba territory, and U.S. laws, not Cuba laws, apply. As Christians, we believe church is the people, not the building, yet we struggle with what to do with the building. What if we decided that the building was like the embassy of the kingdom of God in the U.S.A.? What if we decided to live out the kingdom of God in the church instead of living out the American culture within these walls? When a non-Christian, someone not native to the kingdom of God, enters here, do we show them love and compassion, or do we judge them for not living our lifestyle? The verses I presented to you should motivate you to do the former!

But maybe I haven’t won you over on that identity as a citizen of the kingdom of God, living as an alien in a foreign land. Maybe you still believe that when the foreigner comes to live in a new culture, he has to adjust to the culture. Then may I present to you a third application. I know sometimes Christians don’t always consistently decided on which Old Testament Laws to follow literally and to follow figuratively. So when it comes reading Old Testament Law, the first question I ask is, “What does this law say about God, and how can I reflect it?” With all these verses, I see God as compassionate. He wants Israel to be compassionate towards sojourners because he compassionate to sojourners. God always sides with the weak, so if we really want to be on God’s side, we must side with the weak, such as the foreigner. Therefore, we as Christians, living in the United States in the 21^stcentury, need to show compassion. This one, I believe, Christians in America need to work on the most. Once again, let me put in here one last disclaimer. I heard both political parties’ immigration policy. I understand where both sides come from. I believe both sides have pros and cons. But too often have I seen both sides lack compassion! No matter what policy you side with, you must never ever lose compassion! They are people, they have rights as human beings made in the image of God, and therefore you must love them and you must have compassion! So if you want to the follow this law in the best way, show the sojourner compassion.

As I close, my prayer is for you that no matter where you stand politically, you will show love and compassion to everyone, including the sojourner. I pray your love and compassion will lead to display hospitality and a willingness to reach out to another’s culture. When you can get your heart, your mind, and your hands to do, so will truly reflect God in both his love and his holiness. Remember, God showed you compassions when you were estranged from him, so you too must show compassion to the strangers among you.