Moses inculcated and enforced by numerous and by powerful
considerations, as well as by various examples of benevolent
hospitality, mentioned in the book of Genesis, the exhibition of
kindness and humanity to strangers. There were two classes of persons
who, in reference to this subject, were denominated _strangers_, גרים.
One class were those who, whether Hebrews or foreigners, were destitute
of a home, in Hebrew תושבים. The others were persons who, though not
natives, had a home in Palestine; the latter were גרים, _strangers_ or
_foreigners_, in the strict sense of the word. Both of these classes,
according to the civil code of Moses, were to be treated with kindness,
and were to enjoy the same rights with other citizens, Lev. xix, 33, 34;
xxiv, 16, 22; Num. ix, 14; xv, 14; Deut. x, 18; xxiii, 7; xxiv, 17;
xxvii, 19. In the earlier periods of the Hebrew state, persons who were
natives of another country, but who had come, either from choice or from
necessity, to take up their residence among the Hebrews, appear to have
been placed in favourable circumstances. At a later period, namely, in
the reigns of David and Solomon, they were compelled to labour on the
religious edifices which were erected by those princes; as we may learn
from such passages as these: “And Solomon numbered all the strangers
that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his
father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty
thousand and three thousand and six hundred; and he set three score and
ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens,” &c, 1 Chron. xxii, 2; 2
Chron. ii, 1, 16, 17. The exaction of such laborious services from
foreigners was probably limited to those who had been taken prisoners in
war; and who, according to the rights of war, as they were understood at
that period, could be justly employed in any offices, however low and
however laborious, which the conqueror thought proper to impose. In the
time of Christ, the degenerate Jews did not find it convenient to render
to the strangers from a foreign country those deeds of kindness and
humanity which were not only their due, but which were demanded in their
behalf by the laws of Moses. They were in the habit of understanding by
the word רע, _neighbour_, their friends merely, and accordingly
restricted the exercise of their benevolence by the same narrow limits
that bounded in this case their interpretation; contrary as both were to
the spirit of those passages which have been adduced above, Lev. xix,
18.
considerations, as well as by various examples of benevolent
hospitality, mentioned in the book of Genesis, the exhibition of
kindness and humanity to strangers. There were two classes of persons
who, in reference to this subject, were denominated _strangers_, גרים.
One class were those who, whether Hebrews or foreigners, were destitute
of a home, in Hebrew תושבים. The others were persons who, though not
natives, had a home in Palestine; the latter were גרים, _strangers_ or
_foreigners_, in the strict sense of the word. Both of these classes,
according to the civil code of Moses, were to be treated with kindness,
and were to enjoy the same rights with other citizens, Lev. xix, 33, 34;
xxiv, 16, 22; Num. ix, 14; xv, 14; Deut. x, 18; xxiii, 7; xxiv, 17;
xxvii, 19. In the earlier periods of the Hebrew state, persons who were
natives of another country, but who had come, either from choice or from
necessity, to take up their residence among the Hebrews, appear to have
been placed in favourable circumstances. At a later period, namely, in
the reigns of David and Solomon, they were compelled to labour on the
religious edifices which were erected by those princes; as we may learn
from such passages as these: “And Solomon numbered all the strangers
that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his
father had numbered them; and they were found a hundred and fifty
thousand and three thousand and six hundred; and he set three score and
ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens,” &c, 1 Chron. xxii, 2; 2
Chron. ii, 1, 16, 17. The exaction of such laborious services from
foreigners was probably limited to those who had been taken prisoners in
war; and who, according to the rights of war, as they were understood at
that period, could be justly employed in any offices, however low and
however laborious, which the conqueror thought proper to impose. In the
time of Christ, the degenerate Jews did not find it convenient to render
to the strangers from a foreign country those deeds of kindness and
humanity which were not only their due, but which were demanded in their
behalf by the laws of Moses. They were in the habit of understanding by
the word רע, _neighbour_, their friends merely, and accordingly
restricted the exercise of their benevolence by the same narrow limits
that bounded in this case their interpretation; contrary as both were to
the spirit of those passages which have been adduced above, Lev. xix,
18.