Aliens

Excerpt from an interesting interview with James Hoffmeier:

James K. Hoffmeier, professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, is a leading Egyptologist. Oxford University Press has published his two major works thus far: Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition and Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition.

His latest book, published by Crossway, addresses the intersection of an ancient issue and a contemporary debate: The Immigration Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens, and the Bible.

Professor Hoffmeier forms a definition of aliens in Israelite society by combining his knowledge of the biblical, archaeological, and sociological evidence. He then uses this framework to explore the current debate on the status of illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Here's a brief interview we did via email:

I imagine some people will see an American OT scholar writing a book on immigration and conclude that this is an ivory-tower, academic exercise. What is your personal experience with these issues?

I have followed with interest the public debate about immigration policy and the status of illegal immigrants. I am especially intrigued by how the Bible has been used, both by those wanting to give amnesty to illegal aliens and those who oppose it. This motivated me to investigate carefully what the Bible had to say about foreigners and aliens.

Then, too, I lived as an alien in Egypt growing up, and as a teenager, my family and I had to flee Egypt because of the 1967 war. We lived for nearly 2 months in tents on a mountain camp in Cyprus. Then for 8 years I was a graduate student in Canada. So I know what it is to be the “stranger” in a foreign land and to live as a refugee for a period. By the way, my wife is a Chinese American, the granddaughter of immigrants from China. So I am not insensitive to plight of immigrants in a foreign land. All of these factors figure into my writing The Immigration Crisis: Immigrants, Aliens, and the Bible.

I know this is a massive question, but what are some guidelines you use to take the laws from the Torah and apply them to our very different context today?

Direct application of OT laws is not easy, nor even desirable in a secular society. Christians are not under the OT law as were members of the old covenant community, but as Paul reminds us regarding the events recorded in the OT: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11). Minimally one can look for the theological or moral principles behind they laws, and then apply them through the lens of NT doctrine.

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