Courtney Gilmore “You shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.” (Numbers 9:14)
A year after the Exodus, God told the Israelites to celebrate The Passover to remember the night when they placed their faith in Him & obeyed by killing the Passover Lamb. God killed the firstborn in Egypt because they refused to acknowledge His power & authority, but He spared the Israelites that same death because they submitted to Him. In their devastation, the Egyptians rushed the Israelites from their land that night & so began Israel’s exodus.
The Israelites celebrated the second Passover, although there were some unable because they had come in contact with a dead body & were unclean. So, God gave new guidelines explaining that if a person was unclean or on a long journey on the 14th day of the first month when the Passover was celebrated, they could observe it in the second month instead. But this exception was only given for those specific reasons. If an Israelite was “clean and not on a journey, and ceased to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people.” (Numbers 9:13)
So if an Israelite chose not to observe the days that the Lord commanded the nation to observe, then that person could no longer be a part of that nation. On the other hand, “If a stranger dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony.” (Numbers 9:14) So, if a foreigner was willing to abide by the practices of the nation, then they were welcome.
Israel was a sovereign nation, with its own set of laws & practices. It was not exclusive. But for the nation to stay pure & undivided, everyone had to agree to certain standards. Since the nation belonged to God, He set that foundation.
So does a nation have the right to set its own standards? Does it have the right to require certain things of its citizens? Does a nation have the right to vet foreigners before they enter its borders? Does it have the right to reject someone that wants to cross its borders to harm its citizens? Can a nation prevent someone from entering just because that person wants to enjoy its benefits but not adhere to its founding principles or laws?
These are tough questions. As Christians, we do not want to be exclusionary. We do not want to deny someone the privileges that we were just born to. But there were children born into the nation of Israel too. They were given the right at birth to be part of the nation of God. They had the right also to either reject the nation’s laws and practices & leave or agree to them & make them their own. There were foreigners born outside of the nation, into other cultures & religions, & they were welcome. But there were restrictions. They had to adopt the practices of the nation of Israel if they wanted to be a part of it. They did have to assimilate.
So is that too much for a nation to ask? Can we accept people from many different countries, races, & cultures, but still have the opportunity to vet them? Can we make sure that they are not our enemies before we welcome them? Can we teach them our laws & our founding principles & ask that they agree to them, before we just make them a part of our country? Should they not have to demonstrate in some way that they like our country and what it stands for & that they truly want to be a part of it?
It seems that for a nation to stand, its founding principles must also stand. There can be diversity, but we cannot compromise on certain standards or there will be no unity.
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25
Excerpt 1 from Episode 81 “Holy to the Lord” on Podcast and YouTube
