More Than a Resident Alien

We start looking at 2 Samuel today. At the end of 1 Samuel, Saul and Jonathan die. Saul had been the king of Israel (although God had revoked His blessings from him some time ago). In the first chapter of 2 Samuel, we have the account of David being told of Saul’s death. The man who told David was rather unscrupulous in a number of ways, but I’m just going to focus on one aspect of this man.

The man, when asked who he was, told David he was a “ger.” This Hebrew word is usually translated as “resident alien.” In the Complete Jewish Bible, he answers David’s question by saying, “I’m the son of a [resident] foreigner, an Amaleki” (verse 13). This is significant, even to New Testament believers. The concept of a resident alien explains a key New Testament passage to me in a whole new way.

A “resident alien” in David’s time was a person who lived and served a nation (Israel in this case) but was not a native born or a naturalized citizen. He retained his ethnic and national identity. This man was an Amalekite. He served as part of Saul’s army and had been living among the Israelites, but he did not identify himself as being an Israelite. You might think, “Well, of course, he wasn’t an Israelite! He was of another nationality.” Yet, there were many people born elsewhere, from different nationalities that were totally assimilated into the people of Israel. They took on the belief in the God of the Israelites. They followed all the laws of an Israelite. And they became an Israelite in every sense of the word. God had provided for such people and gave specific instructions in the law for how such people were to be treated (Deuteronomy 10:18-19).

The man who reported Saul’s death to David still identified himself as a Amalekite, a resident alien, a ger. The significance for us can be found in Ephesians 2:10-19:

                   For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua [Jesus] for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do. Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.

                  But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. For he himself is our shalom [peace] — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah [barrier] which divided us by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.

                  Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby (Isaiah 57:19), news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

                  So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.

All that to say we are not like that Amalekite. We, as believers in Jesus, are fully assimilated into God’s family. We are not ger. And we should believe in the God of Israel in every way.

Assimilation

Does the Old Testament matter? What are we supposed to be like as Christians? Are there things I have to do? Or things I should do? How do we know what a Christian is supposed to look like and act like?

I found a warning in 1 Samuel 31. It comes from a seemingly minor point in the story. My focus was not on Saul’s death, which is usually what I’ve seen focused on in this chapter. My focus was caught by a note by one of the commentators (Bradford) regarding the way Saul’s body was handled after his death. First, his body was abused by the Philistines (vs. 9 and 10). This is not the usual practice for conquered kings, who were generally treated with respect and presented to the conquering king.

Then the Israelites of Jabesh-gilead heard about the body of Saul being displayed on the walls of a prominent Philistine city. This city, Beth-shan, was important because it was on the main trade route. The Philistines were advertising that Israel was finished and conquered and so was their God. The people in Jabesh-gilead were indebted to Saul (it’s a long story found in Judges 19), so they went to rescue Saul’s body from Beth-shan.

When the warriors of Jabesh-gilead returned with Saul’s body they burned it and took the bones and buried them in Jabesh. The comment Bradford made referred to these acts of burial. He indicated that it was totally uncustomary for a Hebrew burial to be handled this way. He also concluded that it seemed to be the practice of the people of Jabesh-gilead (who were basically Hebrews). Where had this practice come from?

This is just another sign that Israel was losing touch with the true God and His commandments. They were slowly assimilating the practices of the pagan cultures around them (that God had originally instructed them to wipe off the face of the earth). It’s hard to tell from this one passage, but we’ve seen it elsewhere in 1 Samuel as well, that Israel was losing its distinctness among the nations. Slowly but surely over time, things that seemed okay became the way things were done.

I am in danger of doing the same thing! Over time, it’s become acceptable to do many of the things the culture around me says is okay. It’s become okay to believe some of the things the culture (including Christian culture!) around me, believe. I have to ask myself what am I – what are WE – allowing into our beliefs that are not exactly what the Scriptures teach?

Satan is distorting the basic truths of Scripture and we are incorporating them into our habits, beliefs, and practices. My friend, Kris, who spent 20 years in Indonesia, discovered many of these partial truths being celebrated in our American local churches when she returned to the States. She had been away from the American culture long enough that many of these partial truths/distortions were obvious to her. For instance, “God loves you, God accepts you” is a major tenant in American Christian-based churches. There are few questions asked about these statements. Yes, it’s Scriptural, but the gospel doesn’t end there. There’s the life example of Christ, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, and our decision to believe He rose from the grave and paid for our sins that makes us acceptable to God.

I talked today about another example with a friend, Cassie, and that is “I am enough.” God does love us for being us; however, we are NOT enough. Only God and His love is enough. And not everything I do or think or say is correct because it’s based on my thoughts, and “I am enough” to decide what is right and wrong. We succumb to the idea that it doesn’t matter what I do, God will forgive me because I’m enough.

We need to be careful we are not assimilating the perspectives and beliefs of the world around us into our worship of Christ. We need to be sure we are not short-changing what God has done for us and what He would like us to do for Him.

Just a caution. I’m guilty of this, too.