ABSRACT
LOVE THE STRANGER FOR YOU WERE STRANGERS:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BIBLICAL LITERARY
THEME AND MOTIF
Helga Kisler, B.A., M.A.
Marquette University, 2016
The Hebrew Bible recounts the development of Israel’s self-identity as “Strangers
and Sojourners” and their relationship with God and other Strangers. A significant
passage that connects these relationships says that God “loves the Strangers…You shall
also love the Stranger, for you were Strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:17-19). In
the same book that commands love for the Stranger, God tells Israel to separate
themselves from foreign nations in the land that they will occupy.
In order to investigate an evident disparity concerning the relationship with the
Stranger, this dissertation examines the literary motif of the Stranger and the theme of
God’s love for the Stranger in the Torah/Pentateuch, as well as the Book of Ruth, by
looking at the different representations of the Stranger and how the motif developed with
both positive (gēr) and negative implications (nēkār, and zār).
While other research generally focuses on a particular form of the Stranger, this
study will expand on the research by examining the occurrences of all three forms (gēr,
nēkār, and zār) in order to understand the different levels of meaning connected to the
Stranger and how that meaning is dependent on the historical context of the literature, the
rhetorical and theological interests of the final redactors, and the methods of
interpretation by later readers.
The love command in Deuteronomy 10:17-19 specifically concerns the Stranger
who is a sojourner (gēr), evoking Israel’s collective memory as sojourners in order to
inspire their empathy and compassion. On the other hand, the Stranger who is foreign
(nēkār) evokes fear and enmity. The Book of Ruth acts as a commentary on the negative
perceptions of the foreigner in the Torah/Pentatuech in order to offer a broader and more
inclusive perspective of the meaning of love for the Stranger.